Venice, Los Angeles, California
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Venice Beach and Boardwalk |
Venice, is a district in west
Los Angeles, California. It is best known for its canals and beaches, but it also has a somewhat
Bohemian residential area as well as a colorful
boardwalk. Its
area codes are 310 and a
recently added 424 overlay. Its
ZIP Code is 90291.
Venice of America was founded by
Abbot Kinney in
1905 as a resort town. Numerous canals were cut, and
gondoliers were trained. Commercial buildings had colonnades and facades modeled on those of
Venice, Italy. Several pleasure piers accomodated summer crowds who traveled by the
Pacific Electric Railway ("Red Car") system. Cottages and even housekeeping tents were available for rent.
For the amusement of the public Kinney hired aviators to do aerial stunts over the beach. One of them, movie
aviator and Venice airport owner
B.H. DeLay, implemented the first lighted airport in the United States on DeLay Field (previously known as Ince Field). He also initiated the first aerial police in the nation, after a marine rescue attempt was thwarted. DeLay also performed many of the world's first aerial stunts for motion pictures in Venice.
The small city was annexed to
Los Angeles in
1925. (There have been several movements to secede from Los Angeles since then, including in the 2000s.) In
1929 most of the canals were filled in to allow for automobile traffic. In the
1930s oil drilling supplanted amusement. Hundreds of wells covered the area and drilling waste clogged the remaining waterways. It was a short-lived boom, but the wells were still producing oil into the
1970s.
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Alleys of Venice, near 17th Place. The painting of past-resident Jim Morrison is one of many murals in the area. |
Venice and neighboring
Santa Monica were hosts for a decade to the
Pacific Ocean Park (POP), an amusement and pleasure-pier built atop the old Lick Pier. Though briefly popular, the facility experienced declining attendance in the mid-1960s due to increasing competition from other newer parks in Southern California such as
Disneyland,
Knott's Berry Farm,
Busch Gardens, and
Marineland, and the rotting structure was finally torn down to make way for a large residential building complex in the mid-1970s. Another aging tear-down in the 1960s was the
Aragon Ballroom that had been the longtime home of
The Lawrence Welk Show. The district around POP is known as
Dogtown, which was home to pioneering skateboarders the
Z-Boys, as profiled in the documentary film,
Dogtown and Z-Boys. Producer
Roger Corman owned a production facility, the Concorde/New Horizons Studio, on Main Street for many years, in which a large number of his films were shot. This facility wastorn down to build lofts.
Venice is today one of the most vibrant and eclectic areas of
Southern California and it continues a tradition of progressive social change involving prominent
Westsiders. The Venice Family Clinic is the largest free clinic in the country.
Venice is an unusually pedestrian-oriented area for Los Angeles: many of its houses actually have their principal entries from pedestrian-only streets, and have house numbers on these footpaths. (Automobile access is by alleys in the rear.) However, like much of Los Angeles, Venice is also well-known for traffic congestion. It lies 2 miles away from the nearest freeway, and its unusually dense network of narrow streets was not planned for the demands of modern traffic. Mindful of the tourist nature of much of the district's vehicle traffic, though, its residents have successfully fought numerous attempts to extend the
Marina Freeway (
CA-90) into southern Venice.
Venice Beach
Venice Beach is understood to include the beach, the promenade that runs parallel to the beach ("Ocean Front Walk" or just "the boardwalk"),
Muscle Beach, the tennis courts, Skate Dancing plaza, the numerous beach
volleyball courts, the bike trail and the
businesses and residences that have their addresses on Ocean Front Walk. It is a great magnet for tourists, even from other parts of Los Angeles, and is well-known for its eclectic, counter-culture atmosphere.
Along the southern portion of the beach, at the end of
Washington Boulevard, is the Venice Fishing Pier. A 1,310-foot concrete structure, it first opened in
1964, but was closed in
1983 due to
El Niño storm damage, only reopening in the mid-
1990s. On December 21, 2005, the pier again suffered damage when waves from an unusually big northern swell caused the part of the pier upon which the bathroom was located to fall into the ocean. The pier remained closed until May 25, 2006, when it was reopened after an engineering study concluded the pier was structurally sound.
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Ballerina Clown by Jonathan Borofsky. The statue's right leg is mechanized and kicked slowly when first installed. |
Downtown Venice
The areas along Abbot Kinney and Grand Boulevards and Main Street form the traditional downtown of Venice. During the 1920s and 1930s, the area's nightlife was quite active, with thousands of Angelenos arriving every night by streetcar. (Before he burst onto the national scene,
Benny Goodman had a brief residence as a bandleader in Venice.) Nightlife boomed again in the late 1960s as the area became a center of
hippie culture. Since the late 1990s, downtown Venice has been especially popular, with many bars, nightclubs, art galleries, and edgy apparel shops occupying both its older brick and
Art Deco storefronts and hyper-modern glass-fronted buildings.
