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| 10th Street, 1927 | Photo: LAPL archives |
"Over the past few years," wrote author Nicholas Carr, "I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory..."
Reading it, we're left with a sense of doom that Google, Twitter, Facebook, et al, ad nauseam, have pilfered the cortex of our brain that allows for longform thought. Any quick glance around a crowd, as friends jostle with their iPhones to best describe to everyone not with them about their delicious meal, seems to prove Carr's point.
And yet, we could be entering a longform renaissance. The fact that magazines like The Atlantic (and its articles that usually exceed 4,000 words - including one about our inability to pay attention), The Nation and websites like Longform.org, Grantland and others spit against the wind to push our new mental boundaries is promising.
Which is where we come in.
What's more, we're living in the Golden Age of television. The popularity of sitcoms and their seven second laugh tracks may still be high, but shows that inspire conversation (Mad Men, Breaking Bad, etc.) shine.
Eighty years ago, a young city entered the global stage by hosting the tenth summer Olympiad. As was the tradition at the time, city officials in Los Angeles renamed one of the arterial stretches from 10th Street to Olympic Boulevard. Since 1932, the world has changed and with it our approach to literary consumption.
With 10th Street, we seek to break the shackles of short and deliver content that is wildly interesting without ceding to word limits and predilections of paucity. We'll cover sports, pop culture, tech, food and more, mostly with a bent toward the city that helped invent innovation. Introspection - such as what it's like to be a first time dad - will be on display as well as articles that you may not agree with but will inspire chats. We are made up of writers, techies, foodies, televisionistas and Angelenos all with an eye toward penning something great every time out.
And we want you. Do you have a question, an idea for a story or want to join us? We invite your feedback in the form of letters to the editor [my email] and look forward to sharing with you Los Angeles's newest online magazine.
Of course, we do not presume to do anything but deliver interesting content. This is not our attempt to save the internet (nor your brain). Instead, we simply want to do our meager part to make your day that much more thoughtful. And if it takes 1,000 words to do it, please allow us that pleasure.
View of a parade honoring Col. Charles A. Lindbergh, as it passes in front several large buildings along Broadway and 10th Street, in Downtown Los Angeles. Col. Lindbergh (wearing a dark suit) can be seen sitting atop the seat at the rear of the car decorated entirely with white roses; then-Mayor Porter sits next to him. The parade took place on September 21, 1927, four months to the day after Col. Lindbergh flew solo non-stop from Roosevelt Field to Paris aboard the "Spirit of St. Louis". Multitudes of people line both sides of the street, and colorful and patriotic banners hang across the street as far as the eye can see. Photograph dated: September 21, 1927.
