Episode 7: Under the *Venice* Boardwalk… *Venice* Boardwalk (Venice)

View fullsize

A man rows a boat with two female companions at stern and bow, while passing under a foot bridge on a Venice canal, ca 1935. Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection.

VENICE BEACH, CA! Rollerblades, neon pink one-piece bikinis, muscles lifting weights, a guy with a mohawk, we’ve all seen the first-time-to-California montage, but we keep the muscles at home and put on heavy coats over our bikinis.

You must be this tall to hear this extensive history of Venice of America. Join us as we take a gondola ride through the canals, join one of LA's oldest gangs and watch the rivalry of the Venice and Ocean Park piers as their built up and burned down and built up and then burned down again. And again. And again. We cover Abbott Kinney himself, the amusements, the canals, the oil days, the history of Oakwood and the tragedies. (All heights welcome).

Many thanks for this episode go to:

Jeffrey Stanton and all his works on Venice

Venice of America

LAPL photo collection