Last week, we highlighted Ken Layne’s great remembrance piece for The Awl about humbly launching LAExaminer.com in 2001 and almost carrying over his pioneering news-blog efforts into print. Now, on the occasion of website Zócalo Public Square’s 10th anniversary, founder Gregory Rodriguez has shared an equally delightful trip down memory lane.

He explains that around the time Layne and Matt Welch were building out LAExaminer, he was happily working on his own stuff and only occasionally venturing out of the house to network. It was during one such rare 2002 sojourn that everything turned:

I wasn’t thinking about that [subconscious need for creative brethren] in 2002 when I accepted an invitation to attend a snooty LA gathering of writer types. I was honored to be a part of the mix, looking forward to some interesting conversations. Instead, a small, untoward comment would wind up shaking me out of my solitary life.

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Despite the Church of Scientology across the street, the pit bulls next door and a car that didn’t really work, Ken Layne insists his original home office set-up for LA’s defunct LAExaminer.com was “very pleasant.” That description also applies to his overall reminiscences for The Awl.

Layne says he was prompted to start the site and quickly rope in neighborhood pal Matt Welch by his daily dose of Romenesko. Later on, Richard Riordan would almost turn the blog into a weekly print publication, which would have been super cool:

The style was just the way we talked around endless pitchers at Ye Rustic Inn up the street on Hillhurst, full of moral certainty and outrage and cheap jokes — it’s what is widely practiced and critically dismissed as “snark” today, although we never had any interest in celebrities. The dreary mayor James Hahn and the pompous columnists at the terrible Los Angeles Times were regular topics, as was boosterism about the Lakers, public transportation and the eastside neighborhoods in general. We were reflexively opposed to the bland wealthy valet parking lot of the Westside.

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Here’s a good example of how to proactively cover a Twitter fracas. Rather than simply recap the tweets, TheWrap CEO and editor-in-chief Sharon Waxman picked up the phone today. The result is a deeper look at the issues Reason magazine editor Matt Welch has with the business direction taken by his former employer, the LA Times.

For Welch, it’s not just a matter of the questionable March move to a paywall, which was the crux of his exchange on Twitter with LAT media and entertainment reporter Joe Flint. It’s also about how the newspaper has prioritized its budget cuts:

“Even though they’ve cut a ton, they cut stupidly,” Welch said. “They cut the people making news and they keep every stupid blowhard columnist who nobody likes and gets paid a generous six-figure salary.”

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It was five years ago today that beloved LA reporter Cathy Seipp lost her battle with cancer. On Twitter, those who knew her best are sharing old links and heartfelt memories using the hashtag #MissSeipp.

Two of Seipp’s closest friends, Reason magazine editor-in-chief Matt Welch and his freelance journalist wife Emmanuelle Richard, are now east coasters (D.C., and soon, Brooklyn). A couple of their thoughts:

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Maia Lazar (pictured), the 21-year-old daughter of dearly departed LA freelance journalist Cathy Seipp (The National Review, many others), is a very busy person this holiday season. In addition to helping plan an upcoming forum in Budapest on January 15th for her employer, the Center for International Media Ethics, she has announced a multi-pronged 2011 initiative to preserve the legacy of her mom.

“I am working on sorting through my mother’s writings and will be putting together a book next summer,” Lazar tells FishbowlLA via e-mail. “In the meantime, I am re-publishing her blog and working on a journalism mentoring database, which I hope will be launched around the same time as her book.”

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True/Slant has made a ‘soft launch’ as an ‘original content news network’. Or the best way we’ve come up with to further stalk Matt Taibbi. Or former LAT editor Matt Welch. We love how True/Slant has so many working journalists – working more. Innovative.

Walter S. Mossberg at WSJ writes on All Things Digital:

The journalists are paid a small amount, but the plan is to turn them into minipublishers under the True/Slant umbrella. They will be offered a share of the advertising and sponsorship revenues their individual pages generate and, in some cases, equity in True/Slant, which is backed by venture capital.

These contributors are allowed to keep writing elsewhere, either online or in traditional media, and even to promote these outside efforts on True/Slant. But they are expected to post original commentary and analysis to True/Slant. They also are allowed to arrange for their own advertising or sponsorships, in addition to what True/Slant can sell, and even, in some cases, to add other authors to their pages.

In another unusual move, the contributors also are required to actively engage with readers on the site. They must post a minimum number of comments in reader discussions about their articles and curate the comments, giving prominence to the most interesting. They are even expected to comment on each other’s posts.

Journos forced to be social? Eegads – what a horrible future we live in.

This is a video from Slate V about previous debates.

We also caught former LAT editor, John McCain biographer Matt Welch‘s enlightening op/ed piece:

And when a candidate confuses his own political ambitions with the fortunes of his country, that’s when Great Men turn into self- parodies.

“I have craved distinction in my life,” McCain wrote in his 2002 political memoir, “Worth the Fighting For.” “I have wanted renown and influence for their own sake. That is, of course, the great temptation of public life. … I have never been able to conquer it permanently, but I have tried.”

Don’t say he didn’t warn us.

Great men turning into self-parodies? Brilliant. Speaking of which – it’s called for McCain tonight. He won, you know. Yikes.

We stumbled upon this video. It’s Matt Welch – former LAT editor current editor-in-chief of Reason magazine. Hi Matt!

People like to say that Washington, DC is like Hollywood for not so pretty people. Must be so, as the Washington Post is reduced to writing about what journalists wear. Matt Welch is described thusly:

Matt Welch, a former Los Angeles Times opinion writer who wears pink vests with rhinestone buttons

And his new pals at Reason get the same treatment:

…Reason editors, most of whom wear T-shirts or hoodies.

Is it too late for Matt and Emmanuelle to turn around and come back to LA?

The LA Times snatches up LAist Tony Pierce to run their 25 blogs. Pierce, with uncharacteristic tact, suggests he might change things:

Andy: So is this a new position for the Times?
Tony: From what I understand it is a new position. Currently Bettie Rinehart has been in charge of the blogs which have been built out to about 25 blogs on the Times. But it sounds like my job will be slightly different from what she’s been up to.

The departing Matt Welch was Pierce’s big cool pal at the paper (as well as one of the stronger online presences) and pushed Pierce to go for the gig.

Predictably, some in the blogging community aren’t thrilled by the news. (Although some are quick to suck up, hoping for work, perhaps.)

Meredith Artley is certainly kicking Times.com into the big leagues. And what’s next for LAist? Choire’s available, we hear.