alternative newspaper
An alternative newspaper is a type of newspaper that eschews comprehensive coverage of general news in favor of stylized reporting, opinionated reviews and columns, investigations into edgy topics and magazine-style feature stories highlighting l ...
in Los Angeles,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
. It was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin, who served as president and editor until 1991.
Voice Media Group
Voice Media Group (VMG) is an American privately held media company headquartered in Denver, Colorado. VMG owns several newspaper publications across the country. These offerings extend across print, mobile and digital marketing.
VMG's current pr ...
sold the paper in late 2017 to Semanal Media LLC, whose parent company is listed as Street Media. The current Editor-in-Chief and Creative Director is Darrick Rainey.
It covers Los Angeles music, arts, film, theater, culture, concerts, and events. In 1979 they established the
LA Weekly Theater Award
LA Weekly Theater Award was an annual critics' award system established in 1979, organized by the '' LA Weekly'' for outstanding achievements in small theatre productions in Southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal ...
s which awards small theatre productions (99 seats or less) in Los Angeles. Starting in 2006, ''LA Weekly'' has hosted the LA Weekly Detour Music Festival every October. The entire block surrounding
Los Angeles City Hall
Los Angeles City Hall, completed in 1928, is the center of the government of the city of Los Angeles, California, and houses the mayor's office and the meeting chambers and offices of the Los Angeles City Council. It is located in the Civic Cente ...
is closed off to accommodate the festival's three stages.
Some of its best known writers were
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
-winning food writer
Jonathan Gold
Jonathan Gold (July 28, 1960 – July 21, 2018) was an American food critic and music critic. He was for many years the chief food critic for the ''Los Angeles Times'' and also wrote for ''LA Weekly'' and ''Gourmet'', in addition to serving as a ...
, who left in early 2012, and
Nikki Finke
Nikki Jean Finke (December 16, 1953 – October 9, 2022) was an American blogger, journalist, publisher, and writer. She was a consultant to Penske Business Media LLC and senior editorial contributor for PBM run by media owner Jay Penske. She f ...
, who blogged about the film industry through the ''Weekly'' website and published a print column in the paper each week, leaving in June 2009 after the blog she founded, '' Deadline Hollywood Daily'', was acquired by an online firm.
History
The paper was founded in 1978 by
Jay Levin
Jay Levin is an American journalist who was founder, editor and CEO of the ''LA Weekly'', one of the seminal newspapers of the weekly alternative press in the United States, until 1992.
Currently he is founding President of The Big EQ Campaign, ...
, who served as its editor from 1978 to 1991 and its president from 1978 to 1992. Levin put together an investment group that included actor
Michael Douglas
Michael Kirk Douglas (born September 25, 1944) is an American actor and film producer. He has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, and the AF ...
Austin Sun
The ''Austin Sun'' was a biweekly counterculture newspaper, similar in nature to ''Rolling Stone'' during the latter's formative years, that was published in Austin, Texas, between 1974 and 1978.
Although some former employees have complained about personnel moves since the ''Weekly'' parent company's acquisition by New Times Media in 2004 (which assumed the
Village Voice Media
Village Voice Media or VVM is a newspaper company. It began in 1970 as a weekly alternative newspaper in Phoenix. The company, founded by Michael Lacey (editor) and Jim Larkin (publisher), was then known as New Times Inc. (NTI) and the publicati ...
name in 2005), the paper has won a
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
, and broke the story of the " Grim Sleeper" serial killer. Some of those disgruntled ex-employees complained when New Times replaced news editor Alan Mittelstaedt with ''
New Times LA
''New Times LA'' is a now-defunct alternative weekly newspaper that was published in Los Angeles, California by New Times Media from 1996 to 2002.
History
It was formed by the purchase and merger of the '' Los Angeles View''/'' Los Angeles Villag ...
