United States Project

California’s Carmel Pine Cone on informing the community and interviewing Clint Eastwood

August 9, 2017
 

The city of Carmel-by-the-Sea is full of idiosyncrasies. You need a permit to wear high heels. There are no stop lights or street lights. And there are no house numbers. “My address is a direction,” says Mary Schley, a reporter at the local paper, the Pine Cone. “Try telling FedEx how to get there.” The paper has been a backbone of this community for the last 20 years. Editor and Publisher Paul Miller has transformed the newspaper into the “bible of the community,” according to the city’s mayor. The paper has grown since Miller took over, apart from a slight downturn during the 2008 recession. It also got national buzz following an exclusive interview with Clint Eastwood after the 2012 Republican National Convention. The paper has accomplished all this despite not having a digital presence; it only posts a PDF of the printed newspaper online.

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Darrel Frost is a designer and writer living in New York City.