Archive: Weeklies

Entries in this category going back awhile
 
wilshire-east-platinum.jpg The Times' most interesting new hire. An LA correspondent gives his farewell observations. Media moves and more.

Media notes: LA Weekly massacre, more bad men, LAT editor and Trump

la-weekly-twitter-grab.jpg Lewis D'Vorkin's visit in the Oval Office. New city editor named at the Times. Media people and selected tweets.

LA Weekly sold to mystery buyer and into uncertain future

laweekly-grim-sleeper.jpg The venerable free Los Angeles alt-weekly has been dished off by owner Voice Media Group.

'Profitable' LA Weekly put up for sale

weekly-covers.jpg The owners are slowly selling off their alt weeklies and predict the LA Weekly will generate buyer interest.

Sue Laris puts Downtown News up for sale after 44 years

dtnews-gary-leonard.jpg Weekly newspaper has chronicled the downtown boom all the way along.

Drew Tewksbury named LA Weekly managing editor

Drew-tewksbury-2016.jpg The managing editor of KCET Artbound writes for Los Angeles Magazine, did segments for KPCC's New Music Today feature and was a producer for NPR's "News and Notes" back in the day.

LA Weekly's Maddaus to Variety and more media notes

broad-iris-corner.jpg Larry Mantle on his friend Steve Julian. New post for Nicco Mele. The Broad gets a category on tonight's "Jeopardy." And a lot more.

OC Weekly sold to publisher Duncan McIntosh

ocweekly-sale-grab.jpg For the first time, the weekly will have Orange County ownership. LA Weekly remains part of Voice Media Group.

LA Weekly loses film critic Amy Nicholson too

amynicholson2013.jpg They are hiring. LAist is also looking for an editor-in-chief, and another former LA blogger-in-chief is in the news.

LA votes to move Santa Monica 'closer'

not-santa-monica-law.jpg As April Fools Day stories go in alt weeklies, this one's pretty good.

OC Weekly has been put up for sale

ocweekly-shtup-cover.jpg Editor Gustavo Arellano says, "Anyone interested in buying this rag gets a motivated band of mistfits, almost all of us OC natives…"

LA Weekly's new editor comes from Chicago Reader

Mara-Shalhoup-headshot-law.jpg Mara Shalhoup takes over Feb. 16. "LA has countless stories to tell…we're gonna have fun."

This week the Jewish Journal is Jewish Hebdo

jewish-hebdo.jpg Editor Rob Eshman says no more "tiptoeing around terrorists’ sensibilities [or] kowtowing to the craziest elements among us."

LA Weekly discontinues theater awards after 35 years

lost-moon-radio-tim-norris.jpg The Weekly says "our focus for 2015 is utilizing our time and resources towards building, promoting, and evolving events that can bring us profitability for the new year. Unfortunately, this event does not help us towards meeting those directives."

¡Ask a Mexican! turns 10

ask-a-mexican-logo.jpg Gustavo Arellano's column in the OC Weekly began humbly -- and now it's a freakin' empire and he's the editor of the whole paper. He celebrates in this week's column.

Alt weekly down: Bay Guardian staff laid off, website frozen

bay-guardian-dan-white-cover.jpg The San Francisco Bay Guardian witnessed a lot of Northern California progressive history since 1966, but the owner says "the economic reality is such that the Bay Guardian is not a viable business and has not been for many years."

Paper doesn't know beans about Chile

bh-courier-chili.jpg The Beverly Hills Courier emails a keeper headline to its readers about the huge earthquake on the coast of Chile.

Register parent launching Spanish-language weekly in LA County

Unidos-logo.jpg Freedom Communications, the parent company of the Orange County Register and the forthcoming LA Register, says it will introduce a new Spanish-language weekly newspaper called Unidos en el Sur de California on March 21. The weekly will combine the existing SoCal Spanish-language papers, Excelsior and La Prensa.

Register owner takes control of the Easy Reader

easy-reader-cover-ocr.jpg No changes in staff at the weekly are expected, but you can see Aaron Kushner working his way deeper into Los Angeles County.

LA Weekly cutting back on theater coverage

Thumbnail image for marin-ireland-parallelogram8.jpg Don Shirley at LA Stage Times has the toll: Capsule theater reviews will drop from the current seven or eight per week to about two, and commentaries by Steven Leigh Morris will appear every other week, instead of weekly.

OC Weekly staff discovers who's stealing their whiskey

Screen Shot 2013-09-05 at 1.48.56 PM.jpg The reporters and editors at the OC Weekly are old school: they keep booze in the desks. After some unexplained drainage, they set up a video camera to catch the culprit.

