INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., May 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Kit Rachlis, editor-in-chief of Los Angeles magazine since June 2000, has decided to step down. Mary Melton, executive editor of the magazine, has been promoted to editor.

"Kit has done a remarkable job elevating Los Angeles magazine to must-read status. We are deeply grateful to him for sharing his vast talent with Emmis and with the loyal readers of Los Angeles magazine," said Deborah Paul, Emmis Publishing Executive Vice President/Editorial Director. "The appointment of Mary Melton as editor ensures that Los Angeles magazine's tradition of high-level magazine journalism will endure. We look forward to the intelligence and spirit she will bring to every page."

During Rachlis' tenure, the magazine was nominated for a National Magazine Award seven times and received more city and regional magazine awards than any other publication.

Melton came to Los Angeles magazine as a senior editor in 2000, and became executive editor in 2002. She has overseen the magazine's theme issues, edited features and service stories, written personality profiles and popular culture pieces, and directed the launch of the magazine's web site, LAmag.com. Prior to her position at Los Angeles, Melton was an editor and writer from 1995 until 2000 at the Los Angeles Times Magazine, where she also contributed to the Calendar, Food, and Travel sections of the newspaper. She began her journalism career at the LA Weekly, where she started as an intern in 1991 and became managing editor two years later, a position she held until 1995. A fourth-generation Angeleno and a graduate of Hollywood High School, Melton holds a degree in history from UCLA.