IN LA Magazine is taking over Frontiers Newsmagazine. Photo by Ryan Gierach. |
In a move that startled some in West Hollywood’s gay community, IN Los Angeles Magazine (IN LA), months into their 10th year, purchased the 25-yr old Frontiers Magazine from founder Bob Craig’s sister Connie and others including Evan Engell, Tom Engell, Sam Leslie, Jeff Thomas.
David Stern and Mark Hundahl, founders and publishers of In LA Magazine, finalized their purchase on Thursday, April 5, 2007, said Mr. Stern in a brief interview. “Mark and I founded IN LA with Bob Craig as a partner to operate as two separate publications under one umbrella,” he told WeHoNews.
Bob Craig founded Frontiers Magazine in 1982, and the publication soon became the “go-to bar rag” for lesbian and gay hotspots in the West Hollywood/Hollywood area. Later in the decade Mr. Craig focused the magazine’s attention to a gay male readership in keeping with social and demographic changes taking place in the city.
Mr. Craig played an influential role in West Hollywood’s efforts to gain cityhood in 1984, and remained a vigorous presence in the gay community’s political and social life throughout the decades he ran the magazine. Mr. Craig passed away in April 2000.
Founder of Frontiers, Bob Craig, is at the bottom of this photo of Frontiers staff in a white jacket wearing a large mustache. Courtesy FrontiersPublishing.com. |
He left the company to his sister, Connie, who, lacking publishing experience, sold majority interest in the company 2004. The consortium of new owners included, at the time, Mayor-elect John Duran, He however, informed WeHoNews that he sold his stake “two years ago.” The company also publishes the Frontiers Yellow Pages (formerly the Community Yellow pages).
IN LA Magazine beginnings nearly a decade ago complemented Frontiers’s Newsmagazine format by providing a more community-oriented approach, relying heavily on “people-focused” material.
Both magazines survived the economic downturn 2000-2002, worsened by the mini-recession of post-9/11, with Frontiers closing its San Francisco office and ceasing publication of that edition pre-9/11. They apparently rebounded in recent years, increasing the number of advertisers, and consequently pages, they print each issue.
WeHoNews contacted the sellers’ attorney, Wehoan Jeff Thomas, Mr. Duran’s Law partner, for comment, but he declined to do so citing the need to consult with the group before doing so.
Mr. Stern disclosed no details about the value of the sale nor about his plan for the publications, but sources close to the former Frontiers ownership group told WeHoNews Frontiers “is a money machine.”
An early cover of Frontiers Magazine. Courtesy FrontiersPublishing.com. |
Nor would Mr. Stern say whether he planned editorial changes for Frontiers.
“We’ll make an official announcement about the sale and our plans for the publications later,” Mr. Stern said. “Probably before Gay Pride. Mark [Hundahl] and I decided not to comment further publicly until than.”
He would say this much, however, implying few radical changes lay in the offing at either publication. “What I can really tell you now is that we’ve come full circle.
“We started in this as equal partners in this with Bob Craig to provide the community with two publications operating under an umbrella. We’re back to where we began.”
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