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Kevin Roderick is the founder, publisher and editor of LA Observed. He is a journalist and radio commentator and the author of two books about Los Angeles. Kevin created LA Observed in 2003 after holding a variety of positions in Los Angeles newsrooms. In 2009 the Society of Professional Journalists in L.A. gave Kevin its first Distinguished Work in New Media Award.
He worked at the Los Angeles Times for 25 years, specializing as a reporter in Los Angeles and Sacramento politics, urban affairs and California. As a Metro editor he supervised coverage of the state and the environment and shared in two Pulitzer Prizes bestowed on the staff for coverage of the 1992 L.A. riots and the 1994 Northridge earthquake. While the senior editor for projects, Kevin guided ambitious investigations and journalistic narratives into the paper.
Kevin was the Los Angeles bureau chief for the late Industry Standard magazine and is currently a contributing writer at Los Angeles. His stories have also appeared in Smithsonian, the Los Angeles Times Magazine, the Los Angeles Times Book Review, C, the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles and L.A. Architect.
His most recent book, Wilshire Boulevard: Grand Concourse of Los Angeles, was a Los Angeles Times bestseller and end-of-year Favorite Book of the Times Book Review. Wilshire Boulevard, in its third printing, also was a Book of the Year finalist of the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association. His first book was The San Fernando Valley: America's Suburb
Kevin won a 2007 Golden Mike Award for his weekly LA Observed commentaries on KCRW-FM, the National Public Radio station based in Santa Monica. He has hosted the station's program Politics of Culture and appears frequently in the media as a commentator on Los Angeles and its institutions. Kevin has been quoted, cited or interviewed in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Los Angeles Daily News, Los Angeles Business Journal, LA Weekly and the Los Angeles Independent. He has appeared on C-SPAN, National Public Radio, American Public Media, "KNBC News Conference," "Eye on L.A.," "Fox-11 News," "Life & Times," "Which Way, L.A.?," "Airtalk with Larry Mantle," "Talk of the City," "Patt Morrison," "Deadline L.A.," "Call Sheet," "Off-Ramp" and "The Ira Fistell Show."
He often speaks to classes and groups about New Media and the Los Angeles scene. He has moderated discussions for Zocalo and the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, participated on panels at UC Berkeley, USC, UCLA and UC Irvine, and has been a journalism judge for PEN Center USA and the Online News Association. He is a former member of Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. and the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting.
Kevin is also director of the UCLA Newsroom. He is a native Angeleno who has lived in Van Nuys, Northridge, Reseda, Glendale, Frogtown adjacent, Mid-City and Santa Monica. Now he lives with his family in Mar Vista.
If you really want more, you can visit his website.
Contact Kevin.
Photo: Marc Goldstein
