An Alta Journal reader responds to “The High Desert Printfluencer,” by Jennifer Lewis. Got something to say? We’d love to hear from you! Email letters@altaonline.com. Please include your name, city, state, and phone number so we can contact you. Letters may be edited for brevity and clarity.
A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE
I, too, kvell over the smell of ink on paper.
I miss the erstwhile ubiquity of newsstands. As a photojournalist, back in the day, it wasn’t unusual to see one of my celebrity or newsmaker portraits on a magazine cover. So I would regularly check out local supermarkets, drugstores, and—best of all, when I lived in Los Angeles—the endlessly long outdoor newsstands like Century World News on Pico Boulevard in West L.A. and one on the corner of Ventura Boulevard and Laurel Canyon Boulevard on the Valley side.
There’s nothing like those in San Francisco, where I live now (at least not that I know of). I’d buy extra copies of one rag or another if I found a photo of mine on, or in, any of the hundreds on display. I’d buy extra copies to add tear sheets to my professional portfolio and page through many titles to see what company was advertising what product or service so I could cross-reference ad agencies with art directors to add to my pitch list for new commercial clients. I found inspiration, too, just checking out the work of my photographer competitors. It was homework and due diligence. It was always a wow! experience to see so many gorgeous, graphically engaging covers—“stoppers”—on parade, all vying for shelf space, always with people hanging around to peruse their inside pages.
Tom Zimberoff
San Francisco, California
June 3, 2024•
