Bad timing for paper’s cover story

One might assume startling prescience was at work. But in fact, the LA Weekly’s cover story on the Santa Monica Farmers Market was an unavoidable coincidence.

“The Birth of the Santa Monica Farmers Market,” written by Michelle Huneven, along with a two-page photo essay by Anne Fishbein, was printed on Monday morning -- two days before an elderly man drove through the shoppers perusing produce stands on Arizona Avenue, killing at least 10.

“It’s a kind of coincidence you can’t prepare for journalistically,” said editor-in-chief Laurie Ochoa. “We were trying to do something that was celebrating the market. We were trying to look at the history of the farmers market and how it actually began.”

By Wednesday afternoon, only the paper’s calendar section remained open, so editors included a note there and on

laweekly.com explaining the print deadlines and offering condolences.

“We are saddened by the loss of life,” the note reads. “To the injured we wish a full recovery.”

Huneven had spent a month researching the market. “With all this horrible attention being drawn to it, I think that it’s important to remember it’s a long-standing, valuable, peaceful, beautiful, culturally enriching institution,” she said.

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-- Gina Piccalo