April 9, 1981

When Christopher Whittle and Phillip Moffitt bought languishing Esquire magazine two years ago, one of the last decrees of the outgoing regime was that its offices be moved to 2 Park Avenue. Thus the day the jaunty young Tennesseans (they were barely into their 30's) took charge, Esquire was literally a maze of unpacked boxes. The phones were on the blink. Articles were in such scarce supply that Mr. Moffitt was forced to comb through the reject pile. Out came some easy-to-forget pieces. Into print they went. ''It was a fitting beginning,'' Mr. Whittle smiles. The publishing industry scoffed. ''I figured that, in no more than six months,'' recalls one publisher, ''the Southern boys would rue the day they first heard of Esquire. The very name would cause them to scream in their sleep.''

It was one of those moments a legislative leader dreads: Warren M. Anderson, leader of the Senate's Republican majority, was committed to passing his version of a bill to aid mass transit, and the bill was going down to defeat. Senator Anderson conferred hastily with his counsel, John F. Haggerty. Mr. Haggerty pointed his finger at one Republican Senator, then another, and they quickly changed their votes from the negative to the affirmative. The bill was still one vote short of passage when Mr. Haggerty's gaze fixed on Senator Martin S. Auer, a Syracuse Republican. Senator Auer rose from his red leather chair. ''Mr. President,'' he said, ''it has been called to my attention that there is $1.6 million in there for central transportation. Due to that, I am going to change my vote to yes.'' The measure passed.

The employees of Continental Air Lines announced a proposal today to purchase 51 percent of Continental's stock to prevent a takeover of the carrier by Texas International Airlines. The employees would pay about $185 million. The purchase, which would be made through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan, with management's approval, would make Continental the nation's first employee-owned airline. Under the plan, Continental would issue 15.4 million new shares of stock, doubling the number of its existing shares and diluting Texas International's current 48.5 percent stake. The company is authorized in its bylaws to issue as many as 50 million new shares.

A bipartisan alternative to the Administration tax bill was outlined by Dan Rostenkowski, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. The proposal suggested a cut in the top tax rate to 50 percent from 70 percent, an increase in the standard deduction and relief from the so-called marriage penalty. (Page A1.) Beryl W. Sprinkel accused the Fed of interfering with the slowing of the money supply growth. Comments by the Under Secretary of the Treasury for Monetary Affairs to a Congressional panel may mean that the Reagan Administration may closely monitor the Fed in months to come, analysts said. (D1.)

In early June, the Western Bancorporation will change its name to the First Interstate Bancorporation. And its 21 banks in 11 Western states will officially become units of the First Interstate Bank, part of a $32 billion financial organization with nearly 900 offices in 450 communities in the West. If interstate banking is inevitable, as bankers seem to believe, then Western Bancorp intends to be the first. The largest of six multistate banking companies, Western Bancorp's banks, which had been part of the Bank of America, were allowed to remain as a unit after the 1956 Bank Holding Company Act blocked further interstate expansion. That law was apparently passed to prevent A.P. Giannini, founder of the Bank of America, from building a national bank empire.