Venice 1 BR Dump $2500 MO

I was out and about one recent night when we came upon this absolute steal of a pad in Venice ... !

I mean, it's still a bit steep compared to the good old days in Venice, but WOW! I've got to put an offer in asap before some techie Bird rider beats me to it! These deals don't come along every day! I usually like more windows, but you have to take what you can get around here. Oh, MAN - if all goes well, look forward to a huge blowout of a housewarming, friends and neighbors! Wish me luck!


... Have a wonderful Labor Day Weekend! (I'll be over here trying to get my tongue out of my cheek).

Lucky Stop Liquor Getting The Boot Off Abbot Kinney

Update 5/9/18:

The new owner, Jesse, contacted me to let me know that Lucky Stop will remain a liquor/convenience store ... they will remain open while a remodel happens after they take over on May 16th. They say they will remain affordable, have new products, and will be offering Door Dash delivery. I guess if they're willing to pay the new outrageous rent that pushed our old friends out, we can be willing to give them a chance in the neighborhood. Best of luck!


Well, I stopped in to see my friends at Lucky Stop Liquor on Abbot Kinney today, and found out that the bad news rumor is true. They are closing for good in a couple of weeks. The spot that everyone on the block goes to for their various daily items will be no longer, because the owner thinks that they should jack up the rent from $15,000 a month to $30,000. They already forced the store to cut itself in half a few years ago to create the Will Leather store (when their rent already went up from $7,000 for the whole big space to $15,000 for half the space), and now they're just getting the total boot.

In yet another example of complete greed and no bigger picture, Abbot Kinney is getting less and less cool every day. It's getting to where only corporate retailers are able to pay this highway robbery called these outrageous rents. I've been friends with Lucky Stop's Justin Cho for a long time, and he could only laugh about it today. Because it's laughable - if it also weren't so awful and downright sinister.

Cho thinks it might still be a liquor store, but a fancy one, if some chump wants to pay that much for that little. We both looked across the street at Abbot's Habit still sitting there empty after almost a year since closing, and just shook our heads at the greed and shameless money grab that continues to go down in our community. That is, in fact, killing our community.

Hey, Landlords ... how about have a heart? How about getting the fact - once again - that people do not come to Venice to see the same old chain stores everywhere else in the world has. They come to see unique, cool things, in one of the most unique and cool places on Earth ... for now. Stop trying to homogenize everything ... how much money does any one person need, anyway? You can't take it with you. When no one bothers to come to Venice anymore because it's the same as every other generic town, then who is going to pay your jacked up rents? Have some vision.

I'm disgusted. And I'm really going to miss Cho and Company there on the block. Dumb.

Turning Point Pilates - New Space, New Services!

                                                                                                                                                                                           

I first wrote about Robin Solo and her Turning Point Pilates studio back in  2014, and so much has changed since then in just three years that we needed to do an update story. As anyone living in Venice knows, rents are bordering on the criminally outrageous, and Solo has had to move her studio three times due to greedy landlords. Awful Snapchat took over her original studio space in the office park behind Tlapazola, sending her scrambling to find a space that her clients would still travel to. She found a spot on by Alan's Market on Washington Boulevard, and then that landlord wanted to jack up her rent. She needed to find a spot less than a mile away to keep her clients - crucial to any Mom and Pop business, but Solo is just that, solo. She's doing it all herself, like many women these days. She needed a little divine intervention, and found exactly that one day when out looking for her new space.

 

There was a little house on the south end of Abbot Kinney that Solo thought would be great for her studio, only to find that it had just been rented by a boat supply type place. Crestfallen, she walked around the corner to her car, looked up and saw a "For Lease" sign on the building right there. A call to the (cool and fair) landlord told her that this was meant to be.

Turning Point Pilates moved into its new digs this past March, and the clients came with, thankfully. As the only traditional pilates studio in Venice, Solo definitely has a loyal following, yet is eager to share her methods with new students as well. There are a lot of fusion pilates places popping up, and nearly all of them have some corporate backing taking the financial pressure off. As this is a solo Solo operation, she has gotten creative to keep her business/passion thriving.

To that end, after receiving a nano current facial treatment in trade from a friend and seeing the eye-opening results, Solo purchased her own machine and took the training to offer the electrical treatment to her own clients and friends. I'd never heard of this treatment, so Solo offered to have me come in and try it ... especially because I've been having weird stuff with my face lately (mystery swelling, allergic reaction, I don't know). She described it as "exercise for your face", and explained how the more you work out your body, the better it looks ... the same goes for your face.

Little wands are moved across your face, with electrical currents stimulating the muscles in your face, communicating with them to increase collagen and elastin - the stuff that makes you look youthful. It claims to lift, tone, and sculpt your face, and like body exercise, the effects are cumulative.

Well, I saw the before and after pictures Solo showed me from previous clients, and they were impressive to say the least. Like, real, visible improvement after just one treatment. No invasive needles or operations, it's all just little wands giving you electric pulses for about 25 minutes. Pain free. It's actually very relaxing. With all these ladies having Botox parties and doing everything they can to hang on to their looks, it seems like a good time for them to try this easy little boost. I did, and was super impressed. I don't know why, but after my session my face looked even again. My eyes looked more awake. I went to the Venice sign lighting a couple of hours later and the first friend I ran into told me I was "glowing". I'll take it!

You can too. Solo is offering your first nano current facial treatment for a mere $35 so that clients can find out about this new way to look great ... maybe for that holiday party coming up? That's less than half of any facial treatment I've ever had, with actual, obvious results. I have no idea how much Botox (Botulism in your face?! No.) costs, but I know it's way more than $35. That's like two drinks out on Abbot Kinney! Do this instead.

I'm all about keeping Venice unique, as everyone knows, and I'm all about supporting independent local businesses - Turning Point Pilates/Facial treatments is both. Congratulations to Robin for hanging in there and staying in Venice, in what she now calls her favorite studio space yet. Believe me, I know it's not easy doing it all on your own, but she's doing it, and doing it well.

Support local. Support women. Look and feel great. Everybody wins!

Turning Point Pilates
910 Garfield Avenue
Venice
#310-217-7630
http://www. turningpointpilates.com/ facial-treatment/

 *Photographs of Robin Solo by Patricia Rabin