Last Call For Abbot's Habit!

Today is the very last day of Abbot's Habit being open on the corner of Abbot Kinney and California in Venice. That was hard to type.

My Mom and I were just in there having one last coffee, exchanging hugs, and generally not wanting to leave. Not wanting it to really be over. Not wanting to accept that our beloved local hang is closing its doors for good.

Gentrification, man. We all lament it, but it just keeps on happening. People keep raising rents, selling out to the highest bidder, and making it harder and harder for genuine lovers of Venice to stay in both business and in residence. The big picture seems to have been lost in a haze of money and greed that has been changing our town for the way less cool for a while now. Venice is losing its edge daily.

I got choked up several times while sitting in there listening to the regulars exchange stories, and wonder where they'll hang out now. For anyone that was a Habit habitué, places like Intellegentsia or wherever just don't cut it. You want to be where locals are, not where hipsters think is cool. Where will the corner guys hang now that the Habit is gone? Like Stanley Behrens wrote on a goodbye poster hanging up there today, "This was my favorite corner." Ugh, I'm choking up again.

Change happens, we know, we know. But the astonishing rate of turnover on Abbot Kinney, and the lack of vision it is accompanied by, is just downright sad - and wrong. Driving out everything that made Venice special will only make it boring ... the same as everywhere else. Generic. Who wants that?!

We finished our coffees (there was hardly any food left for sale after an intense morning of folks wanting their one last bagel special, etc...), shared more hugs, and will be heading back over there in a little bit to pop some bottles of thanks and one final finalé with Nina. With for sure some more tears.

Thank you for everything over the years, Abbot's Habit. You will live forever in our wonderful memories.

Last call!!!

R.I. P. Abbot's Habit!!!

Farewell, Anjela Shoe Service

I was in Death Valley a few weeks ago, and I wore my trusty black boots that go everywhere extreme with me - rock festivals, hikes, whatever. The hard core ones that have been re-soled no less than seven times. I could get new ones, but I love these, and that's that. Death Valley was so hot that I could tell the glue holding the sole on was letting loose, and to paraphrase Boots Riley of The Coup, my shoes were about to look like a Muppet mouth flapping.

When I got back to Venice, I walked on over to Anjela Shoe Service to visit with Andy and have him put new soles on for the umpteenth time. That's when I discovered that he was gone.

I'd been nervous about it for a while, as Andy had hinted at having to close due to his insane rent - after doing business on Abbot Kinney for at least all the 20 years I've been here. This was right on the tail of hearing the awful news that our beloved Hal's is closing (more on that soon), and I'm just sick of it. I think we all (those of us who love and care about a unique Venice) feel sick of it.

Andy's shoe repair was expensive, and he didn't always do the best job. He liked to put black shoe polish over the rubber natural colored sole, and it would rub off after a while and look real budget. He always called me "Michelle", and I finally gave up and let him. He refused to ever let me do a story about him and his old world, crammed to the rafters shoe repair shop that seemed to have absolutely no sense of order. The soles didn't last that long before I'd need them replaced again (like now), but I'd keep going to Andy, because we needed him there as one of the block's pioneers, and he needed to make a living. Plus I just liked shooting the breeze with him, a real character.

Andy never wanted the attention a story brings, and would always try to push me off on two old ladies he said he knew who had lived in Venice longer than anybody and would have good stories to tell. He never did hook me up with them, but maybe he'll see this somehow and we can finally tell his whole, Gepetto-like story (I like to think).

So another Venice institution is gone, all in the name of money and "progress". I keep saying it, but really, People. Look at the bigger picture. Once Venice has all the same stores and posers that populate everywhere else, there is no need for anyone to come here and put up with the parking and the locals resenting them. They can just go to their own stupid mall. Venice is supposed to be different. It all comes down to choices ... and that bigger picture. Think before you cash out, residents. Think before you push out, landlords.  Let's truly BE DIFFERENT.

Farewell, Andy. I wish you all the very best. I'm sorry your neighborhood couldn't keep you.