Archive by Month
March 30, 2007
Washington Post columnist and Slate contributor Richard Cohen makes a stab at some Grazergate humor. Didn't work for me, but your mileage might vary. Excerpt... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Thank you to everyone who emailed while I was off. It was deeply moving and helpful to my family to receive such good thoughts from... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
March 27, 2007
The News & Chatter side of LA Observed plans to stand down for a day or so to mark the passing of my father. Robert... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Come on inside for a first look at the day...... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
March 26, 2007
Yeah, the Times really got its money's worth out of that innovation. "We have concluded we will not be moving forward with the program," the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Student journalists at Occidental College dug through old literary magazines to find two poems that Sen. Barack Obama published in 1982. "What better than the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
An L.A. Times press release announces several reductions in the value of what the paper give its dwindling readership — oops, I mean "editorial changes... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
This afternoon at 2 pm Patt Morrison will have on the German photographer behind You-Are-Here.com, the best website of Los Angeles architectural photos. He blogs... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Tim Swanson, who has been the west coast bureau chief of Premiere and a writer for Variety, will blog about "the worlds of film, music,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
The Times has quietly eliminated some of the typographic cacophony that erupted on the front page in October. Gone are the skinny, sans-serif headlines, the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Lots of news to begin the week, sliced and diced after the jump.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
In the new issue out now, Joe Domanick examines the case against Phil Spector while Strawberry Saroyan sizes up the career of fired book publisher... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
I received a whole bunch of thoughtful email last week on the Grazergate episode. Submissions are over at We Get Email from, among others, a... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
March 25, 2007
Last week's most noteworthy posts, subjectively speaking. Well, there was that business with the Times and the editor who gave a page to the movie... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
In Andrés Martinez's email to LA Observed after he quit Thursday as Times editorial page honcho, he implied that former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Allison Silver, now a producer on "The Charlie Rose Show," edited the Sunday Opinion section in the L.A. Times for ten years before moving over... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
We told you last week that radio personality April Winchell had blown Bill O'Reilly's cover as a man of the people by exposing his rant... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Tim Cavanaugh, the web editor who joined the Times Opinion staff recently from Reason magazine, reacted to the resignation of his boss, Andrés Martinez, by... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
March 24, 2007
Times media columnist Tim Rutten was fingered by Andrés Martinez (in Thursday's email to LA Observed) as one of the LAT staffers supposedly blocking innovation... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Petersen was a giant figure in Southern California car culture and created a large magazine and book empire, Petersen Publishing. He grew up around his... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
March 23, 2007
Times Editor Jim O'Shea sent a missive around the newsroom this evening replying to Andrés Martinez's attacks emailed to LA Observed and posted earlier... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Mel Gibson cursed a professor at Cal State Northridge last night after a screening of Apocalypto,, which the professor had termed racist. ""He told... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Travel editor Gary Warner of the Orange County Register bought this souvenir T-shirt at Holman Stadium, where the Dodgers play their spring training games in... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Abbreviated edition today, after the jump.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
(* Update after jump: New email from Martinez reacting to Times editor Jim O'Shea.) After my post last night on his exit blog from the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
March 22, 2007
Kelly Mullens, the crisis PR executive whose love life has suddenly become newsworthy, is known for her recent work on behalf of homophobic "Grey's Anatomy"... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Native Intelligence contributor David Rensin adds his voice to those saying goodbye to a valued friend in Cathy Seipp, who died Wednesday: I met Cathy,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Lost in the earlier flurry of posts about the resignation of Andrés Martinez were his verbal attack on the Times newsroom and veiled bitterness at... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
The former New York Post gossip reporter alleges that Beverly Hills gazillionaire Ron Burkle committed libel, emotional distress, interference in business relationship, injurious falsehood, abuse... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
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... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Brian Grazer's thoughts on the big issues won't be in Sunday's Los Angeles Times Current section, if there even is a Current stuffed deep into... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
