The Arcata Eye is a newspaper which describes itself as "the mildly objectionable weekly newspaper for Arcata, California

Arcata, California

-Demographics:-2010 Census data:The 2010 United States Census reported that Arcata had a population of 17,231. The population density was 1,567.4 people per square mile...

." The paper was started and is currently owned and edited by Kevin L. Hoover, a former founding member of legendary Michigan band, The Sparklers. It covers news relevant to citizens of the City of Arcata and surrounding environs. Topics such as marijuana, homelessness

Homelessness

Homelessness describes the condition of people without a regular dwelling. People who are homeless are unable or unwilling to acquire and maintain regular, safe, and adequate housing, or lack "fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence." The legal definition of "homeless" varies from country...

, environmental issues

Environmentalism

Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...

, city council

City council

A city council or town council is the legislative body that governs a city, town, municipality or local government area.-Australia & NZ:Because of the differences in legislation between the States, the exact definition of a City Council varies...

 meetings, festival

Festival

A festival or gala is an event, usually and ordinarily staged by a local community, which centers on and celebrates some unique aspect of that community and the Festival....

s, fundraiser

Fundraiser

A fundraiser is an event or campaign whose primary purpose is to raise money for a cause. See also: fundraising. A fundraiser can also be an individual or company whose primary job is to raise money for a specific charity or non-profit organization...

s and the local semi-pro baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 team are often found within its pages. The paper has gained minor notoriety for the style of its articles and its police log. It is widely circulated in Arcata.

History

The Arcata Eye was born in 1996 after another local weekly newspaper, the Arcata Union (established 1886) went out of business. While the Union had shown some lag in profits, this was not the reason for its demise. It was terminated by the owner, Patrick O'Dell, in an effort to consolidate his Humboldt County

Humboldt County, California

Humboldt County is a county in the U.S. state of California, located on the far North Coast 200 miles north of San Francisco. According to 2010 Census Data, the county’s population was 134,623...

 newspaper holdings into the Humboldt Beacon, a paper run out of nearby Fortuna, California

Fortuna, California

Fortuna is a city in western-central Humboldt County, California, United States. The population was 11,926 at the 2010 census, up from 10,497 at the 2000 census. The city lies on the northeast shore of the Eel River , and is on U.S...

. Kevin L. Hoover was a reporter with the Union at the time of its termination and realized that a niche had opened.

Hoover scraped together enough funding and launched the Arcata Eye. The L-Eye, as it is often called by locals, was a very different paper from the Union. The logo depicted an eyeball and it had a unique and prominently placed police log – Hoover had previously run a "drier" police log while at the Union. Likely due to its "new thrust in journalism", and its close allegiance with Arcata's "more colorful side", the paper quickly gained in popularity and size. While the Arcata Eye has been the center of some controversy, it is generally considered the paper of record for Arcata.

Police blotter

The Arcata Eye has gained a reputation for its police logs and recurring themes about local street life. The police log has gained a large following inside Arcata and in the broader area (thanks to online publication) because it takes interesting tidbits in local police reports and couches them in "witty" language. Two books collecting together a selection of police logs have been published. The newspaper's owner, Kevin Hoover, has popularized the term "plazoid" to describe those homeless people who congregate at the city's central square ("the Plaza

Plaza

Plaza is a Spanish word related to "field" which describes an open urban public space, such as a city square. All through Spanish America, the plaza mayor of each center of administration held three closely related institutions: the cathedral, the cabildo or administrative center, which might be...

"), on city streets, and in other city parks.