'' editor
Jill Stewart
Jill Stewart was the Managing Editor at ''LA Weekly'' and laweekly.com. At ''LA Weekly'', she oversaw a team of print and digital journalists who pursue the newspaper's brand of digital hyper-localism and analytical, print journalism. She also ove ...
. But in the 2009 LA Press Club Awards, the ''Weekly'' won six first-place awards, including three by staff writer Christine Pelisek, who was honored as the city's best reporter in investigative reporting, hard news, and news feature.
Harold Meyerson
Harold Meyerson (born 1950) is an American journalist, opinion columnist and socialist. In 2009 ''The Atlantic Monthly'' named him one of "the most influential commentators in the nation" as part of their list "The Atlantic 50."
Early life and ...
, once the ''Weekly'' political editor, charged in a departing email to ''Weekly'' staffers in 2006 that the new owners had grafted a cookie-cutter template for editorial content onto the publication.
Writers once closely associated with the ''Weekly'' but let go by the paper's current management include Meyerson, classical music critic
Alan Rich
Alan Rich (June 17, 1924 – April 23, 2010) was an American music critic who served on the staff of many newspapers and magazines on both coasts. Originally from Brookline, Massachusetts, he first studied medicine at Harvard University before tur ...
, theater critic
Steven Leigh Morris
Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...
, film critic
Ella Taylor
Ella Taylor is a film critic who was a staff writer for the ''LA Weekly'' and Village Voice Media, writing film and book reviews, interviews, profiles, and cultural and political commentary from 1989 to 2009, when she and much of the staff were la ...
, and columnist
Marc Cooper
Marc Cooper is an American journalist, author, journalism professor and blogger. He is a contributing editor to ''The Nation''. He wrote the popular "Dissonance" column for '' LA Weekly'' from 2001 until November 2008. His writing has also appear ...
. Internal cutbacks have resulted in the paper eliminating the position of managing editor, letting go several staff writers and other editorial department positions, as well as cutting the entire fact checking department. On June 1, 2009, the paper announced that Editor-in-Chief
Laurie Ochoa
Laurie Ochoa is an American journalist and food critic.
After beginning her career at the alternative newspaper ''LA Weekly'', Ochoa became a writer and editor for the ''Los Angeles Times''. She then was hired as executive editor at ''Gourmet'' ...
, who began helming the paper in 2001 (before the New Times acquisition), was "parting ways" with the ''Weekly''. On that same day, ads for her replacement appeared on
Craigslist
Craigslist (stylized as craigslist) is an American classified advertisements website with sections devoted to jobs, housing, for sale, items wanted, services, community service, Gig worker, gigs, résumés, and discussion forums.
Craig Newmark ...
and Journalismjobs.com. Though some speculated that Stewart was a shoo-in for the position, the job quickly went to Drex Heikes, formerly of the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
''. When Heikes left in 2011, he was replaced by Sarah Fenske.
The management of ''LA Weekly'' said staff cuts were necessary owing to poor economic conditions. However, some of the cuts are likely attributable to philosophical differences with the paper's then-owners, who have since sold the chain. Former staff writer Matthew Fleischer said at the time that "as part of the company's 'plug-and-play' management strategy, editors, writers and ad directors were moved from city to city within the chain, without regard for local knowledge. Any old-school Village Voice Media manager who resisted the metamorphosis was denounced as a 'lefty,' a 'throwback,' and worse. They were fired or simply fled."
Since 2008, ''LA Weekly'' has hosted a food and wine festival, now dubbed The Essentials, that draws sizable crowds. In 2009, former ''Los Angeles Times'' food writer Amy Scattergood became food blogger at ''LA Weekly''s Squid Ink, and was later promoted to food editor. In late 2009, the paper hired Dennis Romero, formerly of ''Ciudad'' magazine, as a full-time news blogger. Following the recession, in 2012, the paper added food critic Besha Rodell, a
James Beard Foundation Award
The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists in the United States. They are scheduled around James Beard's May 5 birthday. The media award ...
nominee and former food editor of
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
's ''
Creative Loafing
Creative Loafing is an Atlanta-based publisher of a monthly arts and culture newspaper/magazine. The company publishes a 60,000 circulation monthly publication which is distributed to in-town locations and neighborhoods on the first Thursday of ...
