((PKG)) A NEWSSTAND’S LAST STAND 
((TRT:  07:27)) 
((Topic Banner:  A Newsstand’s Last Stand))  
((Reporter/Camera:  Arturo Martínez)) 
((Map:  Los Angeles, California)) 
((Main characters:  2 male)) 
((Sub characters:  5 male ;  2 female))  
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Eduardo Becerril, Salesman, Al’s Newsstand)) 
I am Eduardo.  Everybody calls me Eddie and I work at 
the newsstand.  I am a salesman, the morning guy.  
((NATS)) 
((Eduardo Becerril, Salesman, Al’s Newsstand)) 
Good morning, ladies.  Good morning.  Happy Monday. 
((Pedestrians)) 
You too. 
((Eduardo Becerril, Salesman, Al’s Newsstand)) 
Thank you.  
((NATS)) 
((Eduardo Becerril, Salesman, Al’s Newsstand)) 
It will be my 17th year, very happy.  Since I started to 
work here at the newsstand with Mr. Al, very happy.  
((NATS)) 
((Eduardo Becerril, Salesman, Al’s Newsstand)) 
Almost all the locals, all the neighbors, everybody 
knows me.  It’s like a little family. 
((NATS)) 
((Eduardo Becerril, Salesman, Al’s Newsstand)) 
Mr. James.  Good morning, sir.  How are you? 
((Customer)) 
Good. 
((Eduardo Becerril, Salesman, Al’s Newsstand)) 
Everything okay so far? 
((Customer)) 
So far. 
((Eduardo Becerril, Salesman, Al’s Newsstand)) 
Good, sir.  Okay.  Happy Monday, sir.  Okay?  Thank 
you, sir.  Happy Monday.  
((NATS)) 
((Eduardo Becerril, Salesman, Al’s Newsstand)) 
New York, Wall Street, Financial Times, New York Post 
and L.A. Times.  
((Customer)) 
Correct. 
((Eduardo Becerril, Salesman, Al’s Newsstand)) 
Financial Times and Wall Street.  
((Customer)) 
Perfect.  
((Eduardo Becerril, Salesman, Al’s Newsstand)) 
We have a cookie for Mr. Jake.  Here it is Mr. Jake. 
((NATS)) 
((Eduardo Becerril, Salesman, Al’s Newsstand)) 
I have customers that are, you know, like bankers, 
advisors, doctors, so.  Mr. Al says, “Thank you for you 
Eddie, because sometimes the guys are coming and 
you already know what kind, what kind of paper 
magazine they want.”  
((NATS)) 
((Eduardo Becerril, Salesman, Al’s Newsstand)) 
Good to see you my friend.  OK?  
((Customer)) 
Always, always.  I’ll see you.  I’ll be here till Thursday. 
Okay. 
I’ll come back to see you and we’ll talk some more. 
Yes, if you need something, we are here ready, okay? 
Yeah, man.  Good to see you. 
((NATS)) 
((Eduardo Becerril, Salesman, Al’s Newsstand)) 
Hey, Maggie.  Good morning.  How are you?  
((Customer)) 
Good. 
((Eduardo Becerril, Salesman, Al’s Newsstand)) 
Good, good.  She likes all French magazines.  So, 
she’s looking if we have something.  
((NATS)) 
((Eduardo Becerril, Salesman, Al’s Newsstand)) 
Yes, I bought here too, Mr. Al. 
((Alan Brooks, Owner, Al’s Newsstand)) 
How much was it that you collected from him? 
((Eduardo Becerril, Salesman, Al’s Newsstand)) 
$15, plus tax, $16.43.  
((NATS)) 
((Alan Brooks, Owner, Al’s Newsstand)) 
I started selling papers when I was eight because I 
wanted extra money in my pocket.  And here I am.  I'm 
seventy-nine years old and I'm still selling papers.  
((NATS)) 
((Alan Brooks, Owner, Al’s Newsstand)) 
My name is Alan Brooks and I own Al's Newsstand.  I 
am one of the last standing newsstands.  We opened 
this in ‘89.  It was like a little gold mine and people, they 
were hungry for a newsstand in Beverly Hills.  And I 
had a total of eight different newsstands.  But I made a 
great living.  I put two kids through college.  I was very, 
very happy with it.  
((NATS)) 
((Alan Brooks, Owner, Al’s Newsstand)) 
And you’re nine years old?  Yeah.  You are like George 
and Archie, my grandsons.  
((Alan Brooks, Owner, Al’s Newsstand)) 
I just like talking to people.  I like doing business, 
making money.  And that's just a nice sense of 
community that I enjoy when that wells up.  That's what 
sort of nurtures me.  
((NATS)) 
((Customer)) 
Thank you so much.  We just live around the corner. 
((Alan Brooks, Owner, Al’s Newsstand)) 
You’ve got it.  Okay. 