I was locked in a meeting when the morning's dramas went down, but here's the bottom line. Los Angeles Times Publisher David Hiller, under heavy... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
CBS 2 news director Nancy Bauer Gonzales is well-known to LA Observed readers as the stickliest control freak to run a Los Angeles newsroom. Her... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Bill Boyarsky played a prominent role in cleaning up the L.A. Times' ethical mess after the Staples Center scandal in 1999, serving as the conduit... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
We've got foie gras, rattlesnakes and a bunch of media and politics notes today. Come on in...... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Bob Woodward is the Washington Post editor who was not on the 4 o'clock news yesterday on ABC 7. Bob Woodruff is the former ABC... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Times publisher David Hiller says in the morning paper that he might kill this Sunday's Current section rather than run an editor's note about how... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
March 21, 2007
The Hollywood Christmas Parade is no more. Last year's 75th edition of the parade was the final one, organizers announced today. "This is a very... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
There will be a public funeral for Cathy Seipp at 10 am on Friday at Mt. Sinai Hollywood Hills on Forest Lawn Drive. Denise Hamilton... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Sunday's Current section in the Los Angeles Times will carry an editor's note disclosing some details of a romantic relationship between Andrés Martinez, the paper's... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Cathy Seipp's public battle with lung cancer ended at 2:05 this afternoon. She was surrounded by family members and friends when she died at Cedars-Sinai.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Reader Lorna Herf and her husband — the ones who walked away from paying cash for a BMW because the dealer demanded a thumbprint —... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
President Bush gave Attorney General Alberto Gonzales a vote of confidence last night, but why let that ruin a good story? This morning's Daily Journal... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Is Los Angeles headed for racial conflict? That and more inside.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
March 20, 2007
Technically, I guess it's the booboo of the week because it was in last Thursday's LA Weekly issue. But I just noticed: The article “Nasty... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Los Angeles New City Monthly, from the company behind CityBeat, will "celebrate the intellectual and cultural 'renaissance' of L.A.'s Eastside, from Hollywood through Silver Lake... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
The Communist Party USA has donated its archives to New York University. "Decades of party history including founding documents, secret code words, stacks of personal... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
I finally got around to Deborah Solomon's Q-and-A with Ron Burkle in Sunday's New York Times Magazine. He talks about Hillary, briefly glances off David... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
L.A.'s knockoff attempt at a "fashion week" appears to be losing its online sizzle. LA.com's blog is covering the shows and hoopla, but not the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Come on in...just click below.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
March 19, 2007
LA Observed's man with the video camera, Jacob Soboroff, greeted the A380 Airbus this morning at LAX. Check it out at Native Intelligence: He's got... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Michael Newman is the deputy editorial page editor at the Los Angeles Times who starred in a minor media dustup this month over his observation,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
You (and I) weren't crazy: the Times did launch a new enviro-blog last Tuesday and suspend it on Thursday. It will return in early April,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Daryl Cagle's Professional Cartoonists Index has become a go-to daily blog digest of editorial cartoons. Today, though, he commiserates about the incredible shrinking (except for... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Journalist and blogger Cathy Seipp has been bravely and publicly battling lung cancer for many years. (She was not a smoker.) Her daughter Maia Lazar,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
This is one of the Airbus A380's that took off in Europe this morning and are scheduled to land in the U.S. about 9:30 am.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Start the new week with a jolt of news and observation. Click to enter...... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
March 18, 2007
Blogger Lorna Brown was all set to buy a new car at South Bay BMW. She and the sales team agreed on price, trade-in, everything.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Here are twelvish of the smartest, scoop-iest or most insidery posts from the past week here at LA Observed. Click here if you want the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Next week John Humble, whose website I stumbled upon in 2005, receives a pretty nice honor for a living Los Angeles photographer: a show of... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
March 17, 2007
