L.A. Observed expands the franchise

If there's one go-to Web site for all things Los Angeles, it has to be L.A. Observed, Kevin Roderick's all-encompassing take on the politics, personalities, media outlets and even real, honest-to-goodness news of the region. There's just something about the way he does it that really makes you want to click over there right when you open the browser in the morning.

Part of what makes the site special is Kevin's bloggerly voice. How one person can stay on top of so many sources, from print and blog to broadcast, e-mail and who knows what else, I don't know. Now Kevin has a supporting cast as L.A. Observed adds about a dozen other voices to the mix:

Starting now, LA Observed is a group effort. I invited about a dozen writers, journalists and observers of Los Angeles whose eye and voice I respect to think about posting here. Almost all of them jumped at the offer, to my amazement. More are on the way. For the three years that I have blabbered here solo I've always benefited from a richly informed and interesting retinue of email corresponders, collaborators and eggers-on. Now the collaboration comes out of the closet, so to speak.

Here's how it will work. The content of this page — that is, LA Observed as you know it — will remain essentially the same. I will still gather and write most of the news and observations you see. Contributors may make an occasional appearance, under their own name, but where you will read them most of the time is on the new blogs and features that will be appearing over the next couple of weeks.

Among the new offerings are the L.A. Biz Observed blog by ex-Daily Newser Mark Lacter and the SoCal Observed sports blog by David Davis.

Will this work? All signs say yes, but expansion of the franchise is never easy, so stay tuned (or just keep clicking).