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.jpg) 2012 edition featuring musicianSyd | |
| Type | Alternative weekly |
|---|---|
| Format | Tabloid |
| Owner | Semanal Media LLC |
| Founder(s) | Jay Levin,Joie Davidow,Michael Ventura, Ginger Varney |
| Editor | Mark Stefanos |
| Founded | 1978; 47 years ago (1978) |
| Headquarters | 724 S. Spring Street, Los Angeles, California, 90014 |
| Country | United States |
| Circulation | 160,128 (as of 2016)[1] |
| ISSN | 0192-1940 |
| Website | www |
LA Weekly is a freeweeklyalternative newspaper inLos Angeles, California. The paper covers music, arts, film, theater, culture, and other local news in the Los Angeles area, in addition to sponsoring local events.LA Weekly was founded in 1978 byJay Levin (among others), and he served as the publication's editor from 1978 to 1991, as well as its president from 1978 to 1992.
Jay Levin put together an investment group that included actorMichael Douglas, Burt Kleiner, Joe Benadon, and Pete Kameron.[2] Levin's co-founders includedJoie Davidow,Michael Ventura, and Ginger Varney.[3] Levin was formerly the publisher of theLos Angeles Free Press.
The majority of theLA Weekly's initial staff members[a] came from theAustin Sun,[b] a similar-natured bi-weekly, which had recently ceased publication. The group were inspired to create theLA Weekly by their work at theSun as well as otheralternative weeklies such as theChicago Reader and Boston'sThe Real Paper andThe Phoenix.[5] Levin also retained many of the writers he had earlier brought to theLos Angeles Free Press, and installed Davidow as editor of the arts and entertainment section.
LA Weekly's first issue featured a group of female comedians, including the then-little knownSandra Bernhard, on its cover. Subsequent issues featured exposés on the Los Angeles basin's air quality and U.S. interventionism in Central America. The paper also quickly became notable for its coverage of independent cinema and the Los Angeles music scene. Davidow produced a comprehensive calendar section and explored undiscovered fashion districts, discovering new designers.
In 1985,LA Weekly launched a glossy magazine,L.A. Style, which Davidow edited.L.A. Style was sold toAmerican Express Publishing in 1988[6] (it merged withBUZZ magazine in 1993).
By 1990,LA Weekly had a circulation of 165,000, making it the largest urban weekly in the U.S.[7]
Co-founder Jay Levin stepped down as president in 1992 to pursue other ventures. Co-founders Michael Ventura and Ginger Varney left the publication in 1993. The founding team was succeeded by Michael Sigman as publisher andKit Rachlis as editor.
LA Weekly was sold to Stern Publishing, owner ofThe Village Voice, in 1994.
New Times Media acquired Stern Publishing (andLA Weekly) in 2004,[8] assuming theVillage Voice Media name in October 2005. At that point, Village Voice Media owned a chain of 17 alternative weeklies with a combined circulation of 1.8 million.[9]
Some former employees complained about personnel moves after the sale. For instance,Harold Meyerson, once theWeekly's political editor, charged in a departing email toWeekly staffers in 2006 that the new owners had grafted a cookie-cutter template for editorial content onto the publication.[10]
Belt-tightening in 2009 led to internal cutbacks, resulting in the paper eliminating the position of managing editor, letting go of several staff writers and other editorial department positions, as well as cutting the entirefact-checking department.[11] New Times Media replaced news editor Alan Mittelstaedt withNew Times LA editorJill Stewart.[12] Writers once closely associated with theWeekly but let go by the paper's management during that period included Meyerson,[10] theater critic Steven Leigh Morris,[13] film criticElla Taylor,[14] and columnistMarc Cooper.[11]
Management said staff cuts were necessary owing to poor economic conditions.[15] However, some of the cuts were likely attributable to philosophical differences with the paper's then-owners (who have since sold the chain).[c] 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."[15]
