Observer » Dan’s Papers

New York Press Owner Manhattan Media Buys Dan's Papers

Zeke Turner — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 19:58:38 -0400

Manhattan Media, owner of New York Press, announced today that it has bought Dan's Papers, the free Hampton's weekly, from Brown Publishing.

The eponymous Dan Rattiner will remain the paper's president and editor-in-chief. When Brown Publishing filed for bankruptcy in May, Mr. Rattiner assured readers that his paper wasn't going anwhere

"Brown's bankruptcy is not about shutting down and selling off the pieces. In fact, everything will be proceeding as normal," Mr. Rattiner wrote on the paper's website. "Instead, this action is about shedding much of this long-term bank loan."

Richard Burns, the chairman of Manhattan Media, said that even during Brown Publishing's struggle with bankruptcy, Dan's Papers never stopped making money.

Despite Bankruptcy, Dan’s Papers is ‘Here to Stay’

Zeke Turner — Tue, 04 May 2010 18:15:42 -0400

Don't stop the presses!

Even though Brown Publishing, the owner of that quirky and batty free weekly of the Hamptons, Dan's Papers, recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the paper isn't going anywhere.

"Brown's bankruptcy is not about shutting down and selling off the pieces. In fact, everything will be proceeding as normal," wrote Dan Rattiner, founder and longtime editor and publisher of Dan's Papers, in a blog post on the papers' website. "Instead, this action is about shedding much of this long-term bank loan."

Mr. Rattiner explained that when Brown bought the paper in 2007 everything seemed so rosy! And then it didn't.

"You remember those times. Money flowed like water. Everybody was happy. The sky was the limit. Then everything went down the drain," wrote Mr. Rattiner. "What was left at Brown was an assemblage of the new papers they bought for their chain and a big long-term bank obligation."

Mr. Rattiner insists that the financial difficulties facing Brown Publishing won't put a stop to those free copies flopping around Gin Lane.

"Many large newspaper chains have quietly gone through bankruptcies in recent days," wrote Mr. Rattiner. "The Boston dailies went bankrupt. The Philadelphia dailies just went through a bankruptcy. Even Newsday, which was part of the Tribune Company based in Chicago, went through a bankruptcy. All those publications continue on. Nothing changes when it comes to feet on the ground."

Dan of Dan’s Papers Working on Hamptons Memoir

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 13:15:20 -0400

The New York Sun reports this morning that Dan Rattiner, who recently sold his iconic Hamptons magazine Dan's Papers to News Communications, Inc., is preparing his memoirs for publication next spring:

Yesterday, Mr. Rattiner said he had recently settled on a title, "In the Hamptons: My 50 Years With the Fisherman, Farmers, Artists, Billionaires and Celebrities." Each of its chapters will focus on a Hamptons experience he has had or a person he has met, he said, including celebrities such as George Plimpton and President Clinton, who served as umpire in a Hamptons artists-writers softball game when he was governor of Arkansas.

There's no mention of a publisher for the book, though. Anyone know who picked it up--or for how much?

The New York Sun