The Los Angeles Times Syndicate was a print syndication service that operated from 1949 to 2000. Owned by the Times Mirror Company, it also operated the Los Angeles Times Syndicate International; together the two divisions sold more than 140 features in more than 100 countries around the world. Syndicated features included Pulitzer Prize-winning commentators and columnists, full news and feature services, editorial cartoons and comic strips, online products and photo and graphics packages.
The syndicate was founded in c. 1949 by the Times Mirror Company as the Mirror Enterprises Syndicate. In the early 1960s the name was changed to the Los Angeles Times Syndicate, and was operated as a department of the Los Angeles Times newspaper. Rex Barley was manager of the syndicate from 1950 until at least 1968.
The syndicate acquired the New York City-based independent syndicate General Features Corp. in 1967 for approximately $1 million, retaining it as a separate entity. In 1974, the L.A. Times Syndicate absorbed General Features into its own operations.
In mid-1987, the Los Angeles Times Syndicate was the fifth-ranked syndication service, with 85 features.
The Tribune Company acquired the Times Mirror Company in early 2000; upon completion of the merger, the L.A. Times Syndicate became a division of Tribune Media Services. The New York office closed June 1, 2000, while the Salt Lake City office closed on August 31, 2000. International work continues to be done in Los Angeles through the Tribune Content Agency. Several of the employees were offered follow on jobs with Tribune Media Services after the closing. The only strip that appeared to survive the merger was Dave Blazek and John Gilpin's Loose Parts.
Neither iteration of the syndicate ever produced a breakout comic strip; the most successful strips â Luther, Napoleon and Uncle Elby, Mr. Tweedy â tended to be inherited from other syndicates. Most Mirror Enterprise strips didn't last more than two or three years, and the company appeared to give up on syndicating comic strips after c. 1961.
After a five-year hiatus, the newly named Los Angeles Times Syndicate picked up the distribution of comic strips again in 1965. It had a similar lack of long-term success, with most strips not lasting more than three of four year in syndication. The most popular strips that originated with the L.A. Times Syndicate were Ed Nofziger's Animalogic (11 years in syndication) and Lee Nordling's Sherman on the Mount (9 years).
The syndicate also distributed Lou Grant's editorial cartoons from the 1950s through the 1980s.