LA CityBeat

Los Angeles CityBeat was an alternative weekly newspaper in Los Angeles, California, debuting June 12, 2003. The publication ceased production with the March 26, 2009, issue. LA CityBeat was available every Thursday at more than 1,500 distribution locations throughout the Los Angeles area, with an initial circulation of 100,000 (dropping to 65,000 in its final year).

History
Southland Publishing, which published a group of newsweeklies that covered counties, cities and neighborhoods in Greater Los Angeles – the "Southland" – also owned Valley Business Printers in the neighborhood of Sylmar, Los Angeles. Amongst Valley Business Printers' third party customers, until the end of March 2003, was the city-wide LA Weekly; in June 2003, just three months after LA Weekly cancelled its contract for printing services, Southland Publishing launched its own publication, LA CityBeat, to compete with its former printing customer.

LA CityBeat was a member of the Alternative Weekly Network and was a rare unanimous recommendation for membership in the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. Other unanimous membership votes have included New York City's The Village Voice and Halifax's The Coast.

Staff
The inaugural staff included editor-in-chief Steve Appleford, publisher Rick Haelig, deputy editor Dean Kuipers, arts editor Natalie Nichols, award-winning film editor Andy Klein, art director Dana Collins, staff writer Dennis Romero, and calendar editor Rebecca Epstein. Donnell Alexander joined later as a staff writer.

Contributors included Andrew Berardini, Mick Farren, Richard Foss, Ron Garmon, Tom Hayden, Ken Layne, and Richard Meltzer. Graphic artists who contributed regularly included Jordan Crane, Tony Millionaire, Ted Rall, and Brian Stauffer.

Photographer Gary Leonard's "Take My Picture" (a long-running photo feature that originally debuted in Los Angeles Reader and then New Times LA) appeared weekly in LA CityBeat for more than five years.