The Editor of Page Six Is Departing After 25 Years

New York gossip will never be the same.

Richard Johnson, who for nearly a quarter century made whispers roar with a patrician manner and acerbic pen as editor of The New York Post’s Page Six gossip column, will leave the tabloid for a job in Los Angeles.

Suitably, the news was announced Thursday in a Page Six item, which reported that Mr. Johnson was “moving to Hollywood to work on new digital ventures for News Corp., the parent company of The Post.”

“I love Page Six and The Post, but I’ve always wanted to give Los Angeles a try,” Mr. Johnson said in the column.

Emily Smith, a veteran of Fleet Street who is a writer for Page Six, will take Mr. Johnson’s place at the helm of the column.

In chronicling the fancy frolicking of the famous (alliteration is a Page Six characteristic), Mr. Johnson became a boldface name himself, a journalistic descendant of Walter Winchell, and lived a large New York newspaper life of the sort that is increasingly of a bygone era.

It was a tableau of gaudy parties and carousing, and Mr. Johnson often seemed to relish the trouble he caused. (Mr. Johnson once told a rival gossip columnist he was “too well-mannered” to fight back after a talent agent tossed a drink on him at a party.)

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“Richard was a true N.Y.C. icon,” said the financier Ronald O. Perelman, a frequent Page Six subject, in an e-mail message. “He brought class and fun to this city. He made Page Six the must read for everyone who wanted to be in the know.”

Graydon Carter, the editor of Vanity Fair, described the column’s place among the city’s upper crust as, “high entertainment, mixed with frequent tears and suicidal thoughts.”

His own exploits, and those of his writers, sometimes became the news. In 2006, one of the column’s writers was caught on videotape seemingly trying to extort money from the billionaire Ronald W. Burkle in exchange for positive coverage. A federal investigation ensued, but no charges were filed.

Mr. Johnson has indelibly influenced — for better or worse, depending on how one views such matters — the rise of celebrity journalism in America, an arena that has been forever altered by the digital age, cable news and the 24-hour news cycle and the advent of Web sites like TMZ and Perezhilton.com.

Page Six has been a uniquely New York institution, a guidebook for the generations of the young and fabulous who have come to the city in search of fame. It covers not just A-list celebrities but all segments of New York society — like finance, fashion and real estate.

“It’s still a must read,” said Matthew Hiltzik, a public relations executive who has had a long relationship with Mr. Johnson. Mr. Hiltzik recalled an item Mr. Johnson was preparing to publish about the private life of one his clients. But after some bargaining, the news was downgraded to a blind item after Mr. Hiltzik argued it would hurt the subject’s children.

“He understood the impact items could have on people and he used that influence wisely,” said Mr. Hiltzik.

On one occasion, Lloyd Grove, who competed against Page Six as a gossip columnist for The Daily News, wrote an item poking fun at a “sighting” in Page Six of a famous, but long-dead, media executive. “He did send me an e-mail back and did mention the word ‘retribution,’ but I think he was bluffing,” recalled Mr. Grove, who is now a writer at The Daily Beast Web site.