A Snow Day For Venice!

The holiday spirit continued spreading throughout Venice last weekend, when The Brig parking lot once again hosted a winter wonderland of snow and fun for the neighborhood kids. The fact that it was around 72 and sunny as could be, only made it that much nicer. And funny.

Parents in tank tops and shorts stood in the long line to sled with (or more accurately, photograph) their kids, some of whom had never seen this crazy white stuff. I'm from Minnesota, so find it amusing that last year when back home they had to export city snow to the country just so cars could traverse the roads, here we have to import it (or make it) and hurry up to use it before it melts. Needless to say, there were a lot of wet - but happy - kids.

There was an area for kids to make holiday themed crafts, or, because these are Venice kids, to get some fake Christmas ink if they wanted.

Because this is The Brig parking lot, there were also food trucks. Of course.

As exciting as the snow was, the real thrill of the day was a visit with Santa Claus, here to warm up a bit before his big night. Most kids seemed ecstatic to see the jolly fellow ... some were possibly scarred for life, if their screams were to be believed. Santas are a really patient bunch.



It's a great thing to have this for everyone to enjoy, and kept the joy and kinship felt at the Venice sign lighting going, even as the shops nearby beckoned revelers to get on their shopping.

There were nothing but smiles (other than from the freaked out kids) and greetings shouted across the snow hill, and it really felt like an old-fashioned holiday once again - even if we were sweating.

Ho Ho HO!

Snow Falls On Venice

Sunday was Holiday Family Fun day here in Venice, and for us, that meant SNOW! The day was sunny, bright and warm, which made the whole deal more surreal ... which is perfect for Abbot Kinney, especially these days.

I had just spoken to some friends back home in Minnesota, where they were experiencing an actual blizzard, like Snow Day style, so they might all get a kick out of seeing this little snow hill story today. Don't scoff though, folks, some of these little guys in Venice had never even fathomed what snow IS, so this was a big deal.

Proven by the lines to ride a sled down the mini snow/hay hill in The Brig parking lot. Looong lines. Barely patient kids and their camera-toting parents stood in line to wait their turn, talking with neighbors and friends to pass the time. 

The smiles on the little faces zipping down the tiny glacier clearly made it worth it.

Some even got up enough speed to smack into the hay bales at the bottom. Skills.

If sledding wasn't enough entertainment for you, there was a booth where you could get faces painted, do little crafts, or stand in another line at one of the seemingly ever-present food trucks in The Brig's lot. (Or not).

As the sun climbed higher up in the day, the parking lot got a lot more wet. Shorts made more sense than snow pants ... unless you were sliding in the soggy snow. No one cared, this was strictly about FUN.

Well, fun and Santa! He was on a break when I was there (needing to save his energy for Christmas Eve, I suppose), but I heard he was pretty legit looking, and plenty of kids got to tell him what they wanted, and get those all-important lap photos taken, willingly or not.

Strolling down the boulevard, we came upon the dears that are the Off Their Jingle Bell Rockers, singing their Venice holiday classic, "It's Christmas On Abbot Kinney". They were the holiday spirit itself, and we swayed and smiled, and thanked goodness for them.

Especially when they dashed out into the crosswalk, stopping traffic, twirling and singing in the street. That was my favorite moment of the day - seeing the people in their cars, wondering what craziness goes down here in this wacky Venice ... Exactly what we love about it. Exactly what we need so much more of right where they were. We left the Rockers as they stormed The Roosterfish to bring some cheer to the daytime revelers inside. I was tempted to join them, but had all day wanted to see the water, the sunshine, and the grand performance of The Boardwalk.

After running into so many great people down there, eating great food at The Fig Tree, catching up with friends, epically ranting, and soaking up all the real Venice one could possibly hope for in an afternoon, the joy of the day was punctuated with a wintery, pastel sunset and the communal hymn that is the Drum Circle. Exaltation.

Pure joy and release echoed into the sky, and was juxtaposed against the total serenity of a sailboat gliding by on the calmest of days. I just stopped in my tracks, breathed in deeply, and felt so happy to be right exactly where I was ...

A festive - and profound - Holiday Sunday in Venice.

Ice, Ice, Baby!!

A bunch of Venice friends made the somewhat rare trek far past Lincoln last Saturday to celebrate our friend Hilary's birthday with some ice skating at the newly opened (for the Season) Pershing Square Outdoor Skating Rink. Yeah, there's a closer one in Santa Monica, but that one is really crowded and pretty slushy, and downtown you get that pseudo-Rockefeller Plaza feeling going skating amid the skyscrapers and lights. The main difference is that the trees are Palm, not Pine - and the skill level among Southern California skaters is probably not that of East Coast kids raised on ice skating.


Never mind MINNESOTA kids raised on ice skating! Saturday night was monumental in that our little 1 1/2 year old friend, Quinn, had his first time on skates ever! As his Dad is a Minnesotan too, this was a big, big deal. See how he takes right to it! With a jaunty wave to his fans, even!



His Auntie CJ tried to show him a thing or two before she completely ate it, swerving to avoid a clutch of kids clinging to the side boards.


It's a surreal field trip to ice skate in the balmy (compared to any other outdoor skating rink around the country) evening, and really did help to get us in that almost the Holidays spirit.

Slick ice is a great equalizer, and it's a good time to even just sit and watch the folks try to stay upright. My favorite is the big guys just terrified and clinging to the edge boards, as their dates laugh and cling to them. One of my friends asked if it was sick that she rather enjoyed watching people fall on their faces. No, it is not. It's just being human. It's a cheap date too - only $6 per session (one hour sessions go from 12-10 pm on weekdays, and 10 am - 10 pm on the weekends), with $2 skate rental fee if you don't have your own.

As the calendar turns toward the Holiday hubbub, treat yourself to a little good old fashioned ice skating ... to remember the child-like fun part of it all.

Skate now until January 18th, 2010 (that already feels weird to write)!