{"id":572,"date":"2022-12-10T15:03:25","date_gmt":"2022-12-10T23:03:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/?p=820"},"modified":"2023-03-14T03:40:27","modified_gmt":"2023-03-14T10:40:27","slug":"column-key-to-the-city-is-a-fitting-tribute-for-rich-archbold-a-newsmans-newsman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/news\/commentary\/column-key-to-the-city-is-a-fitting-tribute-for-rich-archbold-a-newsmans-newsman","title":{"rendered":"Column: Key to the City is a fitting tribute for Rich Archbold, a newsman’s newsman"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first time I met Rich Archbold was serendipitously unintentional.<\/p>\n

It was late 2005 and I had been sent on a mission from Downtown Los Angeles to Downtown Long Beach by my then new boss, Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe, to seek the Press-Telegram\u2019s editorial support for some particular public policy matter of great importance to Supervisor Knabe.<\/p>\n

I was new to Southern California \u2014 25-years-old and stupid, fresh off a stint as a broadcast news producer throughout the Northwestern states, starting a new job as Knabe\u2019s communications director.<\/p>\n

At the time, I figured the best way to get something published in a newspaper I didn\u2019t know, in a town I didn\u2019t know, was to go straight to\u2026 the publisher.<\/p>\n

I arrived at the Press-Telegram\u2019s ancient and expansive former home at Sixth and Pine for my appointed meeting time with Publisher Mark Stevens, and while waiting for a rickety elevator ride upstairs, someone unexpectedly came up behind me and offered to point me in the right direction.<\/p>\n

It turns out it was Rich, the executive editor and top newspaperman at the P-T. It was the first time I met him and whether he knows it or not, he\u2019s one of the newsmen and community leaders who has been pointing me in the right direction ever since.<\/p>\n

Over the past year or so, Rich has publicly and graciously documented<\/a> and shared the ups and downs<\/a> of his journey to battle melanoma cancer, including how he\u2019s deftly navigated unique challenges and vulnerabilities throughout his cancer treatment as a husband, parent, grandfather and community leader.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t wrap my head around the year that Rich and his family have faced, but last night came a bit of good news as this year soon comes to a close: In one of his last actions in office, Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia will be presenting his final Keys to the City to Rich Archbold and Naomi Rainey-Pierson this Tuesday, Dec. 13.<\/p>\n

I could fill pages about my friend Naomi \u2014 about her singular work<\/a> to bring our community together, to fight against racial prejudice, to champion inclusion and equity for women and minority groups, her work as a commissioner, volunteer, educator, board member to dozens of community groups and boards for decades, about the good trouble she and I get into anytime we\u2019re blessed to sit next to each other at galas and dinners, about the steady mentorship, counsel and compassion she\u2019s given me over the years \u2014 but more on my friend Naomi another time.<\/p>\n

This column, after all, is about Rich.<\/p>\n

After riding up that rickety elevator with Rich in 2005, the doors opened to a maze of offices at the P-T building, but also opened to a journey in my own life and career continuing to play out today, which I could have never seen coming as that stupid, presumptive kid nearly two decades ago.<\/p>\n

Rich introduced me that day to the P-T\u2019s legendary Editorial Page Editor Larry Allison, the always impeccably dressed, poised and wise newsman who was mentor to many and whose legacy lives on so many years after his passing.<\/p>\n

Rich next took me to the publisher\u2019s office, delivering me into the wood-paneled wonderland, featuring a fireplace on one wall and woven rugs across the floors \u2014 a bygone setting not remotely repeated in the publisher\u2019s current office at the Long Beach Post and Business Journal.<\/p>\n

Years later, it was Rich who so perfectly captured<\/a> the awesome grief, terrible loss and community compassion when Shaun Lumachi \u2014 the irreplaceable thread and common best friend forever linking me and Mayor Garcia \u2014 was unexpectedly killed in 2011.<\/p>\n

More recently, it was Rich\u2019s name, along with Larry Allison\u2019s, I found forever memorialized on the dedication page of one of Tim Grobaty\u2019s books, which I devoured in the days leading up to starting my current job, in order to better understand the rascally colleague I was about to have when Grobaty joined the Post in 2018.<\/p>\n

Rich has never ceased his celebratory chronicling of our community \u2014 Long Beach and the people in this city are an endless party, captured across the decades in Rich\u2019s work. He\u2019s never backed down in his belief in the power and vitality of local journalism or his championing of and steadfast support in the Press-Telegram.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s because of people like Rich that I get to work with people like Tim Grobaty. I get<\/i> to work with Grobaty every day \u2014 that\u2019s a headache and annoyance and thrill and privilege not many get to experience and something I\u2019m blessed with daily.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m so fortunate to have run into Rich that day at the P-T so many years ago, I\u2019m fortunate to have gotten to know Larry Allison because of Rich\u2019s initial introduction, to work with Grobaty today, to have Rich\u2019s columns help me better understand the city where I\u2019m raising my family.<\/p>\n

The Key to the City is a fitting tribute and a much-deserved honor for Rich Archbold \u2014 a newsman\u2019s newsman and a true Long Beach legend.<\/p>\n

Thank you, Rich.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rich Archbold has never ceased his celebratory chronicling of our community \u2014 Long Beach and the people in this city are an endless party, captured across the decades in Rich\u2019s work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":209,"featured_media":1148,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[142],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[141],"class_list":["post-572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","tag-key-to-the-city","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=572"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1159,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572\/revisions\/1159"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=572"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=572"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}