New economics reporter at LA Times

David Pierson has been named a regional economics reporter at the Los Angeles Times, according to a memo from business editor Sallie Hofmeister posted on the paper’s site.

Hofmeister writes. “A prolific and graceful writer, David has landed in Column One 16 times over the last three years. He pulled back the curtain on the decadent Xenii, an underground ‘mobile’ nightclub in Hollywood for young, rich movers and shakers.  He brought readers to Wo Hing, a tiny hamlet in Southern China known as Los Angeles village because of the generations who migrated across the Pacific and sent money back home. In March, he painted a vivid portrait of Zhao Yan Feng, a Chinese teacher who struggled with a clash of cultures and ran up against teenage angst after coming to a high school in South Los Angeles.

“Born in Hong Kong, David moved to New Jersey at the age of 16 when his father returned home to the U.S. to become a professor at St. John’s University in Queens. After graduating from the same college in 2000 with a degree in journalism, David covered prep and college sports for Newsday for a couple of years before joining The Times in 2001 as a Metpro.”

Read more here.