Oakwood
The Oakwood neighborhood of Venice, which lies inland a few blocks from the tourist areas, is one of the few historically
African-American areas of the West Side (although since about 1980 Latinos have considerably outnumbered other groups there). During the age of
restrictive covenants that enforced racial
segregation, Oakwood was set aside as a settlement area for blacks, who came by the hundreds to Venice to work in the oil fields during the 1930s and 1940s. A
housing project, Lincoln Place, was built in the area by the
Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, housing many black families who were denied housing by white landlords. (Lincoln Place has since been converted into senior housing; in 2003, the city sold it to a private developer who has since announced plans to demolish it and build market-rate housing on the site.)
Since the 1970s, Oakwood has been notorious for crime, particularly associated with the drug trade controlled by the Venice Shoreline crew of the
Crips gang. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, gunfire was heard in Oakwood on a nearly nightly basis. As with many areas, though,
gentrification caused by the Southern California real estate boom of the 2000s has resulted in a significant decrease in gang activity, and the
LAPD Pacific Division considers the Shorelines to be in rapid decline.
Venice has always been known as a hangout for the creative and the artistic. Prominent residents of Venice include actresses
Julia Roberts and
Anjelica Huston, actors
Nicolas Cage,
Tim Meadows, and musician
John Lydon (who owns a sizeable amount of rental property in Venice). Singer songwriter
Joshua Kadison also lives there now. Actor
Robert Downey Jr. kept an apartment on the boardwalk during the 1990s. Architect
Frank Gehry is a longtime resident who has bought a huge vacant lot on Harding Avenue in Venice where he plans to break ground on and build his new personal residence in
August 2005. Harding Avenue is also where the Lennon Sisters of Lawrence Welk fame grew up.
California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is the majority owner of a popular restaurant in Venice, Schatzi's on Main, and owns other real estate in the area. Comedian and actor
Bill Cosby has also owned commercial property on Main Street for years, and has his production company there. Restauranteur
Wolfgang Puck has owned and operated noted eateries in the area since the
1990s. Other notables include actors
Viggo Mortensen,
Rutger Hauer and
Elijah Wood, and film directors
Henry Jaglom and
Paul Mazursky. For many years, pro wrestlers
Hulk Hogan and
Sting were announced as residing in Venice Beach as well. Political contributions have been sent from homes in Venice from the actor
Dennis Hopper and
Simpsons' creator
Matt Groening.
Harry Perry, the world's most famous street entertainer, is one of the boardwalk's key performers. Photographer
Helen K. Garber maintains a studio on Ocean Front Walk.
Venice is today a vibrant area of Southern California and it continues a tradition of progressive social change involving prominent Westsiders. The Venice Family Clinic is the largest free clinic in the country. Women in Recovery, Inc., a non-profit organization offering a live-in,
12-step program of rehabilitation for women in need, was founded by a longtime resident of Venice, Sister Ada Geraghty. Geraghty and her organization on Coeur D' Alene Avenue annually honor those who've made a difference in helping women overcome substance abuse problems. The 2006 honoree for Women in Recovery is
Christopher Kennedy Lawford; past honorees have included
Jamie Lee Curtis,
Angela Lansbury, and
Anthony Hopkins.
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Los Angeles County Lifeguards
Venice Beach is the headquarters of the
Los Angeles County Lifeguard Division of the Fire Department. It is located at 2300 Ocean Front Walk. It is the nation's largest ocean lifeguard organizations with over 100 full-time and 600 part-time or seasonal lifeguards. The headquarter building used to be the City of Los Angeles Lifeguard Headquarters until they were merged into the County System in 1975. The department is commonly referred to by Angelenos as
Baywatch Lifeguards.
The Los Angeles County Lifeguards safeguard 31 miles of beach and 70 miles of coastline, from San Pedro in the south, to Malibu in the north. Lifeguards also provide Paramedic and rescue boat services to
Catalina Island, with operations out of Avalon and the Isthmus.
Lifeguard Division employs 120 full-time and 600 seasonal lifeguards, operating out of three Sectional Headquarters, located in Hermosa, Santa Monica, and Zuma beach. Each of these headquarters staffs a 24-hour EMT-D response unit, and are part of the 911 system. In addition to providing for beach safety, Los Angeles County Lifeguards have specialized training for Baywatch rescue boat operations, underwater rescue and recovery, swiftwater rescue, cliff rescue, marine mammal rescue and marine firefighting.
Venice is served by many
Los Angeles Unified School District schools. The neighborhood is served by
Coeur d'Alene Avenue Elementary School and
Westminster Avenue Elementary School. Students go on to
Mark Twain Middle School. High school students attend
Venice High School, which is actually in the neighborhood of
Mar Vista.
Venice is also served by the elementary school of the St. Mark Catholic Parish.
