Las Vegas CityLife
TypeAlternative weekly
Owner(s)Stephens Media
EditorScott Dickensheets
Founded1996
Headquarters1111 W. Bonanza Road, Las Vegas, NV, 89106
Circulation70,000[1]
Websitewww.lasvegascitylife.com

Las Vegas CityLife, founded in August 1996,[2] was the oldest[2] alternative weekly newspaper[3] in Southern Nevada and covered news about the Las Vegas Valley and surrounding areas. Coverage included news, politics, arts, and culture reporting in print and online formats.

Publication background

The publication was owned by Stephens Media Group but was initially owned by Wick Communications. Its primary competitors were Scope Magazine (first published in April 1992), Las Vegas Weekly (which emerged in 1998 after a majority interest in Scope Magazine was sold to Daniel Greenspun in 1996) and Vegas Seven (founded in 2010). Publication ceased on January 30, 2014.

Its editor, Scott Dickensheets, took the position in February 2011 after then-Editor Steve Sebelius returned to the Las Vegas Review-Journal as a political columnist. Former managing editors include Larry Lane, Bill Hughes, Geoff Schumacher, Hugh Jackson, Matthew O'Brien and Steve Sebelius. Former writers include Sarah Jane Woodall, Chad Plummer, Launce Rake, Pj Perez, Heidi Walters, Amy Kingsley, Chip Mosher, George Knapp, Saab Lofton, Mike Prevatt, Cathy Scott, Quentin Bufogle, and columnist James P. Reza, previously the editor of Scope Magazine. Syndicated columns included Savage Love and Free Will Astrology by Rob Brezsny.

O'Brien expanded a feature article for CityLife about killer TJ Weber, who hid in the storm tunnels until his arrest, into the book Beneath the Neon: Life and Death in the Tunnels of Las Vegas,[4] published by Huntington Press.[5]

In September 2006, CityLife earned more awards than the other weekly newspapers in the state in the Nevada Press Association's annual Better Newspapers Contest,[2] which competed against 40 weekly NPA member publications.[6]

History

A
An older version of the CityLife banner.

The precursor to CityLife was a publication called the Las Vegas New Times. Started in September 1992, Las Vegas New Times was quickly sold to Wick Communications, also known as Las Vegas Press, which published three newspapers in the Las Vegas area - the Las Vegas Business Press, Las Vegas CityLife and the Las Vegas Senior Press. On August 1, 1996, the Las Vegas New Times' name was changed to Las Vegas CityLife to avoid legal conflicts with another publication, the Phoenix New Times. Rod Smith published CityLife from August 1998 to January 2002.[7]

Over the course of the newspaper's history, two large Las Vegas casino corporations, the MGM and Station Casinos, pulled their advertising because of news stories about their properties and managers which the businesses felt were condemnatory.[2] Rod Smith, the publisher at the time, called the actions of the MGM, in particular, "petty private censorship."[2]

In March 2004, Portland-based designer Kat Topaz redesigned the CityLife logo and layout to give the publication an updated feel. The current design is the work of Maureen Adamo.

The offices of CityLife were housed alongside the Las Vegas Review-Journal building, at 1111 W. Bonanza Road, Las Vegas, NV, 89106. Formerly, the paper was located on Pama Lane in Green Valley, Henderson, and before that, on Wynn Road near Chinatown, Las Vegas.

In 2009, CityLife was accepted for membership in the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, an organization of alternative weekly newspapers in the United States and Canada. The newspaper had applied unsuccessfully for membership in 2007. In 2010, the newspaper won a first-place award from AAN in the "format buster" category for a report on disparate redevelopment spending between downtown Las Vegas and the heavily minority West Las Vegas area. Staffers recognized for the award were Amy Kingsley, Maureen Adamo and videographer Justin Yurkanin. In Jan., 2014, the paper ceased production, and shut down its website a year later.

Recurring features

Recurring features in CityLife included:

  • "Fear No Evil," Saab Lofton's far leftist news column
  • "CityLife Picks," top event listings for the week
  • "Best of the Valley," yearly listing of readers' choices for favorite restaurants and other venues in various categories
  • "On The Scene," short feature about a clubbing or event pick for the week
  • "Fear and Lounging," weekly music performance pick
  • "Dining Out," weekly restaurant pick
  • "Socrates in Sodom," opinion piece by Clark County educator Chip Mosher
  • "Crime & Punishment," column by journalist and author Cathy Scott[8]
  • "Smart Guy," weekly column by James P. Reza

Publication distribution

Las Vegas CityLife was free to the public and went to press every Wednesday for publication and distribution citywide on Thursdays. As of September 2011, circulation was 70,000 copies per week at more than 2,200 sites, including University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Barnes & Noble, Terrible Herbst, and 7-11.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 "Contact Us". Las Vegas CityLife. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Great (and not so great) moments in CityLife history". Las Vegas CityLife. 2007-09-13. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
  3. ↑ "Las Vegas CityLife". AltWeeklies.com. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
  4. ↑ "Las Vegas CityLife Writer's Book Reveals Secret World Beneath the City - Press Releases". AltWeeklies.com. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
  5. ↑ "VEGASinsight Archives » matthew o'brien". June 30, 2008.
  6. ↑ "Non-daily newspapers". Web.mac.com. Archived from the original on 2011-09-17. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
  7. ↑ Strow, David (April 13, 2000). "Panel balks at tax break for Las Vegas newspaper publisher - Las Vegas Sun Newspaper". lasvegassun.com.
  8. ↑ Watkins, Grouchy Greg (September 15, 2003). "Cathy Scott: Ambitionz Az A Ridah". All HipHop magazine.
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