Lockhart Steele

Last updated

Lockhart Steele
Lockhart-Steele.jpg
Steele in 2006
Born1973or1974(age 49–50)
Occupation(s)Blogger, journalist
Known for Curbed

Lockhart Steele is an American blogger best known for the Curbed family of real estate, restaurant, and shopping news sites.

Contents

Early life and career

Lockhart Steele was raised in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts. He graduated from St. Paul's School in 1992 and later, from Brown University. [1] In his senior year, he self-published a compendium of the band PhishThe Pharmer's Almanac—with a classmate. It became a bible for the band's international followers and printed five editions before selling to Penguin Press. [1] [2]

Steele moved to the Lower East Side of Manhattan in February 2001 and built a personal blog with short news on New York's social scene. Within three years, his site was popular mainly for its New York real estate posts on apartments and restaurants, with 3,000 daily page views. He moved these posts to Curbed.com in May 2004 [1] and by early next year, left his job at the real estate magazine Cottages & Gardens , where he was an editor, to pursue blogging. He became managing editor at Gawker Media, which was known for its successful blogging business model, and managed its 11 blogs, including its New York and Washington media gossip sites. [2] Steele eventually split Curbed's restaurant posts to Eater.com (2005) and shopping posts to Racked.com (2007). [1] Vox Media purchased Steele's sites in late 2013 for an undisclosed price between $20 and 30 million in cash and stock. [3]

Sexual harassment allegations

Steele was fired from his job as Vox Media's Editorial Director in October 2017, over allegations of sexual harassment. The firing occurred several days after former Vox Media employee Eden Rohatensky published a post on Medium.com describing being sexually harassed by a supervisor. [4] Although Rohatensky did not name the company or the people involved in the post, Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff referred specifically to "issues raised by a former employee in a post on Medium" in a statement to employees announcing Steele's termination. Bankoff also stated that Steele had "admitted engaging in conduct that is inconsistent with our core values and is not tolerated at Vox Media." [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blog</span> Discussion or informational site published on the internet

A blog is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order so that the most recent post appears first, at the top of the web page. Until 2009, blogs were often the work of a single individual, occasionally of a small group, and often covered a single subject or topic. In the 2010s, "multi-author blogs" (MABs) emerged, featuring the writing of multiple authors and sometimes professionally edited. MABs from newspapers, other media outlets, universities, think tanks, advocacy groups, and similar institutions account for an increasing quantity of blog traffic. The rise of Twitter and other "microblogging" systems helps integrate MABs and single-author blogs into the news media. Blog can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

<i>New York</i> (magazine) American lifestyle and politics magazine

New York is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, with a particular emphasis on New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Byron York</span> American conservative (born 1955)

Byron York is an American conservative correspondent, pundit, columnist, and author.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heather Armstrong</span> American blogger (1975–2023)

Heather Brooke Armstrong was an American blogger and internet personality from Salt Lake City, Utah, who wrote under the pseudonym Dooce. She was best known for her website dooce.com, which peaked at nearly 8.5 million monthly readers in 2004 before declining due to various factors including the rise of social media; she had actively blogged from c. 2001 until her death by suicide in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evan Williams (Internet entrepreneur)</span> American technology entrepreneur

Evan "Evraid" Clark Williams is an American billionaire technology entrepreneur. He is a co-founder of Twitter, and was its CEO from 2008 to 2010, and a member of its board from 2007 to 2019. He founded Blogger and Medium, two of the largest blogging internet platforms. In 2014, he co-founded the venture capital firm Obvious Ventures. As of February 2022, his net worth is estimated at US$2.1 billion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New York World Building</span> Former skyscraper in Manhattan, New York

The New York World Building was a building in the Civic Center of Manhattan in New York City, along Park Row between Frankfort Street and the Brooklyn Bridge. Part of Lower Manhattan's former "Newspaper Row", it was designed by George B. Post in the Renaissance Revival style, serving as the headquarters of the New York World after its completion in 1890. The New York World Building was the tallest building in New York City upon completion, becoming the first to overtop Trinity Church, and was by some accounts the world's tallest building.

Ellen Simonetti is an American former flight attendant who was fired after documenting her life and work experiences on a blog in the early 2000s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ezra Klein</span> American journalist (born 1984)

Ezra Klein is an American progressive journalist, political analyst, New York Times columnist, and the host of The Ezra Klein Show podcast. He is a co-founder of Vox and formerly served as the website's editor-at-large. He has held editorial positions at The Washington Post and The American Prospect, and was a regular contributor to Bloomberg News and MSNBC. His first book, Why We're Polarized, was published by Simon & Schuster in January 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trump Park Avenue</span> Residential skyscraper in Manhattan, New York

Trump Park Avenue is a residential building on the southern border of Lenox Hill at 502 Park Avenue in Manhattan, New York City. The 32-story building, designed by Goldner and Goldner in 1929, today contains 120 luxury condominium apartments and 8 penthouses converted by real estate developer Donald Trump.

