When Condé Nast decided to cease publication of Gourmet Magazine my heart sunk a little bit. Though I rarely used a recipe from the book I often times found myself perusing the pages for inspiration. It was a quality magazine.

As the publishing world changes at a drastic pace it is interesting to watch what becomes of print media. For someone who escaped as a child into the pages of magazines, and who still does, it’s a bit saddening to see these guys become extinct.

On the website Last Days of Gourmet Kevin DeMaria wrote “October 5th, 2009 in shock and disbelief, using garbage pails for long exposures, I took these photos of the last days at Gourmet.Although at times it was hard for me to shoot the common places in the offices at Gourmet, I knew I needed to document where I loved working for the last 8 years.”

The images captured will resonate with more than just those who work in print media. They capture the sorrow of many Americans who have lost their jobs.

Plazm is one of those beautiful art and design magazines that is filled from cover to cover with eye-catching imagery and letter forms to lust over. It has featured people like David Byrne, Yoko Ono, Iggy Pop, Milton Glaser, and Todd Haynes. The SF MoMA has made the entire catalog part of their permanent collection. So why, in all of its 18 years, has it never made any money?

Such is the lament of independent publishers. You take something that’s interesting and important and sexy-looking and you give it to people and no one buys it. Well, some people buy it, but not enough to make a living. Rather than cave, the editors of Plazm created Plazm Design, ranked by ID magazine “as one of the world’s 40 most influential design firms.” The magazine was originally created “by a group of artists dissatisfied with the avenues of expression available to them,” and now that Plazm has successfully filled that void, no one is willing to give it up no matter how little sense it makes financially. It’s reassuring to know that in a time when money seems to mean everything, there are still some places it doesn’t.

Plazm Magazine: http://www.plazm.com/

Following the success of its London location, Tyler Brûlé brings his marketing savvy to Santa Monica where the second Monocle Shop opens today. The 115 sq ft store will serve as both a retail space and branding mechanism for the revered magazine, all 22 issues of which are sold alongside international designer collaborations from the likes of Comme des Garcons, Porter, and Artek. When retail spaces all over the country are scaling back this might seem like poor timing, but Brûlé’s audacity might just do the trick. The increased advertising Monocle has seen this year may be proof that print isn’t quite yet dead, and it looks as if Brûlé is set to prove the retail economy wrong as well—he’s already scouting more locations in NY and Tokyo.

The Monocle Shop, 225 26th St., 19b, Santa Monica

For anyone who cares about the implosion of the journalism business and how it might evolve to save itself, the writings of New York University professor Clay Shirky are a must-read. His recent blog post “Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable” has been widely linked to, and if you missed it, here’s a taste:

“When someone demands to know how we are going to replace newspapers, they are really demanding to be told that we are not living through a revolution. They are demanding to be told that old systems won’t break before new systems are in place. They are demanding to be told that ancient social bargains aren’t in peril, that core institutions will be spared, that new methods of spreading information will improve previous practice rather than upending it. They are demanding to be lied to.

There are fewer and fewer people who can convincingly tell such a lie.”

Read the whole thing here.