And NRO illustrates it with a cute little tilting California and an arrow pointing left that looks like a devil's tail too!

P.S. Maybe one untold media story behind the Sandra Tsing Loh affair is the continuing influence of the long-dead Buzz magazine, which can still reach out from the grave and grab you -- just like Carrie!

Buzz was like a shooting star -- it burned brightly but for all-too-short a time. The standing columns were great -- especially the LA Times column...

If Buzz had any continuing influence it would still be standing, or, at the very least, its concept would have been replicated by others. To me, Buzz was Los Angeles as idealized by transplanted New Yorkers. It was phoney and elitist (with a few exceptions), with no real understanding of the region it represented. And real Angelenos can smell that kind of rat.

There are no "real Angelenos", unless you mean those people who built the missons. And while I'm at it, I declare a ban on "elitist" as a would-be perjorative. The sweating masses can read the comics that come with Bazooka, while sitting slack-jawed in front of VH1.

Erik Himmelsbach may be right about Buzz. Who am I to say? All I know is that more than six years after the magazine bit the dust, people are still arguing about it with genuine passion. Go figure.

Nonsense. I don't have to idealize Buzz Magazine, where I never worked - I'll leave that to Cathy - but I and plenty of other people still idealize the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, where I did work until it folded in 1989. As with Buzz, the Her-Ex still exerts its influence through the many, many talented people it produced who went on to work elsewhere - in other capacities and other places, but who still carry that mystical spark of talent and madness that made the place so special -"often imitated, never duplicated" - and so much fun to work. Arthur Koestler (and The Police) called it "the ghost in the machine" - I call it the soul of LA journalism, and it proudly lives on.

Oh Joel -- you're such a sentimentalist. LOL.

I do wish the Her Ex was still around.
I'd be banging down the doors. Let's face it:
a one big-daily town is bad for journalists
and worse for the populace it serves.

Calling any billionaires.

And for those who want a refresher on the HerEx, there's http://herex0.tripod.com

OK, make that the continuing influence of the long-dead, elitist Buzz magazine...

It's official: I'm not just sick of Sandra Tsing Loh; I'm not just sick of Ruth Seymour; I'm not just sick of Cathy Siepp; I'm also sick of LAObserved. Lots, lots of other stuff, actually relevant to our lives, is going on in the LA blogosphere; I'll find a place where I can check it out more efficiently. Indulge my hiatus.

Pardon my use of cliche. Let's replace "elitist" with "myopic" "smarty-pants" or "bourgeois cult" (take your pick). Also, let me rephrase "real" Angeleno with "native" Angeleno, since none of them, according to Ms. Coe, are actually still with us. And please don't be dissing VH1, as they put a roof over my head; and while we're at it, don't miss Child Star Babylon on April 3! Guaranteed to entertain even the sweatiest of masses.

Hallelujah to that, joseph.

Long live (if only as fond memories) the Her-Ex and Buzz. I keep a final copy of each sealed in an air-tight container and stored in a dark place for the enjoyment of future generations.

As a former Her-Exer myself, I understand what it is like to be apppreciated but not successful. Buzz, like the Her-Ex, had a lot to like about it. The fact that it wasn't a business success doesn't take away the good things about it, and frankly, it was a whole lot better than Los Angeles Magazine -- then and now.

If certain people want to rail and bitch about transplanted New Yorkers or East Coasters mucking up media matters here, look no farther than the LA Times. Now that's a paper someone can bitch about...

Fuck, NR Seipp again?

My "perverse irony" stands -- especially when it comes to self serving hypocrisy over "indecency" and "obscenity" laws.

NR Seipp may be one fiercely loyal, "toxic" tangled PR web weaving, LA Times bill stiffing "friend" to have, but right wing versions of free speech are why we have "elitist" hate crime laws, affirmative action, militia watches . . . . Gavin Newsom's civil disobedience . . . . (Air America Radio looking to balance the airwaves, now how about the blogosphere?) . . . .

Whatever happened to the federal investigation that Buzz was a front for a Singapore money laundering ring?

"...but that Big Sister overreacted..."

Elk-Aïda can melt buildings and bomb trains left and right, but they will never inflict on me a terror as raw as the mere notion of a world where Ruth Seymour is Big Sister!

On the "real Angeleno/native Angeleno" issue:

Anyone who actually remembers seeing commercial agriculture within the borders of the city of Los Angeles gets the nod...

Anyone who spells it "Angelino" gets the boot.

I remember seeing commercial agriculture in Orange County, where I grew up. Can I count as a real Southern Californian?

Cathy, if you were born here or are old enough to remember oranges actually being grown in Orange County, that's good enough for me...

My great-grandfather grew alfalfa on his farm near Ninth and Alameda. If you have a forebear who ENGAGED in commercial agriculture within the city of L.A., does that count?

My favorite "old L.A." story is from a grand-aunt's memoir. She recalls getting on a street car and asking the driver to drop her off on Wall Street (yes, there is a "Wall Street" in L.A. -- downtown, east of Main, west of San Pedro). He apparently forgot and passed her stop. When she pointed it out a block later, the driver stopped the trolley, and backed it up to Wall Street. "We were glad," she writes, "since the streets were muddy from recent rains."

My suggestion: you're a real Angeleno if you family was here before the streets were paved. *grin*

I remember orange groves in Orange County, where I grew up.

You're real if you remember that. And the red cars. And Hody's. And Knott's Berry Farm when it was free. And Engineer Bill and Sheriff John. And [outdoor] "shopping centers".

I remember orange groves in Orange County, where I grew up.

You're real if you remember that. And the red cars. And Hody's. And Knott's Berry Farm when it was free. And Engineer Bill and Sheriff John. And [outdoor] "shopping centers".

I remember orange and olive groves in the San Fernando Valley ... and row crops of squash and pumpkins ... and horses.

And San Fernando Valley State...

I also remember Birmingham High when the team name was the "Braves".

GM in Van Nuys, Lockheed in Burbank, Douglas in Santa Monica, North American in Downey, Kaiser in Fontana, and Todd in Peedro... (and we wonder where the middle class jobs have gone)

As far as Hodys goes, I don't. I do, however, remember Zodys, home of the three-armed sweater...