Hastings a tortured soul, especially near the end

michael-hastings-memorial-jg.jpg Gene Maddaus of the LA Weekly has a cover story this week on the life and death of journalist Michael Hastings. Maddaus talks to friends and colleagues and finds that there was a lot of concern about Hastings in the days before his Mercedes hit a tree on Highland Avenue.

Malibu Surfside News suspends publication after 37 years

malibu-beach-scene-vdt.jpg Anne Soble, the weekly's owner, publisher and editor, has developed serious health problems. Her son posted a note saying she cannot continue and asked if someone would like to take over the paper, a fixture on the Malibu coast.

OC Weekly warns about two women posing as food critics

Two "very drunk and rude women" claiming to be OC Weekly writers were spotted this week at Don the Beachcomber in Orange County. Editor Gustavo Arellano is not amused and advises any restaurants approached for freebies to be suspicious.

Beth Sestanovich resigns as LA Weekly publisher

Sestanovich announced to the LA Weekly staff that she will leave after assisting in the transition. Sounds as if Bob Dea, the associate publisher, is getting more responsibility. Here is the email.
mavillaraigosa-dc-msnbc.jpg A story with more anecdote and commentary than actual data or on the record sources argues that Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will struggle to keep up his "one percent" lifestyle.

LA Weekly's people issue: Janice Min and more

janice-min-laweekly-scanlon.jpg The annual people issue of LA Weekly hits the stands this week and is already on the web. The selection of interesting Angelenos this time includes Janice Min of the Hollywood Reporter.
garcetti-crowd-tapia-bros.jpg The weekly's editorial hopes that Garcetti "would grow in the job," and says it's "a pity" that Greuel is too close to unions. It's the LABJ's first endorsement for mayor.

Sentinel solicits donations for managing editor's care

yussuf-simmonds-thumb.jpg Yussuf J. Simmonds is recuperating from a stroke suffered in December while he was in Washington, D.C. "People who want to support Simmond’s convalescence can send contributions to the Los Angeles Sentinel," says the paper.

SF Weekly sold to parent company of Bay Guardian

nude_beaches_banner.jpg Voice Media Group, parent of the LA Weekly, is giving up on San Francisco and has sold the SF Weekly to the company that publishes both the San Francisco Examiner and former arch-rival, the venerable Bay Guardian. A sale of the Seattle Weekly was also announced in the deal.

Media buzz of 1978: a new Los Angeles alt-weekly

new-west-731978.jpg Former New West staffer Michael Kurcfeld found this clip from July 3, 1978, disclosing plans for a new alternative newspaper to fill the void left by closure of the Los Angeles Free Press. Working title: L.A.Weekly.

Register acquires OC freebies

The Orange County Register has purchased Churm Media, the publisher of OC Metro and OC Family. Perplexing, says Gustavo Arellano at OC Weekly.

Jeffrey Anderson on reporting in the Southeast cities

jeffrey-anderson-grab.jpg Before the LA Times rediscovered the corruption in Bell, and in some cases before DA Steve Cooley got to town with his corruption prosecutions, investigative reporter Jeffrey Anderson was digging into the dirty dealings in the southeast cities for the LA Weekly. KCET interviewed Anderson about the challenges of reporting in places like Cudahy last decade.

LA Weekly digs into the turmoil at KPCC

law-kpcc-breakup-cover.jpg How KPCC's quest for Latino listeners doomed the "Madeleine Brand Show," plus the first choice of a co-host — and the complications of A Martinez's advocacy for steroids in sports.

LA Weekly, OC Weekly get a new owner

lacey-larkin.jpg Village Voice Media owners Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin announced Sunday night that they have agreed to sell the chain of 13 weeklies — a mix of papers they created and big established titles they acquired, including the LA Weekly and Village Voice — and will get out of alt journalism. The buyers are a new company formed by ex-editors and publishers of the New Times chain that Lacey and Larkin helped start in Phoenix in the 1970s.

One place print isn't dying

jewisj-journal-cover-91412.jpg This week's edition of the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles totals 148 pages — "the largest in our 26 year history," says editor Rob Eshman. "It is also completely redesigned, with a new masthead, new page layouts, new features."

Matt Groening blames LA Weekly for end to 'Life in Hell'

groening-self-portrait.jpg Once the LA Weekly dropped his longtime comic strip, the end was inevitable. "It was particularly aggravating that I wasn’t being printed locally in Los Angeles," Groening said. "If 'Life in Hell' were still in LA Weekly, it would probably have kept me going."

Downtown News to ask for voluntary payments from readers

dtn-cover.jpg In Monday's edition, founder Sue Laris will tell readers that advertising has fallen out and the 40-year-old weekly needs $5 a month from readers. For now no editorial staffing changes are planned.

