It was meant to be a magazine for "your city" -- Tu Ciudad. But in the end, the glossy lifestyle publication aimed at affluent, assimilated Latinos failed to find a home in the region's turbulent media landscape.
After more than three years serving as a guide for the city's best mojitos, taco stands and cultural trendsetters, Tu Ciudad magazine abruptly shut down this week. The bimonthly leaves behind a stunned staff of eight, thousands of disappointed readers and millions in losses for Indianapolis-based parent company Emmis Communications, which also publishes Los Angeles magazine.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Monday, June 23, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 29 words Type of Material: Correction
Tu Ciudad: The photo of Oscar Garza accompanying an article on Tu Ciudad magazine in Saturday's Calendar was credited to Gina Ferazzi. The photo was taken by Ken Kwok.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Tuesday, June 24, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 60 words Type of Material: Correction
Tu Ciudad: An article on Tu Ciudad magazine in Saturday's Calendar section stated that the publication had a staff of eight when it closed. The total full-time staff was 22, with eight in editorial. Also, the article said that the magazine published every other month. It was published bimonthly until February 2007, when it went to 10 times per year.
The demise marks the end of a bold experiment in targeting -- and capitalizing on -- an enormous but elusive demographic. The readers of Tu Ciudad are the children and grandchildren of immigrants who still feel connected to their cultural roots, no matter how thoroughly they blend into the urban mainstream. The dilemma in reaching them arises from the very thing that defines them as a group, their bicultural identity.
The question remains: Do they need a specialty magazine to appeal to their Latino side?
"Frankly, this experience has left me with the feeling that the jury is still out," says editorial director Angelo Figueroa. "I'm not convinced that highly assimilated, U.S.-born, English-dominant Hispanics necessarily want to be separated and marketed to as a group. They don't want a Latino L.A. Times; they just want to be included in the L.A. Times."
That's quite a postmortem from the man who helped develop the magazine's editorial plan. Yet Figueroa, who was also founding editor of People en Espanol, wasn't ready to throw in the toalla at Tu Ciudad. "We created a great magazine which never actually got close to its real potential," he says. "I thought our best days were way into the future."
That was one common regret I heard this week from Figueroa, editor in chief Oscar Garza and publisher Jaime Gamboa. They all wish they had had more time.
Launched in November 2004 with a $5-million commitment from Emmis, the magazine was expected to break even early in its fourth year, says Gamboa. It was still losing money -- an estimated $1.3 million this year -- and was lagging 10 months behind projections. But revenue was trending upward, he says, to a projected $3.1 million this year.
