diff --git a/IPython/config/application.py b/IPython/config/application.py
index ba26b57..59a21e5 100644
--- a/IPython/config/application.py
+++ b/IPython/config/application.py
@@ -132,6 +132,27 @@ class Application(SingletonConfigurable):
             new = getattr(logging, new)
             self.log_level = new
         self.log.setLevel(new)
+    
+    log = Instance(logging.Logger)
+    def _log_default(self):
+        """Start logging for this application.
+
+        The default is to log to stdout using a StreaHandler. The log level
+        starts at loggin.WARN, but this can be adjusted by setting the
+        ``log_level`` attribute.
+        """
+        log = logging.getLogger(self.__class__.__name__)
+        log.setLevel(self.log_level)
+        if sys.executable.endswith('pythonw.exe'):
+            # this should really go to a file, but file-logging is only
+            # hooked up in parallel applications
+            _log_handler = logging.StreamHandler(open(os.devnull, 'w'))
+        else:
+            _log_handler = logging.StreamHandler()
+        _log_formatter = logging.Formatter("[%(name)s] %(message)s")
+        _log_handler.setFormatter(_log_formatter)
+        log.addHandler(_log_handler)
+        return log
 
     # the alias map for configurables
     aliases = Dict({'log-level' : 'Application.log_level'})
@@ -169,32 +190,11 @@ class Application(SingletonConfigurable):
         if self.__class__ not in self.classes:
             self.classes.insert(0, self.__class__)
 
-        self.init_logging()
-
     def _config_changed(self, name, old, new):
         SingletonConfigurable._config_changed(self, name, old, new)
         self.log.debug('Config changed:')
         self.log.debug(repr(new))
 
-    def init_logging(self):
-        """Start logging for this application.
-
-        The default is to log to stdout using a StreaHandler. The log level
-        starts at loggin.WARN, but this can be adjusted by setting the
-        ``log_level`` attribute.
-        """
-        self.log = logging.getLogger(self.__class__.__name__)
-        self.log.setLevel(self.log_level)
-        if sys.executable.endswith('pythonw.exe'):
-            # this should really go to a file, but file-logging is only
-            # hooked up in parallel applications
-            self._log_handler = logging.StreamHandler(open(os.devnull, 'w'))
-        else:
-            self._log_handler = logging.StreamHandler()
-        self._log_formatter = logging.Formatter("[%(name)s] %(message)s")
-        self._log_handler.setFormatter(self._log_formatter)
-        self.log.addHandler(self._log_handler)
-
     @catch_config_error
     def initialize(self, argv=None):
         """Do the basic steps to configure me.
diff --git a/IPython/frontend/html/notebook/clustermanager.py b/IPython/frontend/html/notebook/clustermanager.py
index 27e1e9b..7e4f428 100644
--- a/IPython/frontend/html/notebook/clustermanager.py
+++ b/IPython/frontend/html/notebook/clustermanager.py
@@ -45,8 +45,6 @@ class DummyIPClusterStart(IPClusterStart):
 
     def init_signal(self):
         pass
-    def init_logging(self):
-        pass
     def reinit_logging(self):
         pass
 
diff --git a/IPython/frontend/html/notebook/notebookapp.py b/IPython/frontend/html/notebook/notebookapp.py
index b157c97..22dbf20 100644
--- a/IPython/frontend/html/notebook/notebookapp.py
+++ b/IPython/frontend/html/notebook/notebookapp.py
@@ -390,7 +390,6 @@ class NotebookApp(BaseIPythonApplication):
         self.cluster_manager.update_profiles()
 
     def init_logging(self):
-        super(NotebookApp, self).init_logging()
         # This prevents double log messages because tornado use a root logger that
         # self.log is a child of. The logging module dipatches log messages to a log
         # and all of its ancenstors until propagate is set to False.
@@ -493,6 +492,7 @@ class NotebookApp(BaseIPythonApplication):
     
     @catch_config_error
     def initialize(self, argv=None):
+        self.init_logging()
         super(NotebookApp, self).initialize(argv)
         self.init_configurables()
         self.init_webapp()
diff --git a/IPython/parallel/apps/baseapp.py b/IPython/parallel/apps/baseapp.py
index 6d6382a..32b6d98 100644
--- a/IPython/parallel/apps/baseapp.py
+++ b/IPython/parallel/apps/baseapp.py
@@ -175,9 +175,12 @@ class BaseParallelApplication(BaseIPythonApplication):
         else:
             open_log_file = None
         if open_log_file is not None:
-            self.log.removeHandler(self._log_handler)
+            while self.log.handlers:
+                self.log.removeHandler(self.log.handlers[0])
             self._log_handler = logging.StreamHandler(open_log_file)
             self.log.addHandler(self._log_handler)
+        else:
+            self._log_handler = self.log.handlers[0]
         # Add timestamps to log format:
         self._log_formatter = logging.Formatter("%(asctime)s.%(msecs).03d [%(name)s] %(message)s",
                                                 datefmt="%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")
diff --git a/IPython/parallel/apps/ipcontrollerapp.py b/IPython/parallel/apps/ipcontrollerapp.py
index ead40a7..da9070a 100755
--- a/IPython/parallel/apps/ipcontrollerapp.py
+++ b/IPython/parallel/apps/ipcontrollerapp.py
@@ -434,11 +434,9 @@ class IPControllerApp(BaseParallelApplication):
             lsock = context.socket(zmq.PUB)
             lsock.connect(self.log_url)
             handler = PUBHandler(lsock)
-            self.log.removeHandler(self._log_handler)
             handler.root_topic = 'controller'
             handler.setLevel(self.log_level)
             self.log.addHandler(handler)
-            self._log_handler = handler
     
     @catch_config_error
     def initialize(self, argv=None):
diff --git a/IPython/parallel/apps/ipengineapp.py b/IPython/parallel/apps/ipengineapp.py
index c901635..f26750b 100755
--- a/IPython/parallel/apps/ipengineapp.py
+++ b/IPython/parallel/apps/ipengineapp.py
@@ -288,11 +288,9 @@ class IPEngineApp(BaseParallelApplication):
             context = self.engine.context
             lsock = context.socket(zmq.PUB)
             lsock.connect(self.log_url)
-            self.log.removeHandler(self._log_handler)
             handler = EnginePUBHandler(self.engine, lsock)
             handler.setLevel(self.log_level)
             self.log.addHandler(handler)
-            self._log_handler = handler
     
     def init_mpi(self):
         global mpi