Happy New Year!

Yes, I know it’s September – Sept. 3 specifically. If you look at the front page of this edition you’ll see that it reads, Vol. VII, No. 1. This issue begins our seventh year of publication.

It was six years ago that with the help of many I launched the Crescenta Valley Weekly. A brief history: I was the city editor of the now defunct Crescenta Valley Sun when the Los Angeles Times, which purchased it a few years earlier, decided to close it in 2009. I promptly went home and told Steve that we needed to start a newspaper. He answered (as many of you have heard me say over the years), “We’ve got enough money for a new kitchen or a newspaper. Which is it going to be?” Friends, I have the ugliest kitchen in La Crescenta – but the best newspaper.

Thinking back on those early days – heck, those early years – just about everything was a struggle. I was fortunate that Mary O’Keefe was crazy enough to take a chance on a start-up newspaper then stick around these last six years along with her son Charly, my leisure editor, news writer and, in his own words, tech wizard. Leonard Coutin came on board to do photography for us and Mike Lawler shared his then and now photos and wrote his very popular weekly column. Over the years our stable of writers has grown and now each week we offer comprehensive information about everything from local burglaries to fundraising barbecues.

Financially things were tight – remember that we were knee deep in the Great Recession – but somehow, thankfully, we squeaked by.

The love and respect from the community was a foundation on which this paper was built and continues to thrive. I remember the very first day that the paper landed in our neighborhood driveways people came to my door at home to give me a check for $52, the annual subscription fee. To this day many of those checks come with a thank you card. How many businesses do you know get a thank you card from people who pay them?

Along with our subscriptions, advertising sales are our main revenue stream. Those early years saw a lot of spots on the pages where ads should have been. Today I am proud of the number of businesses that invest their faith – and dollars – in the Crescenta Valley Weekly. We work hard to earn both and our readers reward these efforts by making it a point to visit our advertisers. Our pages now boast a strong and steady presence of advertisers helping to ensure CV Weekly’s future.

Which is important because over the years we’ve seen papers – newspapers with long histories – go by the wayside. But while some may not know what their role is anymore, CV Weekly is grounded in the knowledge that we’re here to tell our friends and neighbors what is going on in their neighborhoods. After all, where else can you find that information?

As we begin our seventh year, I invite you to drop us a note either here at the office (3800 La Crescenta Ave. #101) or via email at robin@cvweekly.com and jot down a line or two about what you think about the community’s newspaper, the Crescenta Valley Weekly.

Thank you for your support.