When I used to come to Santa Monica for work, I’d stop in at a local AM/PM to pick up a copy of the Los Angeles Times. I read that paper growing up and particularly enjoyed Al Martinez columns. It was always nice to come back and read the paper early in the morning.

This morning, while the family still slept, I walked over to the same AM/PM to pick up a copy of the LA Times. I’d been looking forward to taking it to the beach and reading through it with the sound of the waves in the background.

I couldn’t find the paper so I asked the fellow behind the counter where it was. “We stopped getting it three or four years ago,” he told me. “No one was buying it.” I left empty-handed but still sat at the beach once again saddened by the edition of newspapers. And towns. Santa Monica is much different than it used to be. The bowling alley around the corner from the office is now an empty field, and the great little Mexican restaurant next to it is now an MMA shop.

On the other hand, what used to be a large parking lot is now a turf sports field.

I might have known about these changes if they were reported in the LA Times. But apparently no one is buying it. Today, even me.