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Venice Beach and Boardwalk |
Dozens of movies and hundreds of television shows have used locations in Venice, including its beach, its pleasure piers, the canals and colonades, the boardwalk, the high school, even a particular hamburger stand. For a complete list of movies shot in Venice, see:
Venice California History Site - Movie Making in Venice. Various Venice venues are visible in this list of selected media:
Venice on Film
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1923-
The Balloonatic (
Buster Keaton)
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1928-
The Cameraman (
Buster Keaton)
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1933-
Fish Hooky -
Our Gang Comedies (Little Rascals)
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1935-
Dante's Inferno (
Spencer Tracy,
Claire Trevor)
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1950-
Quicksand, (
Mickey Rooney,
Jeanne Cagney,
Peter Lorre)
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1958-
Touch of Evil (
Charlton Heston,
Janet Leigh,
Orson Welles director) (in which it is used for lonely Mexican town)
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1964-
Inside Daisy Clover (
Robert Redford,
Natalie Wood,
Christopher Plummer)
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1966-
The Wild Angels (
Peter Fonda,
Nancy Sinatra,
Bruce Dern)
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1966-
Blood Bath (
William Campbell,
Sid Haig)
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1968-
I Love You, Alice B. Toklas (
Peter Sellers)
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1972-
I Love You, Alice B. Toklas (
Peter Sellers)
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1972-
Cisco Pike (
Kris Kristofferson,
Gene Hackman,
Karen Black) (Kristofferson, playing a small-time drug dealer living on Ocean Front walk, gets involved with a crooked cop, played by Hackman. Climax on the beach.)
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1978-
Grease (
John Travolta,
Olivia Newton John) (Venice High is the setting for Rydell High).
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1979-
Roller Boogie (
Linda Blair)
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1985-
The Falcon and the Snowman (
Sean Penn,
Timothy Hutton)
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1986-
Roller Blade (movie) (Skate or Die! Venice Beach skaters.)
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1991-
The Doors*
1992-
White Men Can't Jump(Wesley Snipes, Woody Harrelson The pickup games were set at the public courts, but filmed in a doubled location in a Venice beachside parking lot.
*1993- Falling Down (Michael Douglas) (Final scenes are on Venice Pier, closed at the time but since repaired.)
*1993- GIFT (Perry Farrell)
*1993 - Point of No Return (Bridget Fonda) (Lead character moves into an apartment on Venice Beach.)
*1994- Speed (Keanu Reeves) (The first bus explosion occurs in Venice, as referenced later on in the film)
*1995- Strange Days
*1995- The Net (Sandra Bullock)
*1997- Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (Romy (Mira Sorvino) and Michele (Lisa Kudrow) live in a Venice boardwalk apartment, from whence they journey back to their hometown).
*1998- American History X
*1998- The Big Lebowski (The Dude, a.k.a. Jeffrey Lebowski, lives in Venice, as can been see from the address listed on the check he signs at the beginning of the movie).
*2000- Bounce (Ben Affleck) (Buddy (Affleck) stays at an Ocean Front Walk property overlooking volleyball courts)
*2001- Dogtown and Z-Boys
*2004- Million Dollar Baby The lead character works at the On The Waterfront Cafe, runs along the water on the beach and the Venice Pier can be seen in two scenes. Also, the church Clint Eastwood's character attends is St. Mark Catholic Church in Venice.
*2005- Lords of Dogtown''
Television
CHiPsSimon and SimonBaywatch (shot at various beaches around Los Angeles)
Pacific BlueThe A-TeamHuffFreakazoid (An episode with Vorn the Unspeakable featured Venice Beach as a haven for weirdos, and many jokes were made about the residents' strangeness)
Three's Company (The opening titles for the first three seasons of the show were taped here.)
Gilmore Girls Jess comes to live with his father. His father owns a hotdog stand there.
Books
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Bradbury, Ray.
Death is a Lonely Business Knopf 1985, ISBN 0394547020. Hard boiled detective mystery taking place in Venice circa 1949.
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Garber, Helen K..
Venice Beach, California Carnivale, Xlibris 2005, ISBN 1413491081. Photographs of the surreal life on Ocean Front Walk. Official Commemorative Book of the Venice Centennial (1905 - 2005).
Video games
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 Venice Beach is a playable level.
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Venice Forum (local issues and news)
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Venice Neighborhood Council*
Venice Beach Webcam (Sidewalk Cafe)
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Venice Beach Webcam (Mirror)
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Venice Beach 360° Webcam - From the
Los Angeles County Lifeguard headquarters
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Venice History Site *
Venice California photoblog*
Venice Centennial*
Venice Family Clinic*
VenicePaper (Local news)
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Venice Beach Images (Venice Beach Photographs)
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Los Angeles Times, Real Estate section, Neighborly Advice column: "[Venice canals: "The renaissance of Venice" (23 Jan 2005)]
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Venice Beach California(info on Harry Perry)
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Uncle Grant's daily surf reports and local history*
Venice Community Housing Corporation(VCHC)
