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Better late than never, I guess. The L.A. Times looks today at the Los Angeles-spawned Andrew Breitbart phenomenon, though not as deeply as national pubs have. One interesting note: a documentary film crew has been following Breitbart for months, and he's working on an investigation of government treatment of black farmers that he calls a "huge scandal here that is going to upset the status quo in America." From the piece:
Breitbart, who lives in Westwood with his wife, Susie, and their four young children, was adopted by moderately conservative Jewish parents and attended two of L.A.'s most exclusive private schools — Carlthorp and Brentwood.His father, Gerald, owned Fox and Hounds, a landmark Tudor-style Santa Monica restaurant that later became the punk rock club Madame Wong's West. His mother, Arlene, was an executive for Bank of America in Beverly Hills and downtown L.A....
After college, Breitbart lived in Venice, where he waited on tables at Hal's and was a self-described "rollerblading, gallivanting, jocular goofball. It's embarrassing." At Hal's, he met his wife, the daughter of Orson Bean, the Venice actor and political conservative.
"Orson was there for my political transformation, and I don't think it could have happened had I not had someone like him who I admired," Breitbart said. "It was so awkward, the thoughts I was having."
Breitbart is described thusly: "In a Lacoste shirt, cargo shorts and laceless Converse All-Stars, he looked every bit the 41-year-old industry player he might have been, but for a political awakening that transformed this liberal, West Side child of privilege into a Hollywood-hating, mainstream-media-loathing conservative."
Previously on LA Observed:
Breitbart profiled in The New Yorker
Breitbart, new media David or neocrank?
Breitbart expanding into righty news
Breitbart goes Big Hollywood
Signing on with Arianna
Photo of Breitbart for Time: Bryce Duffy