There was a report on Page 2 about a burglary on Marquez Avenue where two paintings were stolen from a home. On Page 3, an announcement about community cleanup events planned for this weekend could be found. And on Page 4 there was an obituary for a longtime resident who lost her home in the Los Angeles wildfires.
Few news outlets covered the mundane and the momentous events in Pacific Palisades like the twice-monthly Palisadian-Post. After a 97-year run, Thursday’s copy of the paper, on sale at newsstands for $1.50, was the last regular edition.
The closing of the publication, which will also no longer appear online, comes nearly a year after the Palisades fire burned more than 23,000 acres of Pacific Palisades, killed 12 people and destroyed more than 6,800 structures. Thousands of residents whose homes were destroyed or damaged were displaced after the fire, and many remain in limbo as they assess whether to rebuild in the Palisades or move elsewhere.
For some residents, The Palisadian-Post was one of several community touchstones, along with the Palisades Charter High School and Corpus Christi Catholic Church, that gave the neighborhood a Mayberry feel. Although it is within Los Angeles city limits, some residents have said they like the cozy nature of Pacific Palisades, with its own paper, youth baseball league and Fourth of July parade.
In an article that ran across five columns on the front page of Thursday’s paper, Alan Smolinisky, the owner of the paper, said that the Palisades became a “ghost town” after the fire, bringing readership effectively down to zero.
“We lost the one thing we can’t do without — our readers,” Mr. Smolinisky wrote. “You can’t print a newspaper nobody reads.”
Mr. Smolinisky told readers that the decision to close the publication and its small newsroom was the hardest one he had to make as owner.
“It’s all the harder because we nearly survived,” Mr. Smolinisky wrote. “Everyone knows that newspapers have struggled. Everyone knows that many have shut down from coast to coast. But at The Pali-Post, we kept going strong for so long.”
Mr. Smolinisky, an entrepreneur who bought the paper in 2012, wrote that the publication had reached 6,200 subscribers and that, in some years, the paper broke even. But after the devastating Palisades fire, he wrote, businesses that previously advertised in The Palisadian-Post were destroyed or lost customers, making it difficult for them to afford advertising.
While the paper will close, it may not be the end for The Palisadian-Post. In an email, Mr. Smolinisky said that if someone were interested in buying the paper, he would consider selling.
Still, the announcement of the closure was largely met with understanding and disappointment from readers. Mr. Smolinisky said that he had received a number of emails from readers sharing gratitude and grief.
“I’ve been overwhelmed by how many community members have reached out to me and the newsroom,” Mr. Smolinisky said. “It’s a real testament to our town.”
For, Gabriella Bock, who now lives in Tulsa, Okla., the news that The Palisadian-Post was closing was personal. The paper was one of Ms. Bock’s early reporting jobs in her career.
“I’m very grateful for that experience,” Ms. Bock said. “I was definitely thrown into big stories very early on, and had a really great community around me that was very aware of that and was very supportive.”
The Palisadian-Post ran Ms. Bock’s marriage announcement, its office was where her colleagues threw her a baby shower, and the birth of her son was announced in its pages.
“Not only do I have a lot of first memories there,” Ms. Bock said, “but the Palisades in general has just been rocked so hard with the fires and everything.”
The Palisadian-Post covered the Palisades fire from the day it began on Jan. 7 as a small 20-acre brush fire. Since then, the paper has published dozens of articles about recovery efforts, environmental impacts and businesses that have been able to reopen since the fire.
Sue Kohl, who lost her home in the Palisades fire, said she had read the paper for about 40 years.
“It was very hometown-y,” Ms. Kohl said. “It wasn’t trying to provide news for anywhere else. So, everyone’s going to miss it.”
Ms. Kohl, who is president of the Pacific Palisades Community Council, said she was rebuilding in Pacific Palisades and plans to return when her home is finished. Until then, like many others, she is living elsewhere in the Los Angeles area.
“In the vast majority of the entire town, people are not living there,” Ms. Kohl said. “It’s hard to put out a newspaper for a town where no one’s living.”
In his article about the closing of the paper, Mr. Smolinisky wrote that he used to read The Palisadian-Post growing up. He noted that when he returned to the Palisades after college, he subscribed to the paper, and later The Palisadian-Post published his wedding announcement.
Mr. Smolinisky and his wife built a home in the Palisades, which, “by the grace of God,” was one of the few homes in the neighborhood that was not destroyed by the Palisades fire, he wrote.
“We’re not going anywhere,” the article read. “So, even as I’m filled with grief, I’m filled with hope. We’ll rebuild our homes and our businesses. We’ll welcome a new generation of families to town.”
Readers of The Palisadian-Post can still look forward to one final edition. Mr. Smolinisky said that a special tribute was in the works to be published on Dec. 24.
Jesus Jiménez is a Times reporter covering Southern California.
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