Los Angeles Times to Publish Special Section this Sunday

Section is Second of Eight to Be Published by the Times to Mark Its 125th Anniversary Covering Southern California

LOS ANGELES, April 27, 2006 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- The Los Angeles Times on April 30 will publish a 44-page special Home section chronicling Southern California's magnificent 125-year obsession with real estate, home ownership, architecture and design.

The section is the second in a series of eight special features or themed sections marking The Times' 125th anniversary covering Southern California. It will be available online April 30 at latimes.com/homes125.

The Home special section will include:

* A Portrait of Our Obsession -- Finding meaning amid the city's famous sprawl is not easy, but a series of written snapshots of nearly 30 historic touchstones reveal a greater truth about the land beneath our feet and the roofs over our heads. At latimes.com/home125, a comprehensive interactive map will offer "pop-up" photos of those locations along with short audio narrations.

* Glass Houses -- The use of glass as an architectural element may not have originated in Los Angeles -- that honor goes to Germany's Bauhaus school -- but Times Architecture Critic Christopher Hawthorne argues, the relationship between glass and architecture was perfected here.

* States of Denial -- Like moths drawn to the flame, we build -- and rebuild -- in the city of our dreams, no matter the psychic cost or how frequent the fires, floods, landslides or earthquakes. We talk to the people who live on the edge of disaster and learn why they would have it no other way.

* The Sound of a Boom -- If you find yourself shaking your head at today's giddy run-up of housing prices, you might want to reflect back on the famous real-estate boom of the 1880s. It began honestly enough with genuine accounts of the region's beauty and it ended with shameless speculation. And that was before the bottom dropped out.

* A Sense of Place -- For more than 40 years novelist Carolyn See has written about the connection between the home and the eccentric, loving, manic and brilliant behaviors of her characters. In a personal essay, she looks at her own life -- and where she has lived -- to chart our common dreams.

* Patt Morrison -- To some, Pickfair -- built by Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford and later rebuilt by Pia Zadora and her husband -- reigns as the quintessential "Hollywood House." But its history and fate continue to tell us more about power, real estate and Hollywood that we might want to admit.

* Hot Property -- This regular Sunday Real Estate feature takes a special 125-year look back at celebrity, noteworthy and notorious real estate transactions, beginning with the first wooden home built in 1880 by Isaac Newton Van Nuys.

* Five Degrees of Separation -- Follow some of the more intriguing residential pedigrees in the city's history. From Bugsy Siegel to Madonna. From Rudy Vallee to Jane Mansfield to Engelbert Humperdinck. From Michelle Pfeiffer and David E. Kelley to Melanie Griffith and Antonio Banderas to Dylan McDermott -- if only we could listen to what these walls had to say.

* What Were They Thinking -- Not always the pinnacle of high design or architecture, Los Angeles has produced gaffs notable for both their ambition and evanescence.

* Reading L.A. -- A guide to the 10 most essential fiction and non-fiction titles that have captured the image, history or truths about the development of Los Angeles.

On May 21, The Times will publish its third 125th-anniversary themed section, "Hollywood," that will look at how movies and entertainment became entwined in the city's history, and at Hollywood's influence on the world and the world's influence on Hollywood.

Future special sections will focus on California's car culture, higher education, fashion trends and the people who made Southern California what it is today.

The Times' year-long anniversary celebration, leading up to Dec. 4, 2006, also includes community events in partnership with other prominent Southern California special events and institutions, a Publisher's Forum series highlighting The Times' journalism and other public speaking engagements featuring Times executives.

About the Los Angeles Times

The Pulitzer Prize-winning Los Angeles Times is the largest metropolitan daily newspaper in the country, with a daily readership of nearly 2.4 million and about 3.4 million on Sunday. With its media businesses and affiliates -- including latimes.com, TheEnvelope.com, Times Community Newspapers, Recycler Classifieds, Hoy, and California Community News -- the Los Angeles Times reaches approximately 7.7 million or 59 percent of all adults in the Southern California marketplace every week.

The Los Angeles Times, which this year marks its 125th anniversary covering Southern California, is part of Tribune Company (TRB), one of the country's leading media companies with businesses in publishing, the Internet and broadcasting. Additional information about the Los Angeles Times is available at www.latimes.com/mediacenter.

SOURCE Los Angeles Times

David Garcia of The Los Angeles Times, +1-213-237-4715, david.garcia@latimes.com