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Los Angeles A MAN is measured by his automobile in this city. But Vincent Kartheiser, the actor who plays the slick ad salesman Pete Campbell on ''Mad Men,'' is among the 10 percent of Angelenos who rely on public transportation. So on a Thursday night he and a reporter got around using his preferred, and for now, only, method of transportation: mass transit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ON a blazingly hot sunny day in Los Angeles, eight people are inside One Take Studios on a desolate street, prepping for a photo shoot. In a brightly lighted room, hair stylist, Sienree Du (Ri to her friends) tries to build a fake mohawk out of a model's long, brown waist-length mane. The petite stylist joked with her muse, ''Your agent didn't tell you I was going to shave your hair?'' Ms. Du is a stylist at the Angus Mitchell Salon in Beverly Hills. Today is her day off, but instead of spending prime sunny hours at the beach, she is working on a shoot for the online magazine, Vamp'd, so that she can build her portfolio, or ''book.'' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

LOS ANGELES BARNEY THE DINOSAUR was standing on Hollywood Boulevard waving his purple arms at passers-by when a tall redhead with alabaster skin appeared a few feet away. This was Florence Welch, of the British band Florence and the Machine, and she was about to take part in a time-honored tourist tradition: a tour of Madame Tussauds Hollywood wax museum. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

AROUND 11:40 a.m. every Sunday, they arrive at Foresight Studios, a rehearsal and performance space in the heart of Silver Lake, a hipster neighborhood in Los Angeles. They wear pink leg warmers, sparkly headbands and the type of tiny shorts not seen since Richard Simmons felt the burn in them in the 1980s. They are here for Sweaty Sundays, a dance class taught by Ryan Heffington, a choreographer, performance artist and designer with a soft spot for Lycra and bright pastels. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]