State of the blog '06

Happy New Year and thanks to everyone who made LA Observed a habit in 2005. More than 2.1 million visitors perused right around five million pages of Los Angeles observations, news and media and politics scoops. Both numbers are more than double where things stood this time last year.

Forbes magazine rated LA Observed one of the five best media blogs on the web, and writers from the left, right and center had nice things to say about the site. (Some of them are listed in the Shameless Self-Promotion Roll in the right-hand column.) As always, the archive lets you browse the past year of LA Observed by month or topic. I expect to roll out some enhancements early in 2006—more about that later, though if you have suggestions or wishlists please send them along. My top resolution for the year is to be better about replying to your email. The read-but-unfiled queue is down to (cringe) a couple of hundred.

Speaking of shameless self-promotion, I kick off the new year of Politics of Culture on KCRW Tuesday (tomorrow) at 2:30 pm. Marc Porter Zasada interviews me for half an hour about Wilshire Boulevard: Grand Concourse of Los Angeles. My partner on the book, J. Eric Lynxwiler, gets a nice splash as he answers this week's LAist Interview with Adrienne Crew. Eric can be heard narrating a Wilshire slide show on the KCET website. We're both supposed to tape a segment of KABC's Eye on L.A. tomorrow, weather willing.

Special thanks to reader Tommy Naccarato for taking last week's quip in the appropriate vein and jumping in his (virtual) car to snap the photo above of LA Observed Tower. He emailed it along with a note observing "how much it resembled the old Atlantic Richfield Building" downtown. Good eye. LA Observed also now has a snail mail address in case you are tempted to send checks, books, free magazines, illicit photos of politicians, eye-popping business propositions or just a witty limerick. Discretion is assured, as always. Address after you turn the page: