TAIL AND TWO CITIES Represent!
Coke vs. Pepsi. Kennedy vs. Castro. Heidi vs. L.C. Epic yet minor rifts when compared to the timeless power struggle between New York and Los Angeles. In the name of settling this battle royale, each week Radar will take stock and determine which city truly holds the competitive edge.

This week: When did these two glorious centers of commerce and culture become so thin-skinned? So mired in bitchery?

L.A.: Stopping in SoCal, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney blasts opponent Rudy Giuliani for making New York City a "sanctuary" for illegal aliens.
NYC: Giuliani, for his part, becomes an unlikely figure in deposed publisher Judith Regan's latest debacle. She claims Murdoch cronies pressured her into hiding her affair with ex-NYC top cop Bernard B. Kerik from federal prosecutors in order to protect Rudy's "presidential ambitions."
Advantage: NYC

L.A.: Lakers coach Phil Jackson refers to the team's match against the Spurs as a "Brokeback Mountain' game, because there's so much penetration and kickouts." A not amused GLAAD president Neil G. Giuliano accuses the coach of "resorting to cheap [Ed. Note: And extremely dated?] gay jokes."
NYC: Showing that he knows how to play to his audience, Governor Eliot Spitzer vows before a crowd of West Villagers to push for gay marriage. Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno blasts back, "gay marriages are not what the people of New York want." That would be all night beefcake orgies in Alizé-soaked underground sex clubs.
Advantage: NYC

L.A.: Residents of West Los Angeles won't tolerate the Museum of Tolerance's expansion plans, citing heavy traffic and lack of parking spaces among their complaints. The LA Times reports: "Most of those fighting the plans are Jewish, and many are museum members."
NYC: Off Track Betting facilities, long the Shangri-la for dropouts, deadbeats, and your alcoholic grandpa, may be shut down. The upside: streets flooded with dudes who will do/say/eat just about anything so long as it's part of a friendly wager.
Advantage: NYC

L.A.: Britney Spears pulls a hat trick, running over yet another photographer's foot
NYC: Mayor Bloomberg and John Leguizamo trade painfully unfunny jokes at the Mayor's Awards for Arts and Culture.
Advantage: L.A.

L.A.: The LAX Hilton comes under fire by the Department of Health, as the scrubbing, vacuuming, and pillow-fluffing performed by its housekeepers runs afoul of rules against "repetitive motion" in the workplace.
NYC: Tourist hotspot Serendipity (home of the $25,000 chocolate sundae) is shuttered after investigators find rat droppings and live cockroaches in its kitchen.
Advantage: LA. (Worker's rights is totally worth soiled sheets. We think Dov Charney agrees.)

Final Score:
L.A.: 2
NYC: 3
Winner: NYC