Why hello there.

This is the virtual home of Chris Barton, that one Chris Barton out of the many others who wrote and edited for the L.A. Times before I left the company in 2019. After spending years managing and creating editorial coverage about pop culture in a cratering media climate, it was time for a change.

After a stint among the trees in Portland, I’m now based in San Francisco writing for a digital agency, creating articles, white papers, and email campaigns around the perspectives of creative experts. My clients include fellow digital marketing agencies along with firms that specialize in cloud storage and data analytics, website design and development, and other tech-adjacent pursuits.

My recent journalism has appeared in Red Canary Magazine as well as stints writing for Downbeat, Magnet, Under the Radar, and the Seattle Weekly. Before that I contributed copyrighting and technical documentation to a sued-into-oblivion dotcom, and launched the website for the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. (But if you really want to startle me, tell me you were among the few jaded comics and unstable passersby who saw me work through things onstage during a dip into stand-up comedy during my first go-round living in the Bay Area. Ah, the ’90s.)

Regardless, this is the space to read about me and my work. Welcome, stay awhile.