First cut on Saturday afternoon...plus Sunday updates at the bottom. Richard Alarcon resigned from the Assembly in time to allow the special election to fill... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Our Morning Buzz post on Tuesday reported the launch of a new L.A. Times blog, Carbon Shift, to cover "energy-related news: climate change, energy security,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Now that talkjock Marc Germain has left KABC 790 for the left side of the radio politics spectrum (and the right side of the AM... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
March 16, 2007
There's continued talk at the L.A. Times of looming cost-cutting and a senior newsroom shift in the works, but I guess there is no hiring... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Mayor Villaraigosa is expected by many to eventually endorse Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for president, but for now he is saying nice things about several... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Last year's L.A. Times publisher, Jeffrey Johnson, has a taken an executive post where he will oversee media interests for Ron Burkle's Yucaipa Cos. Burkle,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Mosey in for a look by clicking below...... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
March 15, 2007
Tonight's Los Angeles Political Roast raised $575,000 for the American Diabetes Association, but the 1,000 or so people who packed into a Century Plaza ballroom... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Judea and Ruth Pearl received word Wednesday night that the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, has confessed to killing their... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
The L.A. Times has announced that Current, the paper's Sunday (for now) commentary and ideas section, will have a guest editor every quarter to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
More La Cucaracha-related troubles at the L.A. Times feature section: 'La Cucaracha': In some copies of today's Comics Plus, the "Blondie" comic strip was printed... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
We keep it hidden so the page doesn't look all ugly. Click to come on in.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
March 14, 2007
Yes, newspapers still care about Pulitzer prizes. Prompted by yesterday's news that the Times has two Pulitzer finalists in criticism who nominated themselves, a whisper... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Word out of Orange County is that newsroom staffers at the Register have signed a letter protesting the posting of anonymous comments on the paper's... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
In this week's The Z Files, posted to the LA Weekly website more than a day early, David Zahniser reports on a recall move against... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Busy day inside. Come on in...... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Science writer Robert Lee Hotz is leaving the Times for the Wall Street Journal to write the Science Journal column. An elected fellow of the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
March 13, 2007
The National Labor Relations Board plans to take action against Wendy McCaw's Santa Barbara News-Press for illegally firing seven staffers who backed the newsroom union... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
KFI News' Eric Leonard reports on his blog that at least two California Highway Patrol officers assigned to the Newhall station were placed off-duty during... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Channel 7 morning news anchor Phillip Palmer goes under the knife tomorrow at St. Vincent's to donate a kidney to a friend, former KCAL news... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
All three finalists in the cricitism category of the Pulitzer prizes are from Los Angeles, Joe Strupp reports at Editor & Publisher. The trio includes... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Coverage in the Orange County Register of April Branum giving birth — she weighs 420 pounds and didn't realize she was pregnant — became the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Joseph Russin joins KTLA News as executive editor of planning. "Russin's responsibilities will include overseeing news coverage on-air and on the web, planning feature stories... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
From the L.A. Times: An article in Sunday's California section profiling members of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors said that decorations on the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
It's all after the fold.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
March 12, 2007
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... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Edgar Baitzel died Sunday of cancer. He joined LA Opera in 2001 and became Chief Operating Officer in February 2006. Placido Domingo, the opera company's... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Claudia McMahon joins the staff of Councilman Dennis Zine today as communications deputy. "She comes to us with a wealth of media experience including several... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
The new fashion-centric Image section will appear monthly in the Times starting next Sunday then switch to weekly in September. The section will be headed... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Barbara Hansen's TableConversation.com picks up where her ethnic food columns in the Times food section left off. Hansen left the paper last June and since... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Click below for the full Buzz, of course, but don't miss weekend posts on a new Doug Dowie profile, the death of Richard Jeni, Ruby... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
March 11, 2007
