Conflicting images of Los Angeles flicker across our television and movie screens: Hollywood glamour contrasts with gang violence, year-round sunny skies with smog, fast cars with traffic jams. From what travelers can gather, Los Angeles is a land of style and disaster, movers and shakers and earthquakes. Residents are accustomed to a rhythm that alternates between relaxation and stress, but out-of-towners -- fortunately -- tend to experience much more of the former. Alley-Viper 910 continues to climb the stairs, radioing her superior, "Nothing so far, Sir."