At the time I was with Palos Verdes Dimension Cable (now Cox Communications) running their local ad sales. Prior to that I had been the Advertising Director at the Palos Verdes Peninsula News. My love of community newspapers now brought me back to have a hand in creating a brand new publication. It took us almost two years to figure out the format when one day Kevin brought into the office a copy of a current People Magazine, and that was the inspiration for what became Peninsula People.
Kevin gave me the title publisher because he said I lived on the Peninsula and knew a lot of people. He became the editor, and in our first issue, Volume I, Issue 1, July 1996 he wrote an editorial that I often refer to when describing Peninsula People. To quote from that editorial, Kevin wrote the following:
“Gertrude Stein once told students in a writing class not to write about what they know, but about what they want to learn. This is the reason for Peninsula People. Who lives on the Peninsula? What can be learned from them? What do they contribute to their communities, and to the millions living in the basin below them?
Hopefully, in the process of being written about, Peninsula residents will learn more about themselves. The stories in Peninsula People are like letters to family members — simply written, accompanied by a few photographs, and yet vital to the community — because a community whose residents don’t know one another, ceases to be a community.
To that end, as of this issue we will have profiled 920 people, groups and organizations; all of which have had an impact on the community. As I looked over my list I realized that sadly some of those people have passed on in death, moved on to pursue other careers, or retired out of the area. But the good thing is that there are many more profiles to be written.
As we enter our 15th year, we recall a beginning that came before regular use of email, when press releases and stories came by mail or fax to be retyped by a typist before going to the production department to be formatted and pasted onto boards that were then sent to the printer to be made into negatives to be run off on the presses. That technology seems so far in the past. We have come a long way now with the universal use of email.
For the first nine and a half years the inside of Peninsula People was printed on black and white newsprint with just a few pages of available full color. The Covers from the very beginning have always been printed in full color gloss stock. Most of those covers have been shot by David Fairchild. Peninsula People took a giant leap with our first all gloss full color monthly publications beginning in 2004.
That first year of throwing Peninsula People to all peninsula single family homes, I would ask my friends and acquaintances if they had received a new monthly magazine about the Peninsula on their driveways. Many told me they were not sure. Probably it just went straight to the recycling can.
I happened to go the Portuguese Bend Horse Show in September 1996 and took some photos of the committee members. That was fun. So I just started showing up at other events with my camera, and what would you know? Friends started calling their friends to tell them they had seen their picture in a new publication that was thrown on their driveway. When I kept hearing this, I knew we were on our way to becoming the most read local magazine on the hill. People are always telling me they can’t wait to see who is pictured in the latest issue. And, they admit it is the photo pages that are the first thing they look at.
In 14-plus years I have worn out four cameras, and just purchased my fifth this month. There is hardly a weekend that I don’t have anywhere from two to five events to cover. I long ago discovered the Peninsula is the most social and charitable community in the South Bay.
The day and age of the printed word in newsprint and magazines has undergone drastic changes with the internet and television becoming the daily choices for most to receive their news. As of this past month, you can log onto easyreadernews.com and read the profiles in the latest Peninsula People. In another new technology we introduced last month, you will notice a little black and white image box on the cover called a QR (Quick Response) code. With your smart phone pointed at the image you will be linked to the Peninsula People website. You will also see these codes on some of our ads, which will link you to that advertiser’s website.
With this issue, as we begin our 15th year publishing Peninsula People, I want to thank our many fine feature writers, our dedicated Easy Reader staff that put up with me every month, and our advertisers, many who have been with us from the beginning, who make it possible for you to receive our publication free of charge on your driveway every month. And thank you, our readers, for telling us about your neighbors, asking us to cover your events and sending us your monthly community event listings.
Here’s to many more good years bringing you the best coverage on the Peninsula. PEN
