Venice Gets A Rainbow Crosswalk!

It was crazy to be back in Venice after being gone all summer, and to see how much things have changed. So many businesses gone, so many new ones in. I found myself fondly remembering the days when we stood up and fought against chains, and ran Pinkberry out of town in just a few months, and I liked Pinkberry - just not in Venice. With so much of the cool being priced out of Venice, it was nice to see one NEW cool thing ... a rainbow crosswalk on Abbot Kinney!

I remember sitting in Tim Bonefeld and Erinn Berkson's (owner of one of the few remaining locally owned businesss on Abbot Kinney, the wonderful Burro!) living room after dinner a while back, and Tim talking about how he had the idea for a rainbow crosswalk to replace the dingy one outside of The Roosterfish ... and he made it happen! Dedicated on June 28th, 2019 (when I was gone, sadly) it now glistens there in the sun, AND makes crossing safer on AKB.

The Roosterfish used to be my Abbot Kinney Festival go-to spot to use the ladies room, as there was never a line for it in there. It was almost all gay men. Those days appear to be gone, as the place was packed with the Millenial crowd, and who knows if anyone was gay anymore in there. That's fine, it's just different, and I feel a little bad for all the people who would gather there in THEIR spot. Still, it's pretty cool to have the first rainbow crosswalk in Los Angeles celebrating our LBGTQ friends right here in Venice.

There are plaques in the street for the people who sponsored each color, and they are all to be commended (especially after the debacle this year between Venice Pride and the Venice Chamber of Commerce, who refused to let them use the Venice Sign for Pride - yeah.) for making Venice still have a little cool, and making the now douchebag-filled Abbot Kinney (Seriously. Locals I spoke to that haven't left didn't even know about the crosswalk because they won't go to AKB anymore!)  rainbow bright!

Thank you.

Flipping Coins And Flapping Wings On Abbot Kinney

I returned back to Venice to discover two new public art pieces by Robin Murez of Venice Public Art up on Abbot Kinney Boulevard, adding to her ever-growing collection of works to honor our town's origins. My favorite has always been the Wheel Of Fortune at The Green House Smoke Shop, but these new ones are pretty great too.

If you pass by the Alternative Apparel shop, you can stop and flip the coin, just like Abbot Kinney did to win his piece of swamp land that became our beloved Venice.

The explanation part is already pretty sun-bleached or something, but you can kind of read the story of how Abbot Kinney won his land in a coin toss. He chose the swampy part, which everyone thought was lame, but he had a vision and a dream and he made Venice. So there.

A short amble up the block and you can flap the wings of the Winged Lion in front of the Roots (chain) store. The Winged Lion is a symbol of "The Republic Of Venice" (which we like to call The PEOPLE'S Republic Of Venice), and we should all pause to reflect and give a flap to acknowledge his splendor.

They tell you a little about that too, if you squint real hard. The plaque encourages you to flap the wings and "Cheer, Bravo!" So of course I did to start my this morning.

That's also exactly my cheer for these wonderful reminders, both of our past, and to preserve the specialness of wonderful Venice ... BRAVO!

There is now a MAP of the Venice Public Art pieces so that you can take yourself on a little walking tour of fun and learning. BRAVO again!

The Date Rape Of Venice

The guy looks good, seems nice, talks a smooth game, makes her feel special ... then the next thing she knows, she wakes up all dazed out, wondering what happened. If Venice were a human being, I'm sure she'd be feeling date raped right about now.

I've been crazy busy lately, was out of town, and only during the recent Art Walk did I have the time to cruise the whole Abbot Kinney stretch. I felt a little woozy myself. What the hell are all these chain stores doing here? What happened to the Venice Unchained organizers? Why is everyone just bending over and accepting it? It's bizarre. It feels like with the departure of such Abbot Kinney stalwarts as Surfing Cowboys and Jin and Glencrest and Lily's and Capri, the spirit and the HELL NO of the neighborhood may have departed as well. But I hope not.

