Local Businessman Buys Palisadian-Post

Owners Since 1981, Smalls Sell the Paper to Alan Smolinisky

The Small Newspaper Group (SNG) of Kankakee, Illinois, has sold the Palisadian-Post, its office building on Via de la Paz and its commercial printing business to Alan Smolinisky, a businessman who grew up in Pacific Palisades and lives in the community.   ’It has been a great privilege to have been part of this wonderful community since 1981, and to work with the magnificent staff at the Palisadian-Post,’ said SNG President Rob Small, whose family owns four daily newspapers in the Midwest. ‘I am proud of what we have achieved and know that Mr. Smolinisky will build on that tradition for even greater success.’   Smolinisky, 32, a graduate of Palisades High and the University of Southern California, said he’s a dedicated newspaper reader who receives four daily papers in his driveway every morning. But the Post, he said, is without a doubt his favorite newspaper: ‘I haven’t missed an issue since I first learned to read.   As the new owner of the Palisadian-Post, Smolinisky continued, ‘My plan is to continue the journalistic excellence the paper has maintained for the last 84 years, delivering vital and entertaining news about our incredible community.’   Roberta Donohue, a native of Pacific Palisades who has worked at the Post her entire career and has been publisher since 1987, said she will miss her SNG owners, but is enthusiastic about Smol’ini’sky’s ownership and is looking forward to working with him.   ’For the past 31 years, it has been an honor to work for and represent the Small Newspaper Group, led by Jean Alice, Rob, Tom and Jennifer Small. Alan Smolinisky will be my third family/owner employer here at the Post. I started with the Post in 1972 when the paper was owned and operated by twin brothers, Charlie and Bill Brown. The Browns taught me the traditional ways to run the newspaper business. I began to appreciate and love what I was doing each day. I believe this is when the ink got under my skin. I had worked for the Browns for just nine years when they sold the business to SNG, another newspaper family. The Smalls truly gave me the tools and confidence to grow in this business. My career has been an incredible journey and I am forever grateful.’   Smolinisky, whose Viewpoint titled ‘Why I Bought the Palisadian-Post‘ appears on page 2, is a family man who vows that he plans to live in the Palisades his entire life. He and his wife, Caroline, a native of Indiana and a fellow USC graduate, have a 15-month-old son, Charlie, and will have a baby girl in May, when construction on their dream house in the Huntington Palisades will be finished. His father, Mario, is a retired business owner, and his mother, Carol, organized the Mr. and Miss Palisades contest for nearly 20 years. According to his corporate biography, Smolinisky began his real estate career in 1999 while a freshman at USC. Experiencing a shortage of quality housing options in the USC area, and unable to find an apartment of acceptable condition for his sophomore year, he became interested in creating alternatives.   While majoring in music during the day at the Thornton School, he began sitting in on night real estate classes at USC and UCLA. He then partnered with his landlord, Brian Chen, owner/manager of Conquest Student Housing, and started a new division focused on developing new upscale student housing.   By age 29, Smolinisky had completed over $250 million worth of construction. Along with his partner, Chen, he oversaw a $300+ million portfolio of student housing and retail properties.   In the summer of 2008, Chen and Smolinisky sold the student housing divisions at USC and UCSB and moved their company to a small West Los Angeles office to manage their investment portfolio.   Smolinisky has now purchased a community newspaper that was founded in 1928 by Telford Work, a journalism major from USC who assembled a small chain of local newspapers near Fresno before becoming director of public relations for the Pacific Palisades Association, the town’s early governing body, in 1926. Two years later, he launched The Palisadian, an eight-page weekly tabloid.   In 1934, Work sold The Palisadian to 37-year-old Clifford D. Clearwater, who in 1922 had been one of the first settlers in the community with his young wife, Zola. They raised three children here, beginning with Louis, who on March 10, 1923 was the second child born in the Palisades.   Although untrained as a journalist, Clearwater had natural talents that enabled him to serve with distinction as editor, publisher, photographer and civic leader until his death in 1956. His widow, Zola, continued to publish The Palisadian until 1960, when she sold the business to the Brown brothers. They had purchased the town’s rival newspaper, the Pacific Palisades Post (founded in 1950), in 1954 and merged the two papers.   When the Small Newspaper Group purchased the Palisadian-Post in 1981, they acquired the building at 839 Via de la Paz and a Goss Community press that has continued printing the newspaper every Wednesday for Thursday home delivery.   ’I love that the Post has always been family-owned,’ Smolinisky said, ‘and that it is delivered straight to subscribers’ homes.’   Jennifer Small, an SNG vice president, said on Tuesday: ‘At the time of our purchase, my late mother, Jean Alice Small, my brothers, Rob and Tom Small, and I met with employees at the paper. I said, ‘We think of all our papers as being one big family.’ So all these years later, selling the Post is a bittersweet experience. Yet the ‘sweet’ part is knowing that Alan Smolinisky will care as much for the Post, its employes and the community as we have tried to do during our years with this remarkable publication. I wish everyone involved much happiness and success in the years to come.’   Said Tom Small, president of the Pacific Palisades Post: ‘It has been an honor to own this fine community newspaper, and it is with regret that the time has come for us to focus on our four daily newspapers in the Midwest. Our best wishes and heartfelt thanks go out to the subscribers and advertisers who have made our success here possible over the years.   He noted, ‘Alan Smolinisky will be a great new owner. He has capital, he lives in the town, and he’s enthusiastic. We have every confidence that the Post will prosper under his leadership.’