Choose Charleston

 We continue our discussion of free & local periodicals with the paper one is most likely to grab when new in the area (and looking for the lowdown on what is what and why): Charleston City Paper.

Fair is fair disclosure: I am a regular contributor to this paper.

Some say it all began, many years ago, with a tall stranger on horseback. The hooves clacked and echoed along King Street as crowds of college students, stunned into silence, watched.

“You there,” the newcomer to town said, pointing toward a young man. “If you wanted to know what band is playing at Cumberland’s tonight, where would you look?”

The young man had no reply.

“Mm,” said the newcomer. He turned toward another. “You, there. I see around me a vast constellation of eateries. How am I to know which offers not only the most succulent fare but also the best service and value for my dollar?”

The poor child could only peep. It was worse than the newcomer feared.

“And your alternate news source, where might it be found?”

The crowd could only shrug. One brave soul asked, “Alternate?”

And so the newcomer set to work.

Okay, fair is fair again, so it may not have happened exactly that way, but the fact remains that the beginnings of Charleston City Paper were marked by a blur of activity by a mere handful of staff. You could count them on the fingers of your hand. They raised the paper into being from the ground up by writing, photographing, editing, procuring ads, designing and proofing pages, even distributing all by themselves.

More than a decade later, Charleston City Paper is a serious force in local culture, producing in-depth coverage of major arts festivals and events, and it is the go-to source for finding reviews of local shows, news of local interest, and cuisine features you can sink your teeth into.

And, yeah, there is a bit of attitude and snark in there as well. Some are upset by that. But those who cannot laugh at themselves… well, you know the rest.

City Paper takes a bit of ribbing on occasion, but I will say this: go to other towns and look for the local alt press paper. Find one and hold it side by side with Charleston City Paper. Unless you happened to grab a Village Voice, you’re going to notice right away that CCP holds considerably more pages, more weight, and the quality of the writing and art tends to be much better.

Chalk that up of years of dedication and refusal to compromise by a founding staff who simply pressed forward when others shook their heads.