Paper, Paper Everywhere – Taking a Tour of the Los Angeles Times Printing Plant

So yesterday I revealed that I love going on factory tours. If you’ve never been seek one out. It’s so interesting to find out firsthand how things are made. Really, it gives new perspective of the everyday things that we all use. But enough of my speechifying….

Once a month the Los Angeles Times opens up their printing plant for a free guided tour to coincide with the Downtown LA Art Walk. Free tour you say? How quickly can I sign up? And seriously, you have to sign up quickly because it’s sure to fill up.

So last week I made sure to attend and it was very, very interesting. When you first enter the plant you are greeted by a large picture window allowing a glimpse into the operations within.

Oh yeah, and there’s also these statues. Word to the wise, don’t get so absorbed in your phone or you might think these folks are fellow tour goers. I may or may not have done that. Anywho….

As soon as everyone has gathered, our guide, Darrell Kunitomi, gave us a little insight to the history of the Times. It began in 1881 as a four sheet newspaper with a circulation of about 400, which amazingly was a large portion of the population (Los Angeles was small back then!). The paper was printed on this press –

That sheet leaning against it is a copy of the first issue. Notice how the left has much denser print than the right? That’s because the left side is made up of articles and the right side is made up of ads. Yup, advertising comprised half of the paper. Another interesting thing? Since the paper predates electricity the press was powered with water.

So after our brief foray into the past we left the lobby to check out where all the action is.

First stop – robots! These little guys transport those huge rolls of paper to the printing press. They continuously circle arround and are battery powered. You don’t want to get in their way because they don’t stop unless their battery is running out. Luckily they come with a warning –

Thanks for letting me know, robot! So after we watched them for awhile we went into the paper warehouse.

This ginormous place contains mountains of paper rolls. Guess how long these mountains will remain here? 3 months. This huge place contains a 3 month supply of paper! That’s how much paper the plant uses. Luckily, much of the paper is recycled.

After the warehouse we were of to the presses! Literally. That was our next stop.

During the day, this place is dullsville. Nighttime is when things start rolling. The last piece of news comes in at midnight and in the main pages are printed in the middle of the night. Since we were there earlier, what we saw printed was the entertainment section and The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Wha??? Well, you know how you can subscribe to those papers even if you don’t live in New York? And they get delivered to you in the morning on your driveway? Well, that’s because they get printed locally. I never knew that before! Seriously, I never wondered how why I got my Wall Street Journal so early in the morning.

Look at those papers flying by! Now you may have noticed something lacking in these pics. Humans. But rest assured, there still are people who work here.

Ok, I just realized those pictures are of the same two people. Don’t worry, I’m not trying to fool you. There are more than two employees. There are actually about 100 who work at the plant overnight. Still, that is a low number. This place is huge! In it’s heyday I would imagine there were ten times that many employees. Makes me sad.

But I don’t want to be depressing so let’s continue with the tour. After the printing press we went to the bundling room. Here’s where the papers are bundled and sorted for delivery.

They move too fast! I just couldn’t get a clear shot.

So there you have it. That’s how papers are made. I highly encourage you to take the tour for yourself. The Los Angeles Times is the last major paper to offer a tour of its printing plant and it really is fascinating to see in person. And what’s a tour without a freebie? You might just end up with tomorrow’s paper today!

For current tour information call 213-237-5757 or check the Los Angeles Times Eventbrite page.