Steve Harvey’s “Only In L.A.”

As your flight descend into any one of Southern California’s busy airports, you can’t help but look down in amazement at the tangled maze of streets, freeways and buildings that extend endlessly across the horizon. When you leave the airport and venture around this vast wasteland, you are in the second most populated area in the country.

Everyone has an opinion or preconceived notion about Southern California. The mystique of Hollywood. Surfer Dudes and Valley Girls everywhere. Terrible traffic. Gang fights, freeway shootings, and earthquakes all the time. Sure, these things do happen, but for most of the 13 million plus residents of the Southland, it’s life as usual in their neighborhoods.

There is one man who has managed to make the grand metropolis less vast and a little friendlier to live in. Columnist Steve Harvey writes and compiles a column called “Only In L.A.” for the “California/Local” section of the Los Angeles Times.

It is a charming column, part local history lesson, part crime blotter, and part reader contribution, almost always good for a chuckle or three. In addition to interesting tidbits about life in Southern California, Harvey frequently posts photographs with his column. The photos are typically of unusual and misleading signs, similar to Jay Leno’s funny headlines segments.

Except “writes” isn’t the correct word to describe Harvey’s Times column these days. Harvey was laid off by the Times in August of 2008, though he will occasionally contribute to the paper’s online edition. In an email sent to a colleague, Harvey simply states “...just wanted you to know that I've been laid off and the column is kaput.”

He was one of the most senior staff members at the Times. Harvey spent 16 years as a reporter and six years as a writer for the Opinion section until he became a columnist in 1990. He compiled a book in 1996, The Best of Only in L.A.: A Chronicle of the Amazing, Amusing and Absurd.

Harvey, a native Angelino, attended the University of Southern California, graduating with a degree in journalism in 1967. He worked for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner from 1964 until 1967. He also worked as a commentator for National Public Radio from 1981 until 1990.

The good news for fans of Harvey is that he has transplanted his “Only In L.A.” column to Blogspot and continues to satisfy his loyal readers with his musings and observations.

What I like most about Harvey is that he gives Southern California a small-town feeling. His columns are on the lighter side of the news. A typical column would discuss the sightings of the parrots living in the neighborhoods around the Budweiser plant in Van Nuys, how certain streets got their names, or the best way to get to LAX.

The reader is especially important to Harvey, and he often answers questions from the readers about local mysteries and goings-on. If Harvey doesn’t know, he knows someone who does. If he doesn’t know someone who does, he waits for another reader to provide an answer.

Most of all, Harvey’s column reminds the diverse millions of citizens of the Southland that we are not so diverse after all. Sometimes, we’re the same. We share the same experiences, we laugh at the same things, and a lot of us appreciate Harvey’s light style even if the Los Angeles Times doesn’t.

On The Net
http://harveysonlyinla.blogspot.com/