Tony Pierce to the LA Times

Pajamas likely headed to Blogger Hall of Fame

The blogger and LAist editor who inspired myself (among others) to dedicate much time, passion, and keystrokes to group blogging, is moving on after 17 months at the helm of Gothamist‘s Los Angeles operation.

Myself and Zach Behrens interviewed Pierce soon after he dropped the bomb on LAist staffers last Friday.
Read the whole damn thing here.

The news doesn’t surprise me — Known to some as “The Blogfather,” Tony Pierce worked hard for many years to land this gig. LA Times Interactive under Meredith Artley continues being proactive, taking chances and gaining steam toward staking its claim as the new media beast it should be.
Perfect match.

Pierce worked his ass off for LAist as I imagine he did in previous jobs — always doing it his own unique but successful way. A big fan of city-centric sites since my days with Centerstage, I considered trying to write for Chicagoist and LAist but it wasn’t until I got hooked on Tony’s and his bulked-up, liberated staff’s posts (OK, and also because Tony is an insanely die-hard Cubs fan like myself) — about one year ago — that I gave it a shot.

Not everyone in the blogosphere is as congratulatory, or understanding, of Pierce’s move to the LA Times and likewise the Times’ decision to recruit Pierce away from “his dream job.” But Pierce is over 40, although he claims to be much older, so it’s not like he’s just a lucky young pup who went from straight from YouTube to the networks.

Some nasty comments popped up on a blogging.la post that did nothing but link to our interview which broke the news, so to speak. blogging.la’s David Markland followed up with another interview of Pierce the next day, definitely a great read.

It isn’t the first time that a “blogger” has climbed to such heights — “running all the blogs at the LA freakin Times in this case — and in his six years of blogging and year+ at the helm octupling LAist’s traffic I have to say he’s the man.

Save those PJ’s for the Blogger Hall of Fame.