Media people

Rick Orlov obits and a Gary Leonard photo

By Kevin Roderick | February 3, 2015 12:59 AM

rick-orlov-gary.jpgMonday was, I'm absolutely sure, a somber and distressing day in the Daily News offices in Woodland Hills and in the pressroom at City Hall. They had to write the obituary for friend and colleague Rick Orlov, who died after injuring himself in a fall last month. Dakota Smith, Rick's seatmate at City Hall and second on the Sausage Factory blog, takes the lead byline. She quotes friends Zev Yaroslavsky and (nice touch) Linda Breakstone, the former Herald Examiner and CBS LA political reporter, among others.

Former Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who sat on the City Council from 1975 to 1994, said he couldn’t remember a time when Orlov was not a political reporter. Orlov was soft-spoken and a man of few words, and he paid attention to what he said and what he wrote, Yaroslavsky said.

“His information was always gold,” Yaroslavsky said. “I never had a time when I quibbled with the accuracy of his reporting. When Rick Orlov said something, whether you looked good or not, it was accurate.”

Yaroslavsky and journalists said it was Orlov who hosted a friendly gathering every Friday after 5 p.m. in his Los Angeles City Hall office, including politicians and reporters socializing over gin and vodka.

“He loved people,” Yaroslavsky said. “He had a great sense of humor. “When he called you out, it wasn’t mean-spirited. At the end of the day, he was a decent human being. Everyone who knew him considered him a friend.”

[skip]

Journalists often sought out Orlov for advice and support. Channel 2 reporter Linda Breakstone was one of Orlov’s best friends. The two met in 1978 during the statewide campaign to pass Proposition 13, and the two talked nearly every week, she said. Breakstone said he was a father figure to young reporters at City Hall.

“He kind of took care of everyone,” she said.

Orlov is survived by his sister Joanne Levy, her husband, and two nieces and one nephew, and three great nephews and one great niece. The Daily News reported that a public memorial will be held at Levy’s home at 2 p.m. Thursday at 502 N. Elm Drive, Beverly Hills. A separate public memorial also is being planned by the Daily News. The photo above was submitted by LA Observed contributor Gary Leonard after I posted my earlier story.

Former City Hall reporter Kate Linthicum wrote the obit for the LA Times. Excerpt:

On the City Hall beat since the late 1980s, Orlov earned a reputation for his deep knowledge of the inner workings of California's largest city. His death brought an outpouring of grief from the political class he watched so closely….


Short, with a raspy voice and a quick smile, Orlov covered the city's responses to major events including the L.A. riots and the Northridge earthquake. A political junkie, he was well-known for his weekly "Tipoff" column in which he delved into the machinations of City Hall policy and political campaigns.

For years, he was known for another weekly ritual: the Friday night get-togethers he hosted in his newspaper's bureau after deadlines had been met.

In those days, it was still permissible for Orlov to smoke inside the building and pour cocktails for his guests, who included other reporters as well as politicians, their aides, and City Hall lobbyists. The parties were a place where officials could speak candidly off the record without worrying their words might appear in the newspaper or on the radio.

"It was one of the best things at City Hall when all the people gathered and left their egos and emblems outside the door while Rick Orlov presided," said Zev Yaroslavsky, a former city councilman and Los Angeles County supervisor. Yaroslavsky, who shared with Orlov an interest in golf — as well as a diabetes diagnosis — said Orlov stood out for his sweetness.

"In an industry where most political reporters are cynical and wear their cynicism on their sleeve ... he was a mensch," Yaroslavsky said.

Another nice touch: Linthicum quotes Dakota — "Dakota Smith, a Daily News reporter who shared an office with Orlov for the last four years, said he was a gracious colleague who emailed her his entire list of contacts on her first day. 'Other reporters might not do that because they are so competitive,' Smith said. 'But he was just generous in that way.'"

Let's give the final word to more of Rick's newsroom colleagues, present and past.




More by Kevin Roderick:
'In on merit' at USC
Read the memo: LA Times hires again
Read the memo: LA Times losing big on search traffic
Google taking over LA's deadest shopping mall
Gustavo Arellano, many others join LA Times staff
Recent Media people stories on LA Observed:
Walking through 4,000 photographs with Annie Leibovitz
Read the memo: LA Times hires again
Read the memo: LA Times losing big on search traffic
Joe Frank, somewhere out there
Gustavo Arellano, many others join LA Times staff
Michael Bloomberg
Put Jamal Khashoggi Square outside the Saudi consulate on Sawtelle
Here's who the LA Times has newly hired*
Previous story: Rick Orlov, dean of LA City Hall reporters, dies at 66

Next story: Hollywood Reporter wins Ellie for magazine excellence