EDITORIAL : HEART ATTACK CITY; FORGET `THE CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS,' NEW YORK'S NEW MOTTO MAY BE `THE CITY OF THE BIG SLEEP'.

The battle between Los Angeles and New York for the title of America's No. 1 city seems to come down to this: hard-edged New York is more likely to kill you suddenly with a heart attack while mellow L.A. does it slow with carcinogenic air.

Pick your poison.

A new study shows that New York - by virtue of its fast pace, ingrained stress and inherent pressure to, as Frank Sinatra sang, ``make it there'' - is causing fatal heart attacks.

The University of California, San Diego, report shows that New Yorkers are 55 percent more likely to die of a heart attack in their hometown than people living in other U.S. cities.

Tourists aren't immune.

According to the study of death certificates, they die of heart attacks at a 34 percent higher clip than visitors to other cities, including Los Angeles. Who needs the Statue of Liberty when you can see statuesque men and women at Venice Beach?

Richard Stein, the American Heart Association spokesman, dismissed the anti-NYC findings, saying lifestyle and diet are the major contributors to deadly heart ailments. Of course, Stein would say those things, he's a New Yorker.

But, then again, he may have a point. New Yorkers always seem to be running the heart-stressing gantlet to catch the subway, then jostle for a seat; no problem with that here.

That said, we'll take our sunshine, car-packed freeways, freak-show basketball players, $105 million baseball players, Disneyland, movie stars and dysfunctional City Hall and surgeon general-type warning - breathing L.A.'s air contains particles that may cause cancer - any day of the week.