''. Then in 2013, ''LA Weekly'' named Amy Nicholson as its lead film critic. In 2016, ''LA Weekly'' named multimedia journalist and
Emmy
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
-winning producer Drew Tewksbury as managing editor.
As of 2022, the Editor-in-Chief and Creative Director is Darrick Rainey, the Music Editor is Brett Callwood, the Culture & Entertainment Editor is
Lina Lecaro
Lina (pronounced "Leena") is a feminine given name. Languages of origin include: English, Italian, Lithuanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Persian, Kurdish, Arabic. It is also the short form of a variety of names ending in -lina including Catalin ...
, the Arts Editor is Shana Nys Dambrot and the Food Editor is Michele Stueven. The Publisher and CEO is Brian Calle.
2012 sale
In September 2012, Village Voice Media executives Scott Tobias, Christine Brennan and Jeff Mars bought Village Voice Media's papers and associated web properties from its founders and formed
Voice Media Group
Voice Media Group (VMG) is an American privately held media company headquartered in Denver, Colorado. VMG owns several newspaper publications across the country. These offerings extend across print, mobile and digital marketing.
VMG's current pr ...
. The paper won journalism awards before and after this transition, with two of its news writers, Patrick Range McDonald and Gene Maddaus, winning the
Los Angeles Press Club
The Los Angeles Press Club is an American journalism organization founded in 1913. It honors journalists through its annual National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards and SoCal Journalism Awards.
The Board of Directors includes the organi ...
's nod for "Journalist of the Year".
For a time in the Los Angeles market, ''LA Weekly'' competed against two now-defunct publications, including ''
Brand X
Brand X were a jazz fusion band formed in London in 1974. They were active until 1980, followed by a reformation between 1992 and 1999, and were active following a 2016 reunion until 2021. Members have included John Goodsall (guitar), Percy ...
'' (a weekly published by the ''Los Angeles Times'' and produced by a crew that included former ''LA Weekly'' staffers) and ''
LA CityBeat
''Los Angeles CityBeat'' was an alternative weekly newspaper in Los Angeles, California, debuting June 12, 2003. The publication ceased production with the March 26, 2009, issue. ''LA CityBeat'' was available every Thursday at more than 1,500 dis ...
'', a smaller alternative weekly newspaper owned by
Southland Publishing
Southland Publishing, Inc. is a publishing company based in Pasadena, California with five offices in Southern California (Downtown Los Angeles, Ventura County, Santa Monica, Pasadena, and San Diego). The company produces weekly newspapers, month ...
, which ceased publication in March 2009. Southland also owns the ''Pasadena Weekly'', (helmed by veteran LA-area newsman Kevin Uhrich), ''The Argonaut'' on the Westside of Los Angeles, and other print products in Southern California.
2017 sale
In November 2017, the publication was sold to Semanal Media LLC. In December 2017, it was revealed that the new owners of Semanal Media LLC include "David Welch, a Los Angeles-based attorney with ties to the
cannabis
''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: ''Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternatively ...
industry; philanthropist Kevin Xu, an investor with biotech firm Mebo International; attorney Steve Mehr; boutique hotelier Paul Makarechian; real estate developer Mike Mugel; and Southern California investor Andy Bequer", all residents of
Orange County, California
Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, a ...
. The new operation manager is Brian Calle.
In August 2018, David Welch sued the other co-owners, alleging "they've pillaged the company."
The current ownership is of the company is listed as Street Media, which also owns
The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...
Marina Times
''LA Weekly'' is a free Weekly newspaper, weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin, who served as president and editor until 1991. Voice Media Group sold the paper in late 2017 to Semenal Media ...