Letter from L.A.

Los Angeles -- When somebody sits down to write in this town, the result is usually either a parking ticket... or a five-picture deal. The phone and the fax still rule. But it's fashionable to look like an intellectual these days, and so cafes are the hottest places to see and be seen -- preferably with pen and journal in hand.

The reigning roost for the new cafe society is Kings Road Cafe on Beverly Boulevard, always brimming over with babes of both sexes. To really appreciate the phenomenon, take the halfway-round the clock tour breakfast at Flora Kitchen on La Brea Avenue, a spin-off of the adjacent Rita Flora flower shop; a smoked salmon panini and lemonade lunch at Kings Road Cafe; four o'clock "high-coffee" at Big and Tall; pizzza with the Euro-L.A. crowd at Caffee Luna on Melrose, and finally, late supper at Cafe Maurice.