((NATS)) 
(Alan Brooks, Owner, Al’s Newsstand)) 
The biggest seller of any magazine that I had was when 
Jennifer Aniston broke up with Brad Pitt.  I sold 1,140 
Vanity Fair of Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt breakup.  
((NATS)) 
((Alan Brooks, Owner, Al’s Newsstand)) 
But the newsstand business has definitely 
changed.  It's become prehistoric, and that's because of 
the internet.  A lot of magazines went to online only and 
people said, “Where's my Glamour magazine?”  And 
I'm saying, “You have to go online to get that.”   
((NATS)) 
((Eduardo Becerril, Salesman, Al’s Newsstand)) 
Good morning.  Al’s Newsstand.   
Oh no, miss.  Not yet.  No more, miss.  Sorry.  Used to 
be we sell that paper, but no, no more.  It’s easier if you 
go digital or internet, because I don't know that 
somebody has that print paper.  You know, in the good 
times, we used to have five or six very good 
magazines.  Now, you know. 
((Customer)) 
No print magazines. 
((Eduardo Becerril, Salesman, Al’s Newsstand)) 
Yes.  You know, now, digital, internet.  It’s not like it 
used to be, sir. 
((Eduardo Becerril, Salesman, Al’s Newsstand)) 
60 percent of our customers, clients are, you know, 
over 50 years old and it’s an age that still likes to feel 
the paper, feel the magazine, sometimes feel that 
smell. 
((NATS)) 
((Benny Platt, Customer))    
This, happiest day of my life.  Los Angeles Dodgers, 
world champions after 32 years.  Awesome.   
I come here all the time because when big things 
happen like, the Dodgers, when they won the World 
Series, that was a big seller here.  And then, recent 
election, when Biden won and you wanted to get the 
issue of it, you know, you got it.  Yes, everything's on 
the internet now, but it's nice to physically hold 
something in your hand and stuff like that, so.  I don't 
think my kids will.  My kids are glued to their 
phones.  So, everything's still on their phone, but I'm in 
my late 50s, so I'm still old school to a certain extent.  
((NATS)) 
((Alan Brooks, Owner, Al’s Newsstand)) 
Up until the pandemic hit us in March, we were holding 
our own.  But there's a lot of stores that have closed or 
been shuttered on South Beverly Drive, and that's 
affected us because we don't have the traffic flow that 
we had two years ago. 
((NATS)) 
((Alan Brooks, Owner, Al’s Newsstand)) 
Grab an elbow, friend.  Come on, don't be 
afraid.  Come on, do you play baseball? 
I still get the people that will bring their kids by and 
people that we have are regulars.  But the traffic pattern 
isn't what it was back in, you know, three and four or 
five years ago.  
((NATS)) 
((Eduardo Becerril, Salesman, Al’s Newsstand)) 
Quieres el de la niña, verdad? 
15 dollars. 
((Alan Brooks, Owner, Al’s Newsstand)) 
Just make change. 
((Eduardo Becerril, Salesman, Al’s Newsstand)) 
Yes?  Okay, Mr. Al, yes. 
((Alan Brooks, Owner, Al’s Newsstand)) 
If I'm allowed to bring in items that will help make a 
profit: cigarettes, candy, miscellaneous, water, chips 
and increase my revenue, we’ll stay.  And if not, I would 
have to think of selling it.  But my passion right now is, I 
like old, retro magazines.  I have a bunch of older Life, 
Posts, Saturday Evening Post, Life and Look, my old 
classic Playboy magazines, comic books and baseball 
cards.  People are gratified that they can see something 
that they haven't seen for 20 or 30 years and pick it up 
and buy it.  I find a way to deal in those.  
((NATS)) 
((Alan Brooks, Owner, Al’s Newsstand)) 
And I don't want you bending the cards at all.  Because 
the moment you bend them, it’s going to lose its value. 
((Alan Brooks, Owner, Al’s Newsstand)) 
We've lost part of the interaction with people.  We've 
become so technologically absorbed.  I mean, you miss 
a lot of the realism of touching and tactileness with 
people and interchanging.  You need to have 
conversations with people that share your ideas with 
me.  I may not accept it, but I'm hearing a point of view 
that could be beneficial to me in the long run.  
((NATS)) 
((Eduardo Becerril, Salesman, Al’s Newsstand)) 
The other day came one family from overseas and I 
remember one of the kids, about maybe seven years 
old, told his dad, “Hey Dad, what is this?  What is a 
newsstand?  What is a newsstand?  I don't know.  What 
is a newsstand?”  So, we'll see, but it was very funny.  
((NATS))  
((Eduardo Becerril, Salesman, Al’s Newsstand)) 
Take care, Okay?  Happy Monday.  See you later. 
((NATS))  
((Popup Banner: 
Only a handful of newsstands remain in Los Angeles.  
Alan remains hopeful his will withstand the pandemic.)) 
((NATS))