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A SPECIAL REPORT: MAGAZINES

FINE PRINT: It may never rival the Big Apple, but the Valley has a healthy bite of the national magazine market. At least 50 publications are produced here. . . . With titles such as Flex, Hitmakers and Four Wheeler, many locally published periodicals mirror Southern California’s triple obsessions--fitness, entertainment and cars.

HOG HEAVEN: Easyriders, the bible of Harley-Davidson fans, turns 25 next month and has been published out of Agoura Hills for over a decade. The low-key suburb may seem an unlikely home for a magazine known for pictures of babes on bikes. . . . But Paisano Enterprises, its publisher, wanted a central location between L.A. and Ventura. “We are very discreet,” said Lisa Gazul, a receptionist. “There is nothing on our buildings that says Easyriders.”

MUSCLING IN: Woodland Hills-based Weider Publications is probably the Valley’s largest magazine publisher in terms of readers. Its eight fitness-related publications, including Shape, Fit Pregnancy and Men’s Fitness, have an estimated circulation of 3.4 million. Why Woodland Hills? . . . Founder and bodybuilder Joe Weider wanted to be near the “muscle beaches” of L.A.

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CLASS ACTION: One of the newest--and noblest--Valley ‘zines is Schools Magazine, founded 18 months ago “for the purpose of getting parents and communities involved in education,” said publisher Patrick Casey of Northridge. . . . The quarterly is purchased by real estate agents who furnish copies to local schools.

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