Tuesday, February 19, 2013 6:30 PM
In honor of the 100+ Year Anniversary of the founding of the Los Angeles Press Club, the growing organization was honored on January 22 by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors at a ceremony in the Hall of Administration.
Press Club Executive Director Diana Ljungeaus and Board of Directors members Patt Morrison (Los Angeles Times) and Gloria Zuurveen (Pace News) accepted an engraved scroll that read, in part:
“Whereas the Los Angeles Press Club was established in 1913 as a gathering spot and watering hole for journalists in the halcyon days when a half-dozen daily newspapers loudly clamored for scoops, circulation and advertising in the burgeoning metropolis of Los Angeles; and
“Whereas highlights of the Press Club’s colorful history include inducting actress Marilyn Monroe as the first “Miss Press Club”, and hosting president Harry S. Truman as a luncheon speaker as he was preparing to run for re-election … the club and its members are extended sincere congratulations on reaching this extraordinary centennial milestone, with best wishes for continued success in all future endeavors for many years to come.
Whereas after settling into permanent quarters at 6th and Vermont from the 1960s to the 1980s, the Press Club once more fell victim to changing times and shrinking membership, buy yet again, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, under new leadership and surge in dynamic younger membership in the 1990s, the Press Club has in recent years enjoyed a revival and today looks forward with confidence to an active leadership role in the evolving Los Angeles media and journalism scene:
Now, therefore, be it resolved by the board of supervisors of the county of Los Angeles that the Los Angeles Press Club is hereby highly commended for a century of service to the people of Los Angeles and the community of journalists who live by H.L. Mencken’s admonition to comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable, and the club and its members are extended sincere congratulations on reaching this extraordinary centennial milestone, with best wishes for continued success in all future endeavors for many years to come.