Road rage attack video took the long way to LA

The video showing the assault on a Los Angeles freeway driver near downtown only got in the hands of authorities — and seen by you — because of an unemployed croupier and casino dealer across the Atlantic — and an alert food writer at the LA Weekly.

LA Weekly editor takes a little shot at Jonathan Gold *

SarahFenskeHeadshot.jpg "We needed someone who could be critical when it was called for, and who had no loyalties, and who was not interested in befriending the city's chefs," says Sarah Fenske. "We needed someone fearless."

Buy an ad in the Beachcomber, get a story

Potential advertisers in the Beachcomber in Long Beach can secure a nice featured story for the same price as their ad, according to this pitch that went out from an advertising rep at the bi-weekly.

Best evidence yet of the LA Weekly's riots effort in '92 *

Judgment_Day_0592-2.jpg After reading that the LA Weekly itself could not turn up an archive copy of the paper's first issue after the riots in 1992, Los Angeles magazine editor-in-chief Mary Melton dug out her copy and posted it. "The issue was a thoughtful, impressive undertaking, featuring some of the finest journalists L.A. has known," she writes.

LA Weekly's executive editor in '92 details riot coverage

from-the-ashes.jpg Harold Meyerson, the LA Weekly's executive editor and chief political writer at the time of the Los Angeles riots in 1992, is one of the alumni whose jaw dropped when the current LA Weekly posted a blog item yesterday claiming that the alt-weekly did not cover the riots when they happened. (Alas, I fell for it.) In a note to LA Observed, Meyerson explains what actually went on.

When LA Weekly (did) cover the riots *

akbars-riot-tshirts.jpg According to LA Weekly blogger Simone Wilson, who went back through the paper's archives, in 1992 "two full issues went by without any mention of the riots." She was wrong. The LA Weekly covered the riots in a big way. Wilson has posted a correction.

Bruce Brugmann steps down from Bay Guardian

nude_beaches_banner.jpg Up in San Francisco today the 1960s survivor, the Bay Guardian, announced that co-publishers Bruce Brugmann and Jean Dibble "are stepping down from day-to-day operations at the paper." The Bay Guardian appeared on the streets in 1966, before the Summer of Love.

That Dodgers buyer with the gold mines? Hahahaha

macciello-weekly-crop.jpg Only the LA Weekly's Gene Maddaus demanded proof, called people on their bluffs and came up with a heck of story.

For Purim: Herman and Herman join Berman-Sherman

purim+cover+jj+2012.jpg Herman Cain and Pee Wee Herman are on the cover of the Jewish Journal's spoof cover for Purim this year.

Fired editor in Culver City burns bridges and names names

I've been meaning for a few days to post this. The fired editor of the Culver City News tells all and reveals how the local free weekly works. Scott Bridges...

LA Weekly posts Jonathan Gold's job - and loses another

Jonathan Gold's new job at the LA Times includes front page pieces on culture — while the LA Weekly also loses Elina Shatkin to Los Angeles Magazine.

LA Weekly confirms: Jonathan Gold leaving for LA Times *

The entreaties from Village Voice Media executive Mike Lacey didn't work. LA Weekly editor Sarah Fenske posts on the LA Weekly website.

This is weird: Village Voice blog says Gold to LAT, citing us *

A food blogger for the Village Voice misread our latest post on Jonathan Gold and wished Gold the best of success at the LA Times, saying that LA Observed confirmed the move. Except, of course, we didn't.

Jonathan Gold finds himself in a good spot

jonathangold-100.jpg It will be interesting to see how persuasive Village Voice money is at this stage, and how much, if any, the Times is sweetening its offer. If you're Gold, a bidding war is a nice place to be.

Coup for the LA Times: Jonathan Gold coming back?

gold+pulitzer+lunch.jpg The popular and respected food writer Jonathan Gold was spotted shaking hands in the Los Angeles Times building yesterday. The buzz is that he will rejoin the paper shortly after his upcoming Gold Standard tasting event, but the Weekly would like to keep him.

Nice personal take on saving Los Encinos park

lang-oak-lapl.jpg Editor Rob Eshman calls the Encino State Historic Park threatened with closure his personal retreat growing up in the neighborhood.

Capitol Weekly suspends print edition, goes web only

The Sacramento-oriented weekly published by the York family of Malibu announced today that Thursday's ink-on-paper edition will be the last. The publication will continue on the web.

Bestsellers of the week

It's in hardcover nonfiction where some change is occurring.

Times re-hires Drex Heikes, adds in Sacramento

drex-heikes-law.jpg Heikes is the former LA weekly editor. Read the memo on the new Sacto reporter.

Cartoonist O'Connor done at Weekly

occupycityhall-oconnor.jpg Patrick O'Connor posts on his blog that "This week's cartoon is my last print cartoon for the LA Weekly. I've been on staff since January of 2009 and it's been...

