Los Angeles Times

===Otis era===
{{Further|Harrison Gray Otis (publisher)}}
[[File:Photo-los-angeles-times-building-post-bombing.jpg|thumb|Rubble of the [[Los Angeles Times building|''Los Angeles Times'' building]] following the [[Los Angeles Times bombing|1910 bombing]]]]
[[File:Chandler and Otis 001.jpg|thumb|[[Otis Chandler]] and [[Harrison Gray Otis (publisher)|Harrison Gray Otis]] in August 1917]]
The ''Times'' was first published on December 4, 1881, as the ''Los Angeles Daily Times'', under the direction of [[Nathan Cole Jr.]] and [[Thomas Gardiner (publisher)|Thomas Gardiner]]. It was first printed at the ''Mirror'' printing plant, owned by [[Jesse Yarnell]] and [[T. J. Caystile]]. Unable to pay the printing bill, Cole and Gardiner turned the paper over to the Mirror Company. In the meantime, [[S. J. Mathes]] had joined the firm, and it was at his insistence that the ''Times'' continued publication. In July 1882, [[Harrison Gray Otis (publisher)|Harrison Gray Otis]] moved from [[Santa Barbara, California]] to become the paper's editor.<ref name=LAT1923>[https://search.proquest.com/docview/161491578 "Mirror Acorn, 'Times' Oak", ''Los Angeles Times,'' October 23, 1923, page II-1] ''Access to this link requires the use of a library card.''</ref>

Historian [[Kevin Starr]] wrote that Otis was a businessman "capable of manipulating the entire apparatus of politics and [[public opinion]] for his own enrichment".<ref>{{cite book |last=Starr |first=Kevin |author-link=Kevin Starr |title=Inventing the Dream: California Through the Progressive Era |url=https://archive.org/details/inventingdream00kevi |url-access=registration |year=1985 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=New York |isbn=0-19-503489-9 |oclc=11089240 |page=[https://archive.org/details/inventingdream00kevi/page/228 228]}}</ref> Otis's editorial policy was based on [[boosterism|civic boosterism]], extolling the virtues of [[Los Angeles]] and promoting its growth. Toward those ends, the paper supported efforts to expand the city's water supply by [[California Water Wars|acquiring the rights to the water supply of the distant Owens Valley]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/30/us/los-angeles-times.html |title=A Paper Tears Apart in a City That Never Quite Came Together |last1=Arango |first1=Tim |date=January 30, 2018 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 3, 2019 |last2=Nagourney |first2=Adam |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

The efforts of the ''Times'' to fight [[organized labor|local unions]] led to the [[Los Angeles Times bombing|bombing of its headquarters]] on October 1, 1910, killing 21 people. Two of the union leaders, [[McNamara brothers|James and Joseph McNamara]], were charged. The [[American Federation of Labor]] hired noted trial attorney [[Clarence Darrow]] to represent the brothers, who eventually pleaded guilty.

Otis fastened a bronze eagle on top of a high [[frieze]] of the new ''Times'' headquarters building designed by [[Gordon Kaufmann]], proclaiming anew the credo written by his wife, Eliza: "Stand Fast, Stand Firm, Stand Sure, Stand True".<ref>{{cite book |last=Berges |first=Marshall |title=The Life and Times of Los Angeles: A Newspaper, A Family and A City |publisher=Atheneum |location=New York |page=25}}</ref><ref name="answers.com">[http://www.answers.com/topic/clarence-darrow Clarence Darrow: Biography and Much More from Answers.com<!-- bot-generated title -->] at www.answers.com</ref>