More change for OC’s media landscape with word that Road & Track magazine’s editorial operation will leave its longtime home in Newport Beach for Ann Arbor, Mich. New owner Hearst Magazines abruptly dropped that other shoe on staffers late last week, along with word that Popular Mechanics and Car and Driver vet Larry Webster will take the reins as editor-in-chief from Matt DeLorenzo this week. Word is that Hearst is offering “generous” severance packages to the 20 or so editorial staffers, few of whom are expected to make the move after transition periods of up to three months. Road & Track grew into a major publication for auto buffs under the ownership of John Bond, who moved it from Long Island in the 1950s. It was sold to CBS in 1970s, then to Hachette Filipacchi in 1980s and to Hearst last year. Its editorial staff has been housed in leased space at 1499 Monrovia, not far from PCH, through all of that action. It’s now expected to share offices in Ann Arbor with Car and Driver, its long-standing, in-house rival …
The Orange County Register is expected to see its printing operations grow if—though the Insider continues to hear it’s more a matter of when than if—San Diego developer Doug Manchester completes a purchase of the paper. Manchester’s plan for an office, residential and retail development has been billed as something to go “alongside the existing office building and a printing plant” of U-T San Diego, the daily that was known as the Union-Tribune before he bought it last year. Informed speculation indicates that Manchester’s interest in the Register is driven in part by a desire to add the land now occupied by the U-T’s printing plant as part of the development. The thinking goes that the U-T could be printed in Santa Ana if Manchester adds the Register, freeing up the extra chunk of land in San Diego …
A casual encounter with a San Diego real estate pro who made the trip north for last month’s SoCal NAIOP’s Night at the Fights at the Hyatt Regency Irvine dovetailed with other sources. The fellow said Manchester has had plans for the new development in San Diego ready for some time, and was lining up leasing agents weeks before details were made public in a recent story in the U-T…
GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney and incumbent Dem Senator Dianne Feinstein are on opposite sides of the aisle and took distinct approaches to fundraising during swings through OC last week. Romney got plenty of attention for a $2,500-minimum cocktail party at the Balboa Bay Club and a private dinner at $50,000 per couple on June 1. Feinstein got dough for her re-election bid at a lower-key event hosted by Wylie and Bette Aitken the night before …
More than 500 patrons and some reality-TV star power helped raise $68,000 for AIDS Services Foundation Orange County during the Friends of Dorothy Guild’s silent auction and fashion show in Costa Mesa. Local auctioneer and collector Dave Hester, one of the stars of A&E’s hit Storage Wars, helped goose the price for some items as a guest gaveler. Hester continues to cash in on his catch phrase “yuup” through his retail website yuup.com, but he wasn’t the winning bidder at the trademark office. “It’s already been trademarked,” he told the Insider.