LA Weekly's ten best burgers

billhirokosburger-law.jpg The list ranges from Mom's to Lazy Ox Canteen.

Gustavo Arellano named editor of OC Weekly

gustavo-arellano-mug.jpg Arellano moves up from managing editor after the resignation, effective Dec. 2, of editor Ted Kissell.

Drex Heikes leaving LA Weekly *

Heikes announced to the staff and his freelance writers today that he is stepping down as editor of the LA Weekly.

Departures from the Daily Journal, more media notes

An editor and a reporter pack up to leave the legal paper, plus VVM layoffs and a Pulitzer winner to co-produce a Suge Knight doc.

Sherman-Berman is now a blog

ShermanANDBerman.jpg The Jewish Journal intends to keep a close eye on the divisive local race.

Jewish Journal names a president and a publisher

Tribe Media Corp, the parent of the Jewish Journal weekly, announced that David Suissa is joining as president

LA Weekly picks a music editor

Ben Westhoff, a New Yorker who has written for the Village Voice, NPR, Pitchfork, Spin and XXL has been named the LA Weekly's music editor.

Chuck Philips wants his retraction back

chuck-philips-laweekly.jpg Philips, whose story about an attack on Tupac Shakur, was "fully retracted" by the L.A. Times in 2008, says new information corroborates his original story.

LA Weekly names its web awards

BestoftheWeb_01.jpg Hey, we're on the LA Weekly's list this year.

New editor in the Valley

The San Fernando Valley Business Journal has a new editor. Plus: The story of ValSurf, and the band She Wants Revenge really loves the Valley.

Blogdowntown suspends print weekly

bdownown-print-feb32011.jpg Blogdowntown's weekly print edition hit the streets last August, and it stopped regular publication in February.

LA Weekly admits it reached on Lara Logan *

Blogger Simone Wilson concedes she didn't know whether CBS' Logan was raped by crowd in Cairo's Tahrir Square.

No interview with Aaron Sorkin for 'Hollywood Jew'

Danielle Berrin, who writes the Hollywood Jew column for the Jewish Journal, recounts her failed attempt to get an interview with Aaron Sorkin about the women in "The Social Network" — and his reaction to the column she did finally write.

New arts and culture editor at LA Weekly

zachary-pincus-roth.jpg LA Weekly editor Drex Heikes told the staff this afternoon that the paper's new arts and culture editor will be Zachary Pincus-Roth.

Tom Christie moves on from LA Weekly

Christie, the senior features editor, was (I believe) the last of the pre-New Times mainstay editors still with the LA Weekly.

Prop. 19, the Jewish angle

jj-prop19-cover.jpg The Jewish perspective on pot "is ambivalent, and observant Jews could plausibly take either side of Proposition 19," a rabbi says in the Jewish Journal. Plus: Allison Margolin.

Editor's wife and daughter earn a cover

jewish-journal-cover91610.jpg Rob Eshman, the editor of the Jewish Journal, begins this week's note to readers with an admission: "Yes, that’s my wife and daughter on the cover of this issue." As...

The Hollywood Reporter to go weekly & glossy

thr-mag-cover.jpg Janice Min's Hollywood Reporter will switch to a weekly magazine next next month, the New York Times says. "A mix of analytical and feature articles and photo spreads, will be...

Daily Beast snatches up Pelisek

Last month when the Grim Sleeper arrest broke, the LA Weekly's Christine Pelisek wrote about her background in the case for the Daily Beast. Now she'll join their LA bureau.

Call him Gustavo Arellano, managing editor

Arellano ascends from staff writer at the OC Weekly.

LA Weekly adds Henry Rollins

Henry Rollins, the refugee from Indie 103 who landed with a Saturday afternoon show on KCRW a year ago, is now also a music columnist for the LA Weekly.
melanie-polk.jpg Melanie Polk writes that "I can still remember the look on my mother's face when my father came home one day in the '70s and said, 'We're in the newspaper business.'"

An editor signs off with what worked

jerry-sullivan.jpg In this week's final issue of the Los Angeles Garment & Citizen, founder and editor Jerry Sullivan completes the difficult last task of closing down a local newspaper.

Blogdowntown takes a gamble on print *

blogdownton-weekly-cover.jpg Blogdowntown Weekly, which debuts Aug. 5 , will show up on Thursdays "focused on calendar and lifestyle content for Downtown."

Garment & Citizen closing down

garment-logo.jpg Editor and publisher Jerry Sullivan has been notifying supporters and others all day that the July 23 issue of the Los Angeles Garment and Citizen will be the weekly's last.

Pelisek explains how she came to Grim Sleeper beat

christine-pelisek.jpg LA Weekly writer Christine Pelisek takes her story on the origins of the Grim Sleeper to The Daily Beast.

