APA-L

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APA-L, based inLos Angeles, is one of the few weeklyapae extant, and one of a not very much larger group of local apas. It was founded in 1964 and as of 2024 was still active with over nearly 3000(!!) mailings.

Inspired byAPA-F (the first weeklyfanAPA, put out inNew York),Bruce Pelz felt that a weeklyAPA should becollated atLASFS meetings (though APA-L is not officially a part ofLASFS). With the help of his then-wife,Dian (who became the firstOfficial Collator of theAPA). and several other local members, APA-L started its weekly run with its firstdisty on October 22, 1964. As of the beginning of 2015, APA-L had produced just under 2,600distributions.

Lenny Bailes remembered that when APA-L was started, Dian Pelz stated that it was for LASFS members only, butRedd Boggs andTom Gilbert decided to pull off a coup. Gilbert wrote to severalAPA-F members includingDave Van Arnam,Pat Lupoff,Dick Lupoff,Rich Mann, and Bailes. He told them about the creation of APA-L, invited them to send inLASFS dues that he would present to the sec-treasurer and submit contributions. As Bailes remembered it, they did this for the first or second "disty" of APA-L and dumbfounded Bruce and Dian.

Marty Cantor was OC as of 2022.

MostAPAs call the bundles they produce "mailings". Even though APA-L usually has out-of-area contributors, some even outside of the US, most contributors areLASFS attendees and pick up their copies right aftercollation. Therefore, instead of "mailings," APA-Lers call thecollatedAPA issues "distributions". It is usually shortened to "disty".

At one point, theAPA ceased production for a period of about 11 weeks. However, once it recommenced distribution, there have been no further gaps in its production. There have been a few of what have been called "Fractional distributions" along the way (e.g., APA-L #30.5). In at least one case, this was done so that a certain contributor would break his string of contributing to each distribution. He managed to hear about it and contribute azine to that distribution, anyway.

The period in 1972 whenAPA-L was invaded by large numbers ofcrudzines is known as theCrud Crisis.

Of considerable note is APA-L contributorFred Patten, who had a zine in each and every distribution of APA-L even after sufffering a stroke, able to move only his left leg and left arm. It had been said that if Fred ever stopped producing a zine for APA-L, the world would come to an end. (He did stop afterdisty 2680, but APA-L (and the world) went on!) He also publishedThe Best from APA-L.

APA-L's previousOfficial CollatorTim Merrigan put in more than 18 years at that job. When APA-L andAPA-F were at their height,Dave Van Arnam was publishing four weeklyfanzines -– two forAPA-F and two for APA-L–some of them 20pp or more in length.

MailingsDatesOE
1 -- ??October 1964 -- ??Dian Pelz
172-175 (at least)1968Marty Cantor
?? - ???? -- ??Tim Merrigan
Late 500s?? -- ??Marty Cantor
800 -- 824?? -- ??Marty Cantor
?? -- ??2001 -- ??Marty Cantor
?? -- ??Heath Row

Members andApazines:

Publication1964—
This is apublication page. Please extend it by adding information about when and by whom it was published, how many issues it has had, (including adding a partial or complete checklist), its contents (including perhaps aToC listing), its size andrepro method, regular columnists, its impact onfandom, or by adding scans or links to scans. SeeStandards for Publications.

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