Palisadian-Post owner Alan Smolinisky (center), talks with former publisher Roberta Donohue (left) staff writer Laurie Rosenthal and managing editor Bill Bruns while visiting the Pacific Palisades office. The photo accompanied L.A. Times Writer Martha Groves 2013 story “Pacific Palisades Newspaper Junkie Buys His Own Paper.”
Photo: Jay L. Clendenin
The “Palisadian-Post” website has announced that “Effective April, the Palisadian-Post will be publishing on the second and fourth Thursday of the month instead of its weekly print schedule. For example, our subscribers can look for print editions on April 13 and April 27 next month.”
Staff photographer Rich Schmitt, whose photos had enriched the “Post” since 2001, was given just two-weeks’ notice. Two employees, writer Lily Tinoco and graphics director Michael Dijamco, were cut to part-time employment. Editor Sarah Shmerling and Sports Editor Steve Galluzzo will now serve as the only full-time employees.
The “Palisadian-Post” was founded as a weekly newspaper, “The Palisadian,” in May 1928 by editor/publisher Telford Work and sold for five cents a copy. He sold the paper to Clifford and Zola Clearwater in 1934, and Zola sold the enterprise in 1960 to Charles and William Brown, who were publishers of the crosstown newspaper, the “Pacific Palisades Post.”
The Brown brothers renamed the local paper the “Palisadian-Post,” and news and printing operations were consolidated in the building at 839 Via de la Paz.
The Browns sold the business to the Small Newspaper Group of Kankakee, Illinois in 1981.
Resident and real estate entrepreneur Alan Smolinsky purchased the paper from the Smalls in late 2012. He immediately ceased the onsite printing, and over the next year, replaced virtually every employee. The building on Via was sold to Rodeo Realty and operations were moved to a small, second-story office in the 881 Alma Real Building.
Journalism suffers the same fate whether a large publication (Chicago Tribune) or the Palisadian Post. A purchaser interested only in the physical assets and $$ to be made from that so gutting the sources of income that support the journalism.
The trend is young people 40 and under no longer read a newspaper! With the proliferation of digital Mobil devices most people want their news and entertainment to go with them and be mobile!
I canceled my Palisadian Post subscription after I started reading Circling the News. The Palisadian Post made a big mistake by letting such a veteran reporter (Sue Pascoe) go. I don’t need any other source for local news than Circling the News.
Perhaps they lost subscribers and that has also contributed to their decline.
The Palisadian-Post Post stopped being a newspaper when Smolinsky bought it. It was not worth the paper it was printed on. No wonder it’s dying.
Two times a month. Does that mean a subscription will be half the price? Will I get money back? Will my subscription be extended? LOL
Circling the News is better written, up-to-date, and more complete. I was planning on not renewing my Palisadian-Post subscription anyway.
So, what becomes of paid subscriptions when benefits (issue deliveries) are cut in half? Will subscriptions lengths be extended (doubled) to make up for halving the number of issues?