Ten of LA Weekly's people for 2010

The LA Weekly's annual LA People issue is always a savvy glimpse into the local culture and a good read. Here are ten.

A bit of football stadium ballot stuffing? *

The first City council member who cites this poll as evidence of public support for a Downtown football stadium should be laughed out of the horseshoe.

Village Voice Media puts up the money in Arizona

The parent company of the LA Weekly and OC Weekly, and more pertinently of Phoenix New Times, has battled through the years with the out-of-control local sheriff Joe Arpaio. Now, in a note to readers, Village Voice Media executive editor Michael Lacey and CEO Jim Larkin say they are underwriting the cost of the ACLU's legal challenge to the new Arizona immgration law.

LA Weekly gets a little staff help

Jonathan Gold, fresh off his James Beard Foundation win, will be splitting some of the food writing duties at the LA Weekly with a second staff critic. Plus a new news blogger. Read the memo.

In the District Weekly saga, freelancers are left unpaid

Greggory Moore writes at LBPost.com that he was the first and last copy editor at The District Weekly, and was steadily involved as a contributing writer for the last two years

Sounds like slim hope for District Weekly *

LongBeachReport.com just talked to Heather Swaim at the District Weekly, who confirmed last night's report that the paper is on the verge of closing. She left open hope that something...

Email from Long Beach: District Weekly folding

If the report is true, it will be just shy of three years since the paper's launch.

New music editor for LA Weekly

Gustavo Turner was introduced today as the music editor of the LA Weekly, replacing Randall Roberts. Read the memo.

LA Weekly loses music editor to LAT

Randall Roberts gave notice at the Weekly yesterday, and sources say he has been hired to be music editor at the Los Angeles Times.

Mr. Fish unhooked at LA Weekly

FoxyLady-300x257.jpg Dwayne Booth, for nearly six years the Mr. Fish cartoonist for the LA Weekly, has been discontinued.

Jonathan Gold finally joins the LA Weekly

jgoldjj.jpg Yes, all this time, LA Weekly food star Jonathan Gold has been a freelancer. Now he's on staff, the rest of the newsroom was told today. He'll continue writing his...

'Mulholland Dr.' best film of the decade?

muholldrivestill.jpg I thought I liked Mulholland Dr. as much as the next guy, and probably more than most. But I'm surprised the David Lynch film tops a survey of the best...

LA Weekly adds film editor, reporter *

karinalongworth.jpg Karina Longworth is the new film editor at the LA Weekly. She is the co-founder of Cinematical.com, the former editor of SpoutBlog, and calls her personal film blog Vidiocy. (She...

Wanted: one film critic

Here's a hire that will be closely scrutinized and dissected, no matter who gets it: the LA Weekly is looking for a replacement for Scott Foundas. The L.A. Weekly is...

Rallying around the old Weekly

Former LA Weekly staffer Pandora Young takes some thoughtful umbrage at the Dennis Romero blog post for the Weekly about last week's USC/Neon Tommy story on the Weekly. Young at...

What Neon Tommy got wrong re: Weekly *

Quite a bit, according to the LA Weekly. Start with the Neon Tommy story's claim that the Weekly had just six full time editorial staffers: It left out music editor...

Heikes hiring at LA Weekly *

heikesweekly.jpg The LA Weekly's editorial staff is down to six full-time employees: three editors (Drex Heikes, Jill Stewart and Tom Christie) and three reporters, according to a story at USC's Neon...

Foundas switches sides

LA Weekly film editor and chief film critic Scott Foundas is moving to Lincoln Center in New York as associate program director. His responsibilities will include the New York Film...

Hollywood Reporter about to be sold?

The Wrap's Sharon Waxman says The Hollywood Reporter "and several other Nielsen entertainment titles are set to be sold to James Finkelstein’s News Communications Inc., owner of 'Who’s Who' publications...

LA Weekly takes a blogger

Dennis Romero, who has been a staff writer at the late Tu Ciudad magazine, the late CityBeat and the Los Angeles Times, has recently been anchoring the LA Weekly's news...

Jonathan Gold profiled in the New Yorker

Dana Goodyear's profile, almost a year in the making, calls the LA Weekly's Jonathan Gold "the high-low priest of the L.A. food scene." Subscription required to read the whole piece,...

LA Weekly seeks blog manager

The job posting for a news blog manager at the LA Weekly calls for someone "who can break news, crack skulls as quickly as funny bones and develop a blog...

Mikulan: blogging not his strength

"My strengths lay in writing longer pieces," Steven Mikulan says in a Neon Tommy story about his departure from the LA Weekly, where he was the main writer on the...

