COSTA MESA — Italian restaurant owner Dominic Picarelli has always dreamed that one day, customers would come from miles around to try his fare.
But when they bombarded his Costa Mesa business this week, it wasn't the pizza they were after. It was the few copies of the British newspapers that Picarelli stocked on a small newsstand in front of his restaurant.
Following Princess Diana's death in a spectacular crash over the weekend in Paris, the papers have sold out in a matter of hours, sometimes minutes. People have arrived before opening hours and waited patiently in efforts to be the first to get their hands on the coveted newspapers.
"I've seen people literally arguing over them," said Picarelli, 36, owner of the Napa Valley Pizza and Pasta on East 17th Street. "This has become almost a fanatical situation."
The demand for the foreign periodicals comes at a time when public anger at the media is at a high, with many blaming the princess' death on paparazzi who were allegedly chasing Diana and her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, before the accident. Yet, sales at some newsstands have never more brisk.
In Orange County and nationwide, newspaper distributors and vendors say the public's thirst for information about Princess Diana has become insatiable and has surpassed anything they've ever seen before, including the deaths of Elvis Presley and John Lennon.
Vendors said the level of interest has baffled them, given the fact that Diana was not even American. Several newsstand clerks reported seeing people lose their temper when told that what they wanted had been sold out. Exasperated, customers have stormed off to other stores, only to experience the same frustrations.
"Look around town, there are no British papers to be found," said Fernando Serrini, Los Angeles manager for Speedimpex, a distributor specializing in European publications. "We're talking to England every morning about the dreadful need for papers. But they're having their own troubles. . . Whatever they manage to ship out is just a miracle."
Although the British publications have been the most difficult to find, local magazines such as Time and Newsweek also have sold out as soon as they hit the stands. Bookstore chains such as Borders Books & Music reported problems with trying to increase their orders of the magazines.
"We've gotten some [extra copies], but not nearly as many as we wanted," said Stan Iddings, general manager for the store's Brea branch.
