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Newspapers, Pay, Reviews

4/1/00 - Not many changes; it's still mostly correct. Will make small updates as necessary.

Most of these papers contain the usual news, etc. I'm only going to mention content related to restaurants, food, cooking, TV, radio, computers, and other good stuff. The mention of ads or coupons refers to restaurants unless otherwise specified.

PS - I don't read all these papers every day, so I'll fill in more details as I get them. See my Web Sites page for more info. An * indicates changes since original date.

Food section/coupon notes*: Around the holidays, the Wednesday food section may be moved into the Sunday issue, or there may be an extra food section in Sunday. Remember, if Sunday is a holiday, there may not be manufactures' coupons (or the magazine*) in the Sunday paper.


4/1/00 - cover says 'La Ola Wave' with Wave in larger print. The 3/22/2000 issue was marker 25¢, but I got it for free. It's a full-sized paper in four sections, with a food section, but the pages are unnumbered, and I didn't count them. Mostly general news for the area between L.A. and the South Bay, and mostly in English. The "La Ola' section is a few pages in Spanish. See 3/30/00 LAT page C2 about how the 'Wave Community Newspapers' chain of 14 local L.A. papers wants to go from Chapter 11 to a Texas owner. Phone only at 1-800-404-9283.
Conguistadores Magazine - Mostly Spanish Christian? entertainment? in slick mag format. Aug, Sept, Oct 99 was 46 pages. Email at ConqRev@aol.com. Got a free one 9/26/99.
La Opinion - mostly a Spanish-language paper, but includes the Los Angeles Times in English, at 35¢ for the Monday 9/13/99 paper. It's a typical pay paper, but the TV program listing includes channel 62, which I don't recall in any other paper.
Pacific Rim News on the outside but marked Inter Thai Lax News on the inside. The June 9, 1999 issue was marked $1.00, and comes out weekly on Wednesday. Mostly in Thai with an English section. In the Thai section only was recipes and restaurant news. Several restaurant ads. Email only at interthailax@earthlink.net.
Palos Verdes Peninsula News. No web connection. Provides local new for Palos Verdes Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates, and Palos Verdes Peninsula. The 2/25/99 issue was 16 pages, had about 6 restaurant ads, and other local news and ads. Says it is available by paid subscription or single copy, but I found this one for free. Two issues per week, on Thursday and Saturday.
Daily Breeze serves the South Bay area, like Torrance, and is your typical local paper. The FOOD section is printed on Wednesday, and on 2/25/98 it was 4 pages with 1.8 pages of food ads and 2.2 pages about food. The paper provides minimal TV listings and tips, no computer topics, and except for RAVE! no radio coverage. Their BEST-OF readers survey was on Thursday, March 19, 1998. *Their next "Best of" readers' poll should be printed 3/25/99.*

The RAVE! section is included with the Friday editions of the DAILY BREEZE or is free at many local locations. Richard Wagoner writes a short column about radio, and I wish they would give him more space. His web site is listed on the Radio Info - Columns page.* The 2/20/98 issue contained a restaurant review by Merrill Shindler, two other reviews, a summary of past reviews, lots of ads, a few coupons, and a BITES column of tips. The list of weekend highlights for TV was deleted.*

The SOUTH BAY EXTRA is printed on Saturday* by the DAILY BREEZE, and is available by subscription or is free at many locations. The 2/19/98 issue was 12 pages, and contained one restaurant review, an article on the new restaurant grading system, a few ads and coupons, and an article on an "audio book" store.

COUPONS. In the Sunday newspapers, if you compare the same Ralphs' supermarket ad in the DAILY BREEZE against the LOS ANGELES TIMES, you will see that some items are more expensive in the BREEZE. This is because Ralphs knows that some of the manufactures' coupons are not included in the BREEZE. If you want the most coupons, you might have to subscribe to the TIMES.


Press-Telegram serves the Long Beach area and is a typical newspaper. The paper is under new ownership, and is undergoing change. I was told that the BEST-OF readers survey will appear in August.

*On 2/21/99 they included "Access Internet Magazine", a new monthly mag. Also see www.access ref on web page about papers and sites. On 3/12/98 & 3/13/98 the TASTE section moved from Thursday to Friday.*

The FOOD section is in the Wednesday edition, and on 2/25/98 it was 12 pages with 7.6 pages of food ads and 4.4 pages about food. *Notrica's 32nd Street Market stopped advertising here, and may have the least expensive produce. But, check every item for quality.

The Wednesday and Thursday (and maybe more) editions on 2/25/98 and 2/26/98 each contained two computer related articles in the LIVE! section. The TASTE section * on 2/26/98 contained two restaurant reviews, a few shorter reviews, and ads, coupons, and a list of restaurants . Each day includes TV listing and tips and a few radio tips. The FOOD section lists some cooking shows on TV.

COUPONS. I don't know, see comments about other papers.


Los Angeles Times (LAT) may have the largest circulation, content, and web site amoung the local papers. The FOOD section is in the Wednesday edition, and on 2/25/98 was 12 pages with 5.5 pages of food ads and 6.5 pages about food.

*The Thursday edition on 3/5/98 contained two extra sections. The SOUTH BAY WEEKLY contained a list of city web sites, a short article on a restaurant chef/owner, and a restaurant review. The CALENDAR WEEKEND section covered topics like radio, TV, eats, and an IN THE MOOD column which picks restaurants for a specific dish of the week.

The TV and radio coverage may be the best among the local papers, but it could be better. For example, the most extensive radio listings appear on Sunday in the CALANDER section with Frank Torrez's name. This is good, but the list is often incomplete or out-of-date. I realize he just edits the information people send him, but I wish he could expand the job and do some research and get more space. *THANK YOU Frank - the 4/26/98 coverage was the biggest I seen yet. Also see my radio page.

One restaurant is reviewed almost every Sunday by S. Irene Virbila in the LOS ANGELES TIMES MAGAZINE. Other reviews may also appear in the Thursday or Friday editions; I forgot which. The Sunday edition also includes the BOOK REVIEW section and a chess column.

COUPONS. The Sunday edition may also contain supermarket coupons. If Sunday is a holiday, there probably won't be any coupons or the MAGAZINE. If you buy from a vending machine or in a supermarket, you may not get the coupons cause they go to subscribers first. Or, I've been told, people take them from the paper. Or, even subscribers may not get them if they run out. Or, recently, there's a mistake and there is no manufacture's coupon to match with the supermarket's coupon. Actually there are two types of coupons. Supermarkets, like Ralphs, put their own market-specific coupons in the "A" section or in a special FOOD section around the holidays. Also, for the past few years, there have been two packages of manufactures' coupons, in with the colorful ad pamphlets, which can be used at various markets. Have fun playing the coupon game.


The Orange County Register is a typical daily newspaper, and is also available in the LA area. I haven't read this paper for a few years, so I won't comment until I see more of it. The FOOD section appears on Wednesday, and on 2/25/98 it was 14 pages with 9.5 pages of ads and 4.5 pages about food. *See Sun paper & web site for radio column.*
Los Angeles Sentinel (no web connection) appears every two weeks on Thursday, but I've only seen it in a library. The food section on 2/26/98 was 2 pages including 0.5 pages of food ads and 1.5 pages about food. Of the pages about food, 0.5 was good food-safety tips, and 1 page was about a New Orleans restauranteur and the recipes from her cookbook. * Starting with the 12/31/98 - 1/6/99 issue, they went weekly.*

The * marks the newest changes.

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