Exit at LA Weekly *

Steve Mikulan, the staff writer who has been the main writer on the LA Weekly's blog LA Daily, parted ways with the paper this afternoon. A newsroom source said Mikulan...

Newsweek on LA Weekly's 'Grim Sleeper'

The news magazine's Aug. 17 print issue gives the LA Weekly and reporter Christine Pelisek big props for diligent reporting on the serial murders in Los Angeles blamed on a...

LA Biz Journal back online

The Los Angeles Business Journal site went dark on Tuesday and didn't come back until late this morning. No, they weren't mourning Michael Jackson. Editor's note posted today: The Business...

New LA Weekly editor: Drex Heikes

After the Las Vegas Sun won a Pulitzer prize in April, I kept getting messages tipping me that ex-Los Angeles Times Magazine editor Drex Heikes was making good things happen...

LA Weekly collects 4 alt weekly awards

The local winners at the Alt Weekly Awards held in Tucson were art director Darrick Rainey, editor Laurie Ochoa and the LA Weekly staff for the LA People 2008 issue,...

Weekly seeking Finke replacement

The LA Weekly's parent company congratulated Nikki Finke on being acquired (for $14 million apparently) and blogs that it wants to find another online Hollywood reporter. "We've had a great...

Stewart replies to Rainey

While I was out, Jill Stewart defended her work at the LA Weekly that was panned this morning by Times media writer James Rainey. Stewart's email response was posted by...

Rainey finally mulls LA Weekly

L.A. Times media writer James Rainey has not previously talked about the transformation of the LA Weekly from lefty cultural organ known for hard-hitting pieces into pursuer of Jill Stewart's...

Tales of the LA Weekly

Michael Sigman, the LA Weekly's former publisher, blogs at the Huffington Post that the paper was wrong to "part ways" with editor Laurie Ochoa. Sigman had originally hired her. His...

Ochoa and LA Weekly 'part ways' *

LA Weekly just announced that longtime editor Laurie Ochoa is leaving. The Weekly story says it is "actively searching for Editor in Chief candidates who will continue LA Weekly's legacy...

New weekly coming to Santa Clarita

Jay Harn, former publisher at The Signal daily paper, is planning a mid-May launch of the Santa Clarita Valley Independent. Here's what Jeff Wilson says at SCV Talk: The 30-40...

People of the Weekly

The current LA Weekly is the annual L.A. People issue. "Portraits of the waitresses and starlets ... the tech wizards and rock stars ... the activists, gang survivors, political warriors...

Mike Menza, 'secret weapon' of LA Weekly

Menza, the circulation director of the LA Weekly, died last night after battling cancer. Steven Mikulan, speaking for the staff in a story on the Weekly website, says the news...

LA Weekly's food blog

It's called Squid Ink and it features posts by Gourmet contributor Margy Rochlin, Los Angeles food blogger Jessica Ritz and the Weekly's own Jonathan Gold making recurring appearances with his...

Editor change in Inland Empire

Chuck Mindenhall bids adieu as editor-in-chief of the Inland Empire Weekly: "It's just that me and the IE are fed up with each other." Roberto Hernandez comes to bat next....

CityBeat tribute from photog

Ted Soqui posts several of his CityBeat covers at his blog with a note that he felt honored to be a contributor from day one. "Worked with several amazing editors,...

Weekly down: CityBeat to shutter

Here's the memo: It is with great regret that as of the March 26, 2009 issue, Southland Publishing, Inc. has decided to discontinue publishing the Los Angeles CityBeat alternative weekly...

News out of CityBeat *

CityBeat this week brings out-of-work classical music critic Alan Rich back into print, at the expense of freelance critic Donna Perlmutter, who wrote for CityBeat for five years (and was...

Box of broken L.A. dreams

Mark Groubert's cover story in the new LA Weekly jumps seven times on the web — but drew me all the way to the end. He found a box of...

Skewering the L.A. Daily Journal

Alan Mittelstaedt resigned last month as an editor at the Los Angeles Daily Journal. I hadn't seen him express his thoughts about the legal daily — until now. In response...

CityBeat reports on the Weekly

Matthew Fleischer worked at the LA Weekly for two years until being laid off and writes that "the second-largest paper in Los Angeles suffered two of the most disastrous years...

Another critic down: Andy Klein *

CityBeat and film critic Andy Klein parted ways yesterday, say sources close to the weekly and to Klein. He continues apparently with KPCC's FilmWeek segment and "Off-Ramp." This follows last...

LA Weekly on the web: up and down

An internal memo seems to indicate the LA Weekly is falling into the mode of obsessing about page views over content. We learn that music is by far the site's...

Appreciating a fallen rival

Times theater critic Charles McNulty weighs in via blog on the layoff of LA Weekly theater overseer Steven Leigh Morris: The news that Steven Leigh Morris, long-standing theater editor of...

