About the District Weekly
Contact Us
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Phone: (562) 366-1596
Address:
65 Pine Ave, Suite 27
Long Beach, CA 90802
Support: Webmaster
E-Mail: letters@thedistrictweekly.com
PUBLISHER WILL SWAIM
Will Swaim was born in L.A., grew up in Mission Viejo, and graduated summa cum laude in journalism and with honors in theology from the University of Southern California. He earned an MA in history from UC Irvine where he was a California Regents Fellow. He has written about business, politics and religion, and was named OC Weekly’s founding editor in 1995, its associate publisher in 2000, and its publisher in 2002. He is the winner of several print journalism awards, a Southern California broadcasters Golden Mike award for public affairs commentary, and appears regularly on television and radio. Swaim left OC Weekly in January 2007, and shortly after launched The District Weekly, ably assisted by the management team he assembled at the OC Weekly.
ART DIRECTOR HEATHER SWAIM
Heather Swaim has won several national awards for her graphic design at the OC Weekly, including first-place finishes in the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. Fortune magazine design director Robert Newman calls her “one of the smartest and most creative publication designers around . . . . energetic and provocative, bold and direct, passionate and humorous, and always editorially sound. The OC Weekly cover is oftentimes a work of art.”
MANAGING EDITOR ELLEN GRILEY
Ellen Griley grew up in Long Beach and graduated cum laude from the University of Notre Dame, where she studied English Literature and was a DJ on the campus radio station. She moved home to Long Beach and signed on as an editorial assistant at OC Weekly, was promoted to Calendar Editor and then Managing Editor, a position she held for two years while also covering Long Beach and Orange County’s music and cultural scene. From touring with Matt Costa to shot-gunning beers at work—for an article!—Griley finds stories worth telling, and she’s thrilled to share these stories with her hometown.
SENIOR EDITOR THEO DOUGLAS
Theo Douglas earned a Master’s degree in American History from Cal State Long Beach, then worked nine years as a daily newspaper reporter before realizing his true interests lay in uncovering strange-o’s you’ve never heard of: hot rodders, hillbillies and assault weapon owners who might never pick up a paper, but are out there breathing our air. Somewhere. Theo also writes about fashion, design, architecture, and surf and car culture—while documenting some of the region’s more singular court cases. His work also has appeared in publications including Wahine, Modart, Brentwood and Reader’s Digest magazines, and the California Journal.
SENIOR EDITOR DAVE WIELENGA
Dave Wielenga got his start at the Long Beach Press Telegram as a $2-an-hour copy boy in the sports department in 1972, so his arrival at The District Weekly would seem to bring his career full circle, except he insists it has felt more like a rhombus. Dave spent 23 years at the P-T, covering most of the major beats in sports—including two Olympics—then moving through features, entertainment, investigations and spot news before taking a buyout when the paper slashed its staff in 1995. Since then he has been on the staffs of two alt-weeklies—New Times Los Angeles and OC Weekly—and freelanced for magazines ranging from Rolling Stone to US Weekly to Modern Maturity and newspapers from the Los Angeles Times to the Washington Post. In between, he lived four years in Mexico, where he taught English at Tecnologico de Monterrey. His hobbies include running and wondering what it all means.
MUSIC EDITOR CHRIS ZIEGLER
Chris Ziegler is also the editor of the L.A. RECORD. He was the music editor at OC Weekly for several years and also writes for Arthur.
COMMIE REBECCA SCHOENKOPF
Rebecca Schoenkopf joined OC Weekly eleven years ago, following stints at the Santa Barbara Independent and MAD Magazine. Writing weekly columns on art, nightlife and politics, she’s won numerous Orange County Press Club awards and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies award for Best Political Column. She’s also written for ArtByte, Newsday and Teen. She graduated from New York University, and had a higher Q rating with her ridiculously popular “Commie Girl” column than any writer in the Village Voice Media chain.
ADVERTISING DIRECTOR SCOTT MABRY
Eight years ago, Scott Mabry joined Orlando Weekly as a production intern and was quickly promoted to account executive for the Florida paper’s sales department. He joined OC Weekly in 2001 and was just as quickly promoted—from account executive to events manager and then retail sales manager.
MARKETING DIRECTOR KRISTINA COFFEEN
Southern California born and bred, Kristina Coffeen has been involved in nearly every aspect of media, marketing, and public relations. Film production and marketing, television production, publishing, and running her own boutique public relations and marketing agency–this gal knows media. Former Events Manager for OC Weekly, earning awards for top grossing revenue in special issues. She earned her B.A. at UCLA in Communication Studies, with an emphasis on Mass Communication and Media. Currently working on her M.A. in Advertising, Public Relations, and Marketing.
MEDIA CONSULTANT MICHAEL SIGMAN
Michael Sigman is also president of Major Songs, a music publishing company which owns the copyrights to many standards written by his late father Carl Sigman as well as new material by contemporary writers. He was a music critic to Record World magazine, a leading music industry weekly, from 1972 to 1982. A year later, he joined LA Weekly, the nation’s largest alternative weekly, and was quickly made publisher, a job he held until 2002. During that time, he helped launch the monthly LA Style magazine and OC Weekly. Sigman graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude, with a BA in Philosophy, from Bucknell University in 1971, serves on several boards of directors, and works with the Wright Institute (a non-profit psychoanalytic institute which provides inexpensive long-term psychotherapy to the poor), Business for Social Responsibility, Campaign for a Landmine Free World and Peacetrees Vietnam. He lives in Los Angeles.
WEB EDITOR MILES CLEMENTS
Miles Clements grew up in one of Lakewood's impeccably portioned tract homes, then in a not-so-seaside chunk of Seal Beach. He graduated cum laude in Literary Journalism from UC Irvine and currently wastes his days testing the limits of his metabolism.
WEBMASTER JEFF GOULD
Jeff Gould graduated with a B.A. in Communication Studies from CSULB in 2007 after only three previous majors, five years, and approximately 27 stitches. Jeff has won awards for both Rain-Gutter Regatta ('94) and Attendance ('93, '97). He now lives in Long Beach.
