LA Observed.... Observed

LA Observed is a very interesting mish-mosh of local and more global content. Even the front page mixes the local with the global, and headlines from publications such as the New York Times. Locally produced photos and cartoons also take prominent spots.

One example of the local flavor was the top piece -- a small write-up about how a storytelling project by local public radio station KCRW “spent a morning talking to servers and other staff” at a Oaxacan restaurant in Koreatown. As something of a critique, I don’t quite know what that meant. Did they tell stories to servers, or ask for stories? And the photo was a close-up of a young lady in front of a microphone. Because it was cropped so tight, I didn’t quite know what she was doing. There’s a link to other photos, which jumps to Facebook.

Mixed with the Oaxacan restaurant piece are stories about the stock market and Facebook, both of which mostly contain aggregated content. The lead-ins to the excerpted material is very conversational. The stock-market piece, in particular, offers a small bit of context and analysis provided by the author before running an excerpt from the New York Times.

I found it interesting that in at least one article, the headline also basically serves as the lead. The headline reads: “OC health inspectors crack down on L.A. food trucks.” The first sentence in the story expands on the headline to say, “Many of them were given temporary permits by the county's Environmental Health Division.” It’s an interesting construction. Generally we see a headline, then a lead that gives a slightly more detailed version of the headline.

I’d say this site is appropriate for somebody who wants to get a broad, if shallow, view of what’s going on. It doesn’t seem to be very generous with in-depth information.