Long Beach alt-paper, The District Weekly, to shutter doors

It appears another marker is set to be placed at journalism's Boot Hill.

The District Weekly's editor-in-chief Ellen Griley confirmed to LBPost.com Wednesday morning that the Long Beach-based alt-weekly, barring any last minute financial reprieves, will be folding. The confirmation follows more than a week of rampant speculation about the fate of the publication.

No firm date was immediately given as to when the operation would cease, or whether The District Weekly website, which remained up and running Wednesday afternoon, would continue separately.

Art Director Heather Swaim told LBReport.com Wednesday that the publication truly represented the tight Long Beach community. "[The District Weekly] is just a really talented group of people who I've loved working with, and if the paper closes I will miss them dearly," she told LBReport.com.

The District Weekly began nearly three years ago, staffed to a large degree with veteran journalists from the OC Weekly and headed by well-known OC Weekly editor Will Swaim.

The publication, which featured such OC Weekly and Press-Telegram luminaries as Dave Wilenga and Theo Douglas, built a reputation for itself with an often hard-hitting look at City Hall dealings, an irreverent view of Long Beach culture and an encyclopedic coverage of the area's restaurant and entertainment scenes.