The LAT's appeal to the hipster set, Metromix, started appearing in newsboxes this week.

We ask editor Deborah Vankin: How cool is that?

"Reaction has been great -- pretty much unanimously, people are saying it looks amazing; and we're hearing a lot of comments about the writing -- that it's smart and fun. Which is nice, because we put a lot of effort into that -- it may be lighthearted, but it's real, reported content."

How's it feel to see it in the boxes?
"Surreal and wonderful at once -- it took nine months to get to this place (the combined efforts of a lot of people); so seeing it in the hands of readers at cafes and on sidewalks, through tired eyes, sort of feels like we've given birth ... to a litter of, well, upcoming issues I guess!

"But seriously: seeing the way people are reacting -- emptying boxes on the streets and kind of ravenous for this sort of thing, for something smart, well-informed and fun at once that's also slim enough to easily navigate -- makes us realize a) there was a need for it and b) print is obviously not dead. It's just evolving and fusing with the internet. It's interesting to be a part of."