L.A. Times Publisher Austin Beutner, Little Free Libraries, L.A.'s Poet Laureate, The Last Bookstore
Host Val Zavala tours the offices of the country's fourth largest newspaper with its 14th and newest publisher, Austin Beutner. He took the helm of the L.A. Times in August 2014 following an era of cutbacks and declining readership. Among other questions, Zavala asks him about how he will face these ongoing challenges; how the paper is adapting to the digital age and whether or not newspapers can still afford investigative reporting.
They are popping up in neighborhoods across Los Angeles: little free libraries that invite people to take a book and leave a book. Reporter Dija Dowling finds out from where they come, who builds them and if they are working. She also meets David Ulin, book critic for the Los Angeles Times, to get his thoughts on the lost art of reading and this grass roots literacy effort.
By the time he was 13, he was running with gangs and addicted to heroin. At age 16, he was sitting in a jail cell and something changed. Reporter Jennifer Sabih profiles writer Luis Rodriguez, recently named the Poet Laureate for the City of Los Angeles. His best-selling memoir, Always Running, launched his career and has helped hundreds of troubled youth. But can Rodriguez do for his own son what he has done for scores of other young people?
It's not just a bookstore, it's a tourist destination. Owner Josh Spencer converted a stately bank into the largest independent bookstore in California, enhanced with art installations, a walk-through book tunnel and an upstairs labyrinth where book lovers can get lost. Reporter Nic Cha Kim takes us inside this unique literary environment.