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Letter from an alleged publisher
adapted from our May 2002 issue
When we first started this project about a year ago, friends suggested we write a mission statement and print it as our raison d’etre. we didn’t. we wanted the paper’s content to speak for itself. in fact, looking back on it, that was symbolic of the paper’s whole attitude. could we reverse a publication’s normal paradigm? put out good content, then see if quality words and photographs would inspire local businesses to back us in the form of advertising.
over the last year, VENICEpaper has been lucky. people ranging from LA Louver’s director, Kimberly Davis, to acclaimed architect Larry Scarpa, to classic surf journalist Matt George, helped us out. our distributors have been so generous with counter space. and plenty of talented, established people gave a lot of time, for free to this paper. not because they wanted a career in publications, although some of them already had them, but because they believed in the idea.
that idea was and continues to be: we are pro-community.
6 issues into VENICEpaper, Manny Gonzalez, the owner of Manny’s Bikes over on Lincoln, came to us. he wanted to help. he wrote us a check. he told us that as long as we kept putting out issues, he’d keep supporting us. Larry Scarpa had already dug into his pocket and paid for two issues, straight out.
this month, as VENICEpaper expands from two pages to four, Gonzalez and Scarpa are joined in their support by several local & Westside businesses. those businesses are getting this issue to you. we are honored that they want to become part of this project. we are asking you to support those business back. as Matt would say, “Thank you, Venice.”
Venice’s independence and innovation has nothing to do with city boundaries, neither does its sense of community. if there’s a story we should be following let us know. if there’s writing on this site that you’re catalyzed by, or feverently disagree with, e-mail or call us. if there’s something we should all be laughing about, lay it on us. support your friends, back your homies, speak out when it’s necessary, laugh all the time. and, welcome to venice.
we’ll see you next month.
your staff at VENICEpaper
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