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The police briefing on a hostage-taking at a Trader Joe's in Silver Lake that gripped Los Angeles on Saturday afternoon had just ended. But as Mayor Eric M. Garcetti started walking away, reporters stopped him for one more question.

What did Mr. Garcetti have to say about the death of Jonathan Gold?

Mr. Gold, 57, was the restaurant critic for The Los Angeles Times. For anyone outside of Los Angeles, it is difficult to appreciate what kind of an outsized figure Mr. Gold was in the fabric of the city he called home: much more than just another restaurant reviewer or hometown institution.

It was not at all surprising that Mr. Gold’s death merited a question to the mayor, followed by an official tribute from City Hall. Or that it inspired a day of tributes from shocked admirers. (He had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in early July.) “We are all so heartbroken,” Roy Choi, the chef behind Kogi, a Korean taco food truck, said on Instagram.

For many people, the joy of Saturday mornings was turning — even before coffee — to Mr. Gold’s latest inside the Saturday section. The more devout of his fans plucked the reviews off the internet the night before.