We didn't--but it was only a matter of time before New York said we did. Earlier this week, New York Times columnist David Carr's otherwise superb analysis of the whys of the Judith Regan affair implied that Regan's move to L.A. was a key factor:

Ms. Regan’s strategic shift to California put her more closely in touch with an entertainment culture that was of a piece with her approach to publishing.

Rewind to April 2005--when Regan announces that she's going to bring culture with her when she moves to the far coast. She envisions a literary salon where writers and TV and movie folks can meet, but also a bookstore and cafe, readings, the whole cultural nine yards from the Big Apple. At which point, L.A. writers bristle not just a bit--Recall, for example, David Ulin's op-ed in the L.A. Times, which says, we have culture, thank you very much. Bookstores included.

Of course, we're used to hearing that anything bad that happens in L.A. is L.A.'s fault--even the earthquakes. And of course we understand that everything that happens here seems to take on symbolic import. That's the city's curse, and its blessing. Say the most mundane sentences: "I ride my bike to the bank." "I ate a bagel." "I shopped for Christmas presents." Now add "in L.A.," and people say, "Ooooohhhh."

And the New York Times has often, if not always, been a ringleader. For a long time, it published semi-regular articles to say, hey, guess what, L.A. does have culture. (Are we done with those yet?) And remember one recent reporter, who shall not be named, who covered such topics as the first fall rainstorm and the rats in the palm trees as if they were biblical plagues.

But L.A., which has culture aplenty, does not have a monopoly on crassness, yellow journalism, or pursuing profit at any cost. Regan, after all, brought whatever she brought to L.A. (was it culture?) from a city where still resides the media mega corporation and the publishing house that approved the O.J. Simpson project step by step.

Is it just possible that a year in the mild decadent climate, and even in the lion's den of the entertainment industry, did not contribute significantly to Regan's downfall?