Next out at LA Weekly: Ella Taylor

Longtime film writer Ella Taylor was told today that she too is being laid off by the LA Weekly, sources say. On top of the earlier news about Steven Leigh...

Weekly eliminates Theater Editor slot

Word came down from Village Voice Media HQ in Phoenix that the LA Weekly can't afford a theater editor any more. That puts Steven Leigh Morris out of a job....

Anne Thompson dittos Cooper on LA Weekly

Variety blogger-editor-columnist Anne Thompson endorses Marc Cooper's autopsy on the decline in gravitas of the LA Weekly under New Times leadership. She posts: It's a sad tale. Like many L.A....

Marc Cooper: the LA Weekly autopsy

Former LA Weekly columnist and editor Marc Cooper (now director of Annenberg Digital News at USC Annenberg) has been relatively quiet about his longtime editorial home since he was squeezed...

LA Weekly's anniversary stories

OK, so I finally caught on that all the retrospectives popping up one by one on the LA Weekly website were part of a special issue. I picked up the...

Familiar byline at LA Weekly

Lynell George, one of this year's exiteers at the Los Angeles Times, shows up today on the LA Weekly website with a short essay about the 1992 Los Angeles riots...

Pasadena's reporters in India *

James McPherson, the owner of Pasadena Now who fired his reporters and replaced them with cheap piece workers in India, is featured today in, of all places, Maureen Dowd's column...

Schoenkopf out as CityBeat editor

Without any inside info, I did wonder if Rebecca Schoenkopf would be staying on as editor of CityBeat after new publisher Will Swaim — her former boss at OC Weekly...

Swaim new publisher at CityBeat

Will Swaim, the founding editor and later publisher of OC Weekly, and founder of the District Weekly in Long Beach, will be announced today as publisher of CityBeat and New...

Marc Cooper, managing editor cut at LA Weekly

Sources at and around the LA Weekly confirmed that last night's staff cuts include long-time editor and columnist Marc Cooper, managing editor Sharan Street and copy chief David Caplan —...

Layoffs at LA Weekly

Editors, other editorial staff and on the business side, according to a source....

CityBeat publisher exits

Charles Gerencser says he is leaving Southland Publishing, where he oversaw LA CityBeat and New Angeles Monthly, on Oct. 17 to join the Barack Obama campaign as a fundraiser and...

Villaraigosa's calendar reviewed

During his last campaign for mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa slammed Jim Hahn for not releasing his appointments calendar. Now the LA Weekly has pored over Villaraigosa's calendar for a ten-week period...

Glendale and its Armenian smokers

The Pasadena Weekly has run a surprising commentary by editor Kevin Uhrich in response to a controversy over whether a Glendale city official referred to residents of Armenian heritage being...

Chasing Kozinski to Idaho

Cyrus Sanai, the lawyer who publicized the existence of Judge Alex Kozinski's web stash as part of a grudge against the judge, files his report for the LA Weekly on...

Cover story o' the week: Pali rats

Excellent piece by Max Taves in the LA Weekly on elderly identical twin sisters in Pacific Palisades who "had spent years fanatically feeding the Palisades’ rat population. Although the full...

Where's Judge Kozinski?

Today's Los Angeles Daily Journal says that Alex Kozinski, chief judge of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal, is in Sun Valley, Idaho for a circuit conference. He's not...

Pete Kameron, LA Weekly co-founder was 87

An obituary going around says that business entrepreneur and philanthropist Pete Kameron died peacefully on June 29th at the age of 87 at his home in Beverly Hills. He was...

Mittelstaedt and the Weekly, together again

Eighteen months after he lost his news editor job at the LA Weekly to Jill Stewart, Alan Mittelstaedt is back in the Weekly's good graces — as a poster on...

Mittelstaedt wins the point

A remarkable editorial in this morning's Daily News admits the paper got used in the news story earlier this week about DWP chief David Nahai offering up data on his...

New sex advice column in town

This was inevitable. In its quest for a young demographic, Metromix has added a weekly sex advice column. Peter Gilstrap, who has written for Variety and the LA Weekly, will...

L.A. cleans up at alt-weekly awards

The good news out of today's Association of Alternative Newsweeklies awards in Philadelphia is that Jeffrey Anderson won top honors for investigative pieces in the LA Weekly and Andrew Gumbel...

CityBeat's remake

Five years in, CityBeat plans to relaunch next week with a new design, logo and lineup of columns and features. The most notable addition is that content from Wonkette, the...

Fired editor's email to his (ex)writers

Alan Mittelstaedt sent his freelancers the news LAO reported yesterday — that he was canned by CityBeat. Under the subject line "Fired--again!," it contains the details that he got the...