Curbed is an American real estate and urban design website published by New York magazine. Founded as a blog by Lockhart Steele in 2006 to cover New York City real estate, it grew by 2010 to feature sub-pages dedicated to specific real estate markets and metropolitan areas across the United States. Steele once described Curbed.com as an "Architectural Digest after a three-martini lunch.” The site hosted an annual contest, the Curbed Cup, to pick the best neighborhood in each city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Bankoff</span> American media executive

James Philip Bankoff is an American media executive who is the co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer (CEO) of Vox Media. He previously worked for AOL and joined Vox Media's predecessor, SB Nation, in 2009.

Vox Media, Inc. is an American mass media company founded in Washington, D.C. with operational headquarters in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The company was established in November 2011 by CEO Jim Bankoff and Trei Brundrett to encompass SB Nation and The Verge. Bankoff had been the CEO for SB Nation since 2009.

<i>SB Nation</i> American sports blogging website

SB Nation is a sports blogging network owned by Vox Media. It was co-founded by Tyler Bleszinski, Markos Moulitsas, and Jerome Armstrong in 2003. The blog from which the network formed was started by Bleszinski as Athletics Nation in 2003, and focused solely on the Oakland Athletics. It has since expanded to cover sports franchises on a national scale, including all Major League Baseball, National Basketball Association, and National Football League teams, as well as college teams, mixed martial arts and professional wrestling, totaling over 300 community sites. In 2011, the network expanded into technology content with The Verge, leading to the parent company Sports Blogs Inc. being rebranded as Vox Media. SB Nation operates from Vox Media's offices in New York City and Washington, D.C.

<i>Polygon</i> (website) Video game website

Polygon is an American entertainment website covering video games and popular culture by Vox Media. At its October 2012 launch as Vox Media's third property, Polygon sought to distinguish itself by focusing on the stories of the people behind games and long-form magazine-style feature articles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">5 Beekman Street</span> Building in Manhattan, New York

5 Beekman Street is a building in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City, United States. It is composed of the 10-story, 150-foot-tall (46 m) Temple Court Building and Annex and a connected 51-story, 687-foot-tall (209 m) condominium tower called the Beekman Residences, which contains 68 residential units. The 287-unit The Beekman, a Thompson Hotel, also known as The Beekman Hotel, occupies all three structures.

Medium is an American online publishing platform developed by Evan Williams and launched in August 2012. It is owned by A Medium Corporation. The platform is an example of social journalism, having a hybrid collection of amateur and professional people and publications, or exclusive blogs or publishers on Medium, and is regularly regarded as a blog host.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Stock Exchange Building</span> Building in Manhattan, New York

The American Stock Exchange Building, formerly known as the New York Curb Exchange Building and also known as 86 Trinity Place or 123 Greenwich Street, is the former headquarters of the American Stock Exchange. Designed in two sections by Starrett & van Vleck, it is located between Greenwich Street and Trinity Place in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City, with its main entrance at Trinity Place. The building represents a link to the historical practices of stock trading outside the strictures of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), which took place outdoors "on the curb" prior to the construction of the structure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pershing Square, Manhattan</span> Plaza in Manhattan, New York

Pershing Square is a public plaza in Manhattan, New York City, located where Park Avenue and 42nd Street intersect in front of Grand Central Terminal. The main roadway of Park Avenue crosses over 42nd Street on the Park Avenue Viaduct, also known as the Pershing Square Viaduct. Two service roads, one northbound and one southbound, connect 42nd Street with the main roadway of Park Avenue, at 40th Street.

<i>Vox</i> (website) American news website

Vox is an American news and opinion website owned by Vox Media. The website was founded in April 2014 by Ezra Klein, Matt Yglesias, and Melissa Bell, and is noted for its concept of explanatory journalism. Vox's media presence also includes a YouTube channel, several podcasts, and a show presented on Netflix. Vox has been described as left-leaning and progressive.

Eater is a food website by Vox Media. It was co-founded by Lockhart Steele and Ben Leventhal in 2005, and originally focused on dining and nightlife in New York City. Eater launched a national site in 2009, and covered nearly 20 cities by 2012. Vox Media acquired Eater, along with two others comprising the Curbed Network, in late 2013. In 2017, Eater had around 25 local sites in the United States, Canada, and England. The site has been recognized twelve times by the James Beard Foundation Awards.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Oppenheimer, Mark (March 19, 2010). "Lockhart Steele: The Optimist's Blogger". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331.
  2. 1 2 Hempel, Jessi (May 2, 2005). "Online Extra: New York's Real Estate Know-It-All". Bloomberg.com .
  3. Kaufman, Leslie (November 10, 2013). "Vox Media Buying Curbed.com Network of Sites". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331.
  4. Rohatensky, Eden (October 12, 2017). "Why I'm not surprised when I hear that powerful men are fucking creeps". Medium . Retrieved December 3, 2017.
  5. Jarvey, Natalie (October 20, 2017). "Vox Media Fires Editorial Director Lockhart Steele Over Misconduct". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved December 3, 2017.