Here's a quick look at the best of last week's LA Observed entries... Nancy Bauer Gonzales means it this time, dammit: no perfume, cologne or... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Mayor Villaraigosa's main photo op for Monday will be to announce that the only African and sole female elephant at the Los Angeles Zoo is... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Standup comedian Richard Jeni was found gravely injured from a gunshot wound Saturday morning inside his West Hollywood apartment. He died soon after at the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Sacramento Bee reporter Aurelio Rojas visits with Doug Dowie (his former boss at UPI) in today's paper and says the story of the ex-editor and... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Jim Beardsley, a local historian who is the archivist at Marymount High School, stopped by the old Marineland site on Palos Verdes Peninsula and... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
March 10, 2007
Last year's winners of the Los Angeles Marathon and other top runners boycotted this month's race because they didn't receive their winnings for almost a... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
March 09, 2007
Geez, it's been nothing but memos today. One more: the LAT Business section shuffles editors and brings back Anne Reifenberg, who had been running West... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
As we hinted earlier, the columnist rotation changes. Out are Erin Aubry Kaplan (as reported previously), Max Boot and Jonathan Chait. Meghan Daum escapes the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Channels 2 and 9 news director Nancy Bauer Gonzales has gone on the warpath before against perfume and cologne in the office (as well as... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Interim editor Steve Lowery has just become the latest OC Weekly staffer to depart in the wake of Village Voice Media's takeover. His email to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Look whose arms are being twisted to subscribe to the Los Angeles Times: employees. Head of circulations Jack Klunder, who returned to the LAT after... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Mark Frauenfelder of BoingBoing was on "The Colbert Report" this week in his hat as Editor of Make magazine. Mark and the host fired marshmallows... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Denise Hamilton ponders the sighting of catfish in the Los Angeles River at Native Intelligence, Friday morning headlines at LA Biz Observed, and We Get... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Click for the whole thing...... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
March 08, 2007
Inspectors poking around to find out why a big piece of plaster fell off the Theme Building at LAX discovered pervasive rust damage. Encounter, the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Rob Eshman, editor of the Jewish Journal, writes in the new issue that he decided to stop his moaning about America's reliance on foreign oil... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Every year Joe Strupp of Editor & Publisher reports the supposedly secret list of finalists submitted by Pulitzer Prize judges. One year I beat Joe... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
An LA Observed reader asks: "Why are there seven jobs for ABC 7 listed on JournalismJobs.com?" Dunno, but it's true and they are all for... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Now we know the answer to the question: what if they gave an election and (almost) nobody came? Rest of the Morning Buzz is inside...... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
March 07, 2007
Lalo Alcaraz feels pretty good about having "La Cucaracha" restored to the L.A. Times. He's sending around this riff on Dewey Beats Truman.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
OC Weekly staffers learned about their new music editor from The Stranger in Seattle. Luke Y. Thompson announced he's headed to the OC as... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
I'm going to guess that the pressure to fold the Times' Sunday Book Review into a cheaper, thinner Saturday tabloid comes from the Chicagoans in... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Bon Appétit senior editor Heather John began dreaming about her post-L.A. Marathon meal long before she entered (and completed) Sunday's race. When her first choice... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Assemblyman Richard Alarcon wins a seat on the City Council without a runoff, pulling 54.6% to Monica Rodriguez's 27.9%. (She was the one endorsed by... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Latest L.A. city election results are here. In early results, Richard Alarcon was winning his race to rejoin the City Council and Mayor Villaraigosa was... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
March 06, 2007
Are we entering an era of cross-newspaper snark? Yesterday it was Daily News blogger Mariel Garza making fun of an L.A. Times editor who finds... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Back in November we noted that the Times' then-new publisher David Hiller replied to a disappointed reader's email with a personal note. That's still his... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
That was fast: the Lalo Alcaraz comic strip that was killed yesterday will be back tomorrow by popular demand. Flip side: the dog cat gets... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Kit Seelye is giving up the media beat to cover politics for the upgrading New York Times website. Gawker has the newsroom memo: It is... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
$25 million from BP will finance the museum's new entrance off Wilshire, says the LAT.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