Another exit from CityBeat

Alan Mittelstaedt, CityBeat's news editor and number two, was let go on Friday by Acting Editor Rebecca Schoenkopf. Something about the money being used for columns and freelancers. That's one...

Our evolving newspapers

Tidbits from the print world... The Daily News continues to lose journalists to other pursuits. But Councilman Jose Huizar gains a press deputy. Today's newsroom missives from Managing Editor Melissa...

LA Weekly's People of '08

Profiled this year are, among others, Charles Phoenix, Pat Kingsley, Jill Leovy, Ben Goldhirsh, Karen Ocamb, Brooks Melchior, J. Michael Walker, Pau Gasol and Jordan Elgrably, co-founder of the Levantine...

She walked the line...

As an amateur admirer of mariachi, I enjoyed CityBeat's feature on the female ensemble Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles. But I was stopped by the byline: Kamren Curiel, who I...

LA Weekly eliminates its #2 editor

When the LA Weekly staff moves to Culver City next week, it will do so without Deputy Editor Joe Donnelly. His position was cut by Phoenix, I'm told by sources...

LA Weekly throws out the trash

Staffers began complaining a couple of weeks ago that the LA Weekly's history was being dumped in the parking lot. I don't know if this stuff is valuable or refuse,...

Alan Rich out as Weekly critic

Another local music critic down, not many left to go. Alan Rich, who is at least 83, was let go as classical music critic over lunch with LA Weekly editor...

CityBeat, the unofficial view *

The official explanation for Steve Lowery bailing as editor of CityBeat after a few days is that his heart wasn't in reinventing the weekly as a broader, more appealing magazine-like...

CityBeat editor quits, heart not in it

Steve Lowery reported as editor in chief on Monday, put out his first issue of CityBeat on Thursday, then tendered his resignation last night. "I felt horrible when I called...

Two columnists quit CityBeat

I'm told that two of the original CityBeat columnists have given up their gigs in response to last week's dump of editor Steve Appleford. Natalie Nichols writes the pop-culture column...

LA Weekly archives "in the parking lot"

An email going around from an LA Weekly staffer says someone at the paper has decided to throw out most of the printed copies of the paper. Folks, Believe it...

¡Ask a Mexican! hits the end?

Gustavo Arellano announced in today's OC Weekly column that he's dropping the long-running ¡Ask a Mexican! gig that has brought him fame and...well, maybe just fame. And lots of angry...

Editor change at CityBeat

After this week's issue went to bed earlier today, the staff of CityBeat was told that founding editor Steve Appleford is being replaced by Steve Lowery, who starts Monday. This...

Village Voice Media loses in San Francisco

The Bay Guardian won its predatory pricing lawsuit against the SF Weekly, receiving about $15 million in trebled damages. Longtime BAG owner Bruce Brugmann had accused the New Times boys...

Morning Buzz: Friday 1.4.08

Where's Jay Levin? The founder of last year's one-off magazine RealTalkLA resurfaced this week as an editorial consultant at CityBeat, brought in by parent Southland Publishing. RealTalk's website, meanwhile, is...

Being Christian at the Jewish Journal

Commenters on the God Blog have attacked the Jewish Journal for employing a "God-fearing Christian" with the last name of Greenberg to write for the weekly. (Brad) Greenberg explains his...

Sarah Silverman is Jewish?

OK, just kidding about that. But who knew her older sister is a rabbi on a kibbutz in Israel? I guess you would if you remember Sarah's debut joke on...

District Weekly debuts

A couple of LAO readers emailed to say they couldn't find today's premiere issue of The District Weekly anywhere around Long Beach. But apparently it came out, with strip club...

Another editor leaves OC Weekly

Executive Editor Matt Coker isn't moving north to Long Beach — he's going another 400 miles further. His email to what remains of the OC Weekly staff follows: From: Matt...

New paper for Long Beach *

Now we know why all those OC Weekly resignations have been coming so fast. Several of the departed are joining former Weekly editor Will Swaim in a new Long Beach...

Commie Girl's last column

We told you yesterday afternoon that Rebecca Schoenkopf became the third exit in a week from the OC Weekly, and said her farewell "Commie Girl" column would run today. Well...

Stewart gives notice *

Jill Stewart mailed out her own announcement today about shutting down her syndicated column to assume a key editing position at the LA Weekly. She emails: Hi all, Some news:...

Raising questions for Israel

Jack Miles' essay asking if Lebanon is Israel's Iraq — and whether the war on Hezbollah is a miscalculation that might leave Israel worse off — would not be so...

More coverage of New Times-VV merger

New Times is out with a press release today on its merger with Village Voice Media. Excerpt: "Together, New Times and Village Voice Media create a truly national media company...
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