PLEASE ADD MikeSzy@aol.com as your new contact email for me!
Mike Szymanski is the Studio City Editor and he's had his roots in the local area since he first came to work at the Los Angeles Daily News in 1985 and rented a place on Arch Drive.
Now, this is the area where he runs his Dachshunds, practices martial arts, sings in the choir at a Methodist church and drives his Prius around with Bruce Springsteen blaring. He lives with his family in the hills, his two nephews go to local schools and he's involved in the PTA. He continues to teach a UCLA Extension class in journalism, which he has done since he arrived in Los Angeles after being recruited away from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
A graduate of the University of Florida, he earned two prestigious Hearst Awards in investigative reporting and feature writing, and went on to write for the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, US Magazine, The Advocate, Los Angeles Magazine and many web sites such as E! Online, SciFi.com, Zap2it.com, Hollywood.com and more. He won a Lambda Literary Award and earned journalism awards for coverage of "Breakdown-Homelessness in the Valley" and other local issues.
A libertarian-turned-liberal, Mike worked in the past on Free Speech causes and helped raise more than half a million dollars for AIDS-related charities. Mike has been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis for more than 10 years and hopes you'll never notice.
Call Mike at (818) 233-1164, or write MikeS@Patch.com.
See Mike's Welcome to Patch video here.
Mother and father, Gail and Mike Cameron, speak at press conference Tuesday and make a plea to the community to find the suspect.
The best produce, meat, merchants and knick-knacks, all from local vendors, are gathered in the city's most family-friendly market.
One of the newest businesses along Ventura Boulevard is a place that could put a smile on your face.
When Katherine Kraus wants to show a child how to be funny without booger and bathroom humor.
Here's the intro to Mike and his background, and a few of the writers you'll see featured on the site.
New equipment, fresh paint, new bathrooms greet students coming back to school.
Grievance Panel suggests more detailed procedures for removal of a board member.
Despite a few headline-grabbing murders, overall violent crime is on the decrease in Studio City.
One of the Valley’s highest performing schools, Carpenter Elementary, starts as a Charter School today.
This is a good one if you're stuck on Ventura Boulevard and you're already backed up to Vineland or there's a big event at Universal Studios.
Stuck trying to get past Hollywood Bowl traffic? Here's a secret way out.
The signs try to stop you from taking this shortcut at certain times, so beware!
It's one of the loveliest shortcut drives, but probably not going to get you to your destination sooner.
Coldwater Canyon is not always an easy solution to get from Studio City to Beverly Hills, but there are alternatives.
Here's the best way of getting past the Cahuenga Pass when the Barham traffic spills out of Burbank and Universal Studios.
Parents may have to pay more $$$, teachers must be part of the team.
Here's some advice from those who went through it at Carpenter Community Charter.
What did you do this summer? Some created a charter school, built a bridge, made a movie, fed the homeless and much more. I created a Patch!
Principal Joseph Martinez steers Carpenter toward a Community Charter School.
Some of the Republic serials were groundbreaking for their depictions of African Americans and women.
