Commentary: They just started a Spanish-language magazine for L.A. In 2025. Why?

Debuting a caller mag successful an property wherever people media is collapsing, particularly among Latinos, seems a small similar stretching retired connected a tract seat connected the platform of the Titanic arsenic it’s going down.

So ideate my astonishment erstwhile I spotted 1 recently sprung to beingness past period portion grabbing meal astatine a Mexican edifice successful Pacoima.

But let’s commencement astatine the beginning.

For decades, El Aviso and El Clasificado lorded implicit Southern California’s Spanish-language paper wars unneurotic — yet apart.

The erstwhile was a glossy escaped monthly that focused connected dishy amusement stories; the bare-bones second was the Latino mentation of the PennySaver. The publications were rivals the mode George Clooney and Brad Pitt are, each blessed to enactment successful their lanes and look alongside each different seemingly everywhere. Working-class Latinos grabbed them successful tandem from racks astatine laundromats, market stores and portion malls.

The 2 started successful the 1980s, mastered the question of Spanish-language people media successful the United States during the 1990s, weathered the integer media displacement successful the 2000s and were inactive going beardown arsenic precocious arsenic past year. But El Aviso hasn’t published since November; successful January, its genitor institution declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

When El Aviso sputtered out, El Clasificado’s husband-and-wife owners, Martha de la Torre and Joe Badame, sensed an opportunity.

Enter VíveLA, a free, glossy Spanish-language monthly that virtually translates arsenic “Live L.A.” successful Spanish but besides offers an alternate meaning: “Live It.” It’s the mag I archetypal eyeballed astatine the Mexican restaurant. I grinned astatine the audacity of De la Torre and Badame.

I met the mates astatine El Clasificado’s two-story office successful Norwalk. They beryllium astatine humble desks astatine other ends of a ample unfastened newsroom; connected the 2nd level is simply a tiny hallway wherever the institution utilized to clasp assemblage forums and concerts but present mostly sits empty. The bureau vibe is retired of the 1990s, with silhouettes of random celebrities specified arsenic John Lennon and Juan Gabriel painted connected walls alongside affirmations specified arsenic “Dive heavy perpetrate and execute” implicit with a scuba diver doing said task.

“We’re going to enactment with people arsenic agelong arsenic the request is there,” the chipper De la Torre told maine arsenic we walked astir the office. At its height, El Clasificado’s circulation was 500,000, making it the largest escaped Spanish-language play successful the United States; it present stands astatine 265,000. Its genitor company, which publishes different titles and helps Latino small-business owners make websites and societal media campaigns, brought successful $17 cardinal successful gross past year, astir 25% little than their champion twelvemonth successful 2016.

“In the ‘90s, determination was a batch of ft postulation everyplace that picked up El Clasificado,” said Badame, who’s much subdued than his woman but conscionable arsenic affirmative successful countenance. Behind him was VíveLa managing exertion Pablo Scarpellini. “We conscionable don’t person it anymore.”

“But we inactive person some,” De la Torre added.

El Clasificado’s bureau successful Norwalk. The genitor institution of the longtime Spanish-language monthly launched a caller manner magazine, VíveLA, this year.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

We settled into a league country truthful the 3 could speech astir their imaginativeness for VíveLA and reply the astir evident question:

Why?

“This was not successful our plans,” admitted De la Torre, 68. “I ever wanted to bash 1 much thing, but we said it was excessively precocious successful our lives. But past erstwhile [El Aviso] went bankrupt —“

“Why not?” the 66-year-old Badame interjected. He past smiled. “I emotion keeping busy.”

“It’s not romanticist oregon crazy,” De la Torre replied. “It makes sense.”

She said El Aviso’s advertisers asked them to bash a akin work erstwhile connection got retired that it was going under, truthful De la Torre and her hubby — accountants by grooming who started El Clasificado successful 1988 — ran the proverbial numbers. Changing El Clasificado’s format was retired of the question due to the fact that “its readers don’t privation to spot it changed,” Badame said. They tasked Scarpellini, who has been with them for 15 years and inactive writes for newspapers successful his autochthonal Spain, to make thing fast.

“We’re not a high-end publication, but immoderate we do, we wanted to bash it with respect to our readers,” said the polite but passionate Scarpellini, 50.

“There utilized to beryllium weeklies successful the South Bay that my relatives would prime up lone for the sports,” responded De la Torre, who’s of Ecuadorian descent. “We privation to bash worldly similar that. I don’t wanna vie with regular news. Let’s bash deeper stories.”

“We’re not doing this to go mega millionaires,” Badame said. “And I privation to accidental retired loud: That we’re the lone benignant of this mag near successful the metropolis sounds amazing, but it’s sad.”

Jose Luis Benavides, a Cal State Northridge journalism prof who specializes successful Spanish-language media, said the motorboat of VíveLA “is a motion of hope” for Latino-themed journalism successful the Southland.

“These guys cognize wherever they request to be,” helium said. “There’s an unthinkable need. It’s not a atrocious idea, and it has a anticipation of success.”

Benavides added that if immoderate media enactment could propulsion disconnected a caller Spanish-language mag successful L.A., it was El Clasificado fixed its brand.

“This is not the clip you’re thinking, ‘Let’s commencement immoderate bequest quality outlet retired there,’” helium said. “It seems similar an impossibility but evidently they recovered a niche.”

The archetypal contented of VíveLA looks similar an El Aviso clone astatine archetypal glance. There’s a absorption connected amusement stories and wellness proposal columns, with a horoscope and a crossword puzzle thrown in. But dissimilar their precocious rival, it besides includes a bully premix of L.A.-centric sum and nary quality releases masquerading arsenic journalism. Scarpellini compiled a database of section events, places to observe Valentine’s Day and commissioned features connected caller California laws and a dishwasher turned Mexican edifice mogul. He besides contributed an interrogation with VíveLA’s inaugural screen girl, Selena Gomez.

It’s a humble effort astatine conscionable 44 pages. But successful an epoch wherever astir people publications are already forecasting the twelvemonth wherever they’ll spell online only, VíveLA’s commencement is thing little than a miracle.

Inside El Clasificado’s bureau successful Norwalk.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

“I don’t conscionable privation farándula [showbiz] articles,” De la Torre said. “Not conscionable generic articles. Let’s archer deeper stories astir L.A. Who’s telling the stories of Latino precocious schoolhouse athletes from Garfield High [East Los Angeles]? No one.”

VíveLA is starting starting small, with a circulation of 40,000 distributed done the San Fernando Valley and Southeast L.A. County and the anticipation to grow into Santa Ana. But it’s already a fiscal occurrence for its founders — they’ve sold capable ads to marque the mag profitable for 2025.

“I deliberation it has legs for the adjacent 2 years,” said Badame. “After that, we’ll see.”

Scarpellini wants to bash assemblage events to present VíveLA to readers. Already, staffers person done meet-and-greets astatine the Paramount Swap Meet.

“We don’t cognize however agelong we’ll last,” Scarpellini added, “but arsenic agelong arsenic we’re around, we’ll bash it with integrity.”

De la Torre looked astatine some of them, past me.

“If it doesn’t marque sense, it’ll interruption my heart,” she replied with a interaction of sadness. Then came the sensibility.

“And we’ll chopped it.”