If Jeffrey Trachtenberg's Wall Street Journal report is accurate, that would mean the Times decided to face the critical music and launch the scaled-back Book... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Actress Dania Ramirez holds up the clothes for the spring fashion issue, which focuses on local designers Eduardo Lucero and Emiliano Moreno. Also in the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Would you believe it's election day again? Los Angeles and some surrounding cities will vote. Go ahead, try it for a change — in L.A.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
March 05, 2007
New email to LA Observed from a Reagan White House staffer, an emeritus professor and others covering the loss of La Cucaracha, the incredible shrinking... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Tavis Smiley scores an interview tonight on PBS with Bruce Gordon, who resigned Sunday after just nineteen months as head of the NAACP. "A 64... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
A ruling on Friday by a committee of the Library of Congress means that KCRW.com and other websites that stream music could have to pay... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Michael Newman, the Times' deputy opinion editor from out of town, thinks so after running yesterday's marathon. He particularly seems to not much like Boyle... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
April issue is the last one in print, says Ad Age. The magazine brand will continue online.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Cynthia Littleton was the recently named (well, last March) editor of The Hollywood Reporter and Anne Thompson was deputy film editor. They join Variety as... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Today's Wall Street Journal advances tomorrow's Beverly Hills municipal election with a front-page story that focuses on the Iranian face of the city through Jimmy... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
One person was more surprised than most by the Times' announcement today that several comic strips would no longer appear daily. He is Lalo Alcaraz,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
The San Francisco Chronicle has a unique understanding of how readers here might react to the LAT folding its Book Review in with Current. The... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Ton of media notes today, and a lot of other stuff. Click below to go on in.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
March 04, 2007
If layoffs or buyouts hit the Los Angeles Times newsroom later this month, as many on the staff predict, you can bet there will be... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
David Beckham damaged a ligament in his right knee playing today in Madrid, and European media were full of reports that the injury is serious... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Times columnist Tim Rutten rehashes 'Frontline' in his Saturday column and finds it "mysterious and troubling" that his bosses, editor Jim O'Shea and publisher... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
March 03, 2007
David Abel, publisher of The Planning Report and Metro Investment Report, now has a colloquium named after him. "Rethinking Governance in the Age of MySpace.com"... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
March 02, 2007
Essayist William Kittredge will pick up the Robert Kirsch Award on April 27 when the winners in the following Los Angeles Times Book Prize categories... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Men, that's who. Only 36 percent of the broadcast viewers on ABC were male, tying the show’s all-time lowest popularity among men, Alex Ben Block... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Quentin Tarantino's two months in residence at the New Beverly Cinema has inspired Dennis Cozzalio, the blogger behind the under-appreciated Sergio Leone and the Infield... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
With this year's new L.A. Marathon route, a lot of people are going to head out Sunday and run into street closures. The map and... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Last Buzz of the week. Click to get the skinny.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
March 01, 2007
The LA Weekly's David Zahniser asks how it is that Assemblyman Richard Alarcon spent more than $415,000 running for election when he didn't have an... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Jill Leovy asks the question in her Homicide Report blog at LATimes.com: "Are Black-vs.-Brown Racial Tensions Driving Homicide in L.A.?" Her answer is no. Take... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
The dimensions of departing airports chief Lydia Kennard's deal to keep a hand in the pot at LAX are becoming clear. Nice deal, if you... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Mark Sarvas, L.A.'s most recognized lit-blogger, has a post up at The Elegant Variation that he's been hoping to write for a long time. He... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Adolfo V. Nodal was general manager of the city's Cultural Affairs Department from 1988 until the Hahn Administration took over City Hall in 2001. (He... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
It's not quite O.J. Simpson-in-a-white Bronco, but it's still a premium-grade L.A. police chase tale. During yesterday's press conference to remember the 1997 North Hollywood... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Marc Germain, who recently departed his talk radio gig as Mr. KABC, begins Monday as the afternoon drive-time talk jock on a newly revamped AM... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Mark Frauenfelder, a former colleague of mine at the Industry Standard, who talks about the rise to Internet stardom of BoingBoing in this month's Los... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
There's no Morning Buzz today due to the press of other time commitments, but just look at what's fresh on the site right now. Good... $MTEntryExcerpt$>