Despite this upheaval, the paper won aPulitzer Prize in 2006,[17] and in 2009 broke the story of the "Grim Sleeper" serial killer.[18] At the 2009Los Angeles Press Club Awards, theWeekly won six first-place awards, including three by staff writer Christine Pelisek, who was honored in the Investigative Reporting, Hard News, and News Feature categories.[19][20]
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 formedVoice Media Group.[21][22]
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's nod for "Journalist of the Year".[23][24]
In November 2017, the publication was sold to Semanal Media LLC, whose parent company is listed as Street Media. In December 2017, it was revealed that the new owners of Semanal Media LLC included "David Welch, a Los Angeles-based attorney with ties to thecannabis 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 ofOrange County, California. The new operation manager was Brian Calle.[25]
In August 2018, David Welch sued the other co-owners, alleging "they've pillaged the company."[26][27]
Street Media also ownsThe Village Voice,Irvine Weekly,Marina Times, andThe Laker/Lutz News.[28]
In March 2024, the publication offered buyouts to a majority of its staff.[29] As of July 2024,WIRED reported that many articles on the publication's website wereAI-generatedadvertorials aboutOnlyFans creators.[30]
In 1979, the paper established theLA Weekly Theater Awards, which awarded small theatre productions (99 seats or less) in Los Angeles.[31] In December 2014,LA Weekly announced that it was discontinuing the awards, citing the publication's desire to focus on events that would promote its profitability.[32]
From 2006 to 2009,LA Weekly hosted theLA Weekly Detour Music Festival each October. The entire block surroundingLos Angeles City Hall was closed off to accommodate the festival's three stages.[33]
Since 2008,LA Weekly has hosted a food and wine festival,[34] now dubbed The Essentials, that draws sizable crowds.
Some of the publication's recent notable writers arePulitzer Prize-winning food writerJonathan Gold, who left in early 2012; andNikki Finke, who blogged about the film industry through theWeekly's 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.[35]
On June 1, 2009, the paper announced that Editor-in-ChiefLaurie Ochoa, who began helming the paper in 2001 (before the New Times acquisition), was "parting ways" with theWeekly.[36] Though some speculated thatJill Stewart was guaranteed for the position,[37] the job quickly went to Drex Heikes, formerly of theLos Angeles Times. When Heikes left in 2011, he was replaced by Sarah Fenske.[38]
In 2009, formerLos Angeles Times food writer Amy Scattergood became food blogger atLA Weekly's Squid Ink,[39] and was later promoted to food editor. In late 2009, the paper hired Dennis Romero,[40] formerly ofCiudad magazine, as a full-time news blogger.
Following the recession, in 2012, the paper added food critic Besha Rodell, aJames Beard Foundation Award nominee and former food editor ofAtlanta'sCreative Loafing.[41]
In 2013, the paper namedAmy Nicholson its lead film critic.[42]
In 2016,LA Weekly named multimedia journalist andEmmy-winning producer Drew Tewksbury as managing editor.[43]
As of 2022, the Editor-in-Chief and Creative Director is Darrick Rainey,[44] the Music Editor is Brett Callwood, the Culture & Entertainment Editor is Lina Lecaro, the Arts Editor is Shana Nys Dambrot and the Food Editor is Michele Stueven. The Publisher and CEO is Brian Calle.
In June 2022, theLos Angeles Press Club named news reporter Isai Rocha as its "Journalist of the Year" for print publications under 50,000 in circulation at the 64th Annual Southern California Journalism Awards.[45]
In 2024,LA Weekly shed most of its editorial staff due to financial struggles.[46] As of December 2024, the Editor-in-Chief is Mark Stefanos,[47] and as of April 2025, Michele Stueven is Senior Editor.[48]
...Stewart openly despised the Weekly. And let's be honest: the Weekly staff openly despised her. I don't think that is much of a secret to anyone in L.A. media circles. Putting her in the News Editor chair was like dropping a glowing load of Kryptonite onto the Weekly lunch table.
After almost 30 years, the Theater Editor position in a city with 2,000 professional plays opening every year was determined by Phoenix to be a fiscal extravagance
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