I've had many conversations about it lately, as you can imagine, and there are very intelligent and thoughtful people here among us who care and have good ideas, but it takes MORE conversation among ALL of us, and then action. ACTION. You vote with your dollars, as you know, and you don't have to spend them at places that don't groove with Venice. (You know who they are just by looking at them ... Scotch & Soda? Flannel? LF? Lucky? GANT? Really?!?!) Then they don't survive, and then they go away. Or you can just accept it all, and live like every other suburban mall-goer in the nation, and forget that you ever moved to Venice because it was different, and meant something special to us. But then the terrorists win. The Venice I moved to would never let that happen.

I don't think it's hyperbole to call it terrorism, either. Corporations are pretty much terrorists against individuality. The way giant stores have gone in and decimated local businesses in small towns across the nation might as well have bombed them, for all the damage they've done. A neighbor of mine called what's happening in Venice "Financial Genocide." Again, no hyperbole, really. The big dollar people have come to town and are systematically trying to get rid of all the people who can't afford their ridiculously greedy terms. And God forbid you want to crash in your car or van like surf bums have since California learned how. Towed. Ticketed. Arrested. B.S. (*Side bar: Of course you will Vote NO on OPDs if you love Venice the way it's supposed to be. Free.)

I recently had to move - again - from a place I really liked, after just a year, because of another sketchy landlord in Venice. This time I was tortured out by constant heavy construction in the downstairs unit daily for 6 months solid. Deafening sledgehammer-type work. Every. Day. There wasn't working water in the bathroom for the whole month of February. There was a film of dust covering everything, every day, even inside the drawers. It could not have been healthy to breathe this in every day. When the landlord, one Mr. Sheppard Solomon of West Hollywood (who told the back neighbor he "just wanted a piece of Venice") and his henchman, Noel Vietor (what a piece of work that guy is), were asked for rent compensation for these outlandish conditions, when they finally responded - which was rare - they sent a text that said, "If they don't like it, they can get the fuck out." Nice. Very Venice. So I got the fuck out, sadly, and that dude then tried to take $1,100 back from the deposit to repair the bath tub they wouldn't ever come to repair. Yep. This charmer (whose main claim to fame and fortune seems to be writing Paris Hilton's "Stars Are Blind" song - great) is now trying to get $3,700 for a two bedroom apartment on Westminster a block from Oakwood Park. Don't give it to him, Suckers.

Right before I moved, I was riding bikes down Lincoln Boulevard with my friend, when he saw a white guy, probably in his 30's, slide the manhole cover in the sidewalk aside, climb out, and do a morning stretch like he'd just gotten up for the day. From sleeping in a SEWER!

We went back later to investigate, but as I have a major rodent issue, and we weren't exactly invited, we decided to let it be for the moment. The image has been seared into my mind though, and the question looms ... Is this what we've come to? If people want to stay in Venice and they can't afford the premium rents we're being raped for, the sewer system starts looking like a good option?! In talking about this with a few people, I learned that this guy from that day is not alone, as descriptions of other people talking about sleeping down there do not match our guy. Wow.

I've been called a bit of a hippie (mostly for my principals I'd like to think, and less my hygiene) sure, but I can accept that change is gonna come. Everywhere. But as my friend Travis Lett said, "Yes, but there's a way to edit the change." I thought that was right on, as Travis and his business partners operate Gjelina, which is a smashing success, but also a very Venice institution. All three partners have lived in Venice over a decade plus, and care about the community to the point where Travis has said that for him, Gjelina couldn't be anywhere else. That's the feeling of Venice to me, that you couldn't be anywhere else. That's why I moved here. That's why I love it here. That's why I thank my lucky stars every time I walk the beach and wave at an old-school local, both of us breathing in the beauty and freedom of being at the very edge of the country - physically and mentally. The beach is still the most authentic part of Venice, and that has to be protected .. and trust me, the corporate letches are coming for it, with some pretty big dollar Rufis to slip in the unsuspecting beach business owners' drinks.

So be strong, Venetians. Don't abide it. The Dude wouldn't (C'mon, it was shot in Venice). You might think it looks all nice and safe around here now, but then you wake up all messed up because you thought you moved to a bohemian paradise, and then you opened your eyes to be just like everyone, everywhere else. Let's work together to preserve what's left that's special and UNIQUE about this place we love.

I'm reminded of the quote by Marcus Garvey now, when he said, When all else fails to organize the people, conditions will. 

Organize, People. Defend your Venice! 


* You can get Defend Venice shirts like the top photo at www.venicebeachhead.org.