> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Santa Monica Bay Week acquired by new company - URL: https://www.smdp.com/santa-monica-bay-week-acquired-by-new-company/ - Published: 2002-10-16T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T00:47:48.000Z - Author: Andrew Fixmer - Tags: Business, Santa Monica, #archive-import *Employees down-sized, paper’s future uncertain* The fate of a local weekly newspaper is up in the air as the company that publishes it was acquired this week, leaving many employees scrambling for their jobs. Culver City-based Coastal Community News, owned by Steve Hadland, was assumed Monday by a newly formed company called Cunningham & Gillis Enterprises, which has never published newspapers. Coastal Community News published five westside weekly newspapers: the Santa Monica Bay Week, the Los Angeles Tribune, the Culver City News, the Westchester News and Playa del Rey News. Hadland previously pegged the combined circulation of the five newspapers at 62,000. The company, which reportedly had 50 full-time employees, also owned a printing operation called West Coast Offset Printing, which prints the newspapers along with other publications, including the Santa Monica Daily Press. Hadland — who made headlines in an unsuccessful bid to buy the Honolulu Advertiser in 2000 — deferred all comments to Suzan Cunningham, who along with business partner Jack Gillis, formed the new company. Cunningham said the five newspapers and the printing operation was part of the business deal. She would not say whether the newspapers were purchased or if Coastal Community News was acquired because of debt owed. “I’m not at liberty to discuss any of our financial arrangements,” she said. “We are not saying we did or did not have prior business dealings with them.” Hadland’s media outlet was going through rough financial times, according to industry sources. Over the past few months, some employees reported their salaries would go unpaid for weeks at a time and a few employees said their paychecks bounced. On Monday and Tuesday, employees were interviewed to sort out who would stay with the company and who would be down-sized out of a job. A receptionist that answered the phone Tuesday morning said groups of five employees were being brought into Hadland’s office for the “bad news.” “I’m just trying to keep my head up,” she said. “All I can do is hope to have a job tomorrow.” By that afternoon, she was no longer answering the phones. “Any cuts being made are superfluous,” Cunningham said. “It’s a down-sizing thing, not a firing thing.” Cunningham said the company will remain in Culver City, but she is uncertain about the future of the newspapers. “As far as we know, we are going to maintain the publications we are doing until we make other arrangements,” she said. “Right now we’re just trying to get our feet on the ground and finding out where we stand. 39C,“You have to give me some time,” she added. “It’s a completely new endeavor for me.” Cunningham said she would like to see the new company continue some of its operations. “The paper has age on it and I would like to see it to continue,” she said. “It would be a real tragedy for it to discontinue.” Skip Rimer, the former editor of the defunct Evening Outlook, said Santa Monica can’t continue to support so many publications. Currently there is one daily newspaper, four weekly publications and a monthly newspaper covering Santa Monica issues. “It doesn’t surprise me at all given you have so many papers going after so few advertising dollars,” he said. “It’s just a given some will fall to the wayside.” *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 16, 2002.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/101602.pdf?ref=smdp.com)