Happy Dia de Los Muertos!

Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) has grown dramatically over recent years, with the skeleton faces and outfits of the holiday celebrating our lost souls being popular for Halloween costumes also. The darling movie Coco probably helped a lot with that, as well as things like the fantastic celebration put on at the Hollywood Forever cemetery each year. I almost like Dia de Los Muertos and all the altars and costumes and color even more than Halloween, as it puts the emphasis on people that you knew and loved and that are no longer with us ... or ARE they?

Venice got in on the action too, and I saw that some ladies are enjoying their morning tea (?) together out on a lawn party this morning ... and those are just the ones I could see. It's Friday, and the weekend is looming, and the week was exhausting, and people are probably ready to just chill and be done with all the hoopla, and I get it. But we should all try to take at least a moment today and think about those who we lost this year, and those who have been gone a while too. Thoughts and memories keep them alive, and I find comfort in that. Hi Dad! Hi Grandparents! Hi Aunts and Uncles! Hi Friends! Hi Prince! Hi Leonard Cohen! Hi Everyone!

CHEERS to you all out there! This is your day. (And for those of us who still get to run around in this astral plane - have a wonderful weekend!)

The Bandit Forever

Burt Reynolds died on September 6, 2018, and very shortly after that a new mural went up on South Venice Boulevard near Speedway to honor this Hollywood legend.

The Bandit has been immortalized by Jonas Never, whose work shows up all over Venice. It's nice to see am image of Reynolds there in his prime, and it brought a smile to my face. My brother Paul does an impression of Reynolds that always makes me laugh (it involves gum chewing), and when I heard that Mr. Reynolds had passed away, I made Paul do the bit in his honor. And laughed again.

RIP, and thanks for the laughs, Burt.

Another Venice Family Leaves ...

I was walking down Pacific Avenue yesterday, and got a lump in my throat to see that yet another Venice family is having to leave their house.  This great old beach house is on the corner of Clubhouse and Pacific, and you just know it's going to be torn down for yet another BUB.

I don't know the real story on this situation at all, but I can tell by looking at it that it meant a lot to the "Venice Beach Pontius Family" from 1965 - 2018. 53 years in a wonderful pad full of happy memories ... and I bet they didn't want to leave. I didn't know them, I don't think, but I'm still sad to see them go.

Oh, Venice ... we're doing our best to keep you real, but when will this housing madness end? How? Let's hope we are not reduced to merely a cautionary tale, and folklore about how cool it used to be here. There's still time, while there's still cool. I love you, Venice ... no matter what.

Memories Of The Red Balloon

I was on my daily cruise around town this morning, when I saw this new mural on my way to the beach. A red balloon. It instantly reminded me of the children's book and film, The Red Balloon.

I hadn't thought of that book in years, but this mural brought it rushing back. I came back to look it up, and it's still as good as I remembered.

Don't you agree? Much like the red balloon in the book/movie, this morning's red balloon on the mural provided a welcome bright spot in otherwise gloomy damp of the seaside dawn.

Thank you.

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!!!

stop - GO!

I was walking around this morning, thinking about stuff, as one does. As I crossed the street, I looked down at the sidewalk to see that above the big STOP sign, someone had come along and written a little "Go".

I love it. The bit of rebellion, the simple message as we start a new week to just Go. GO!

I needed to hear that this morning as I just found out that one of my family's dearest friends, Pearl Kusunoki, had passed away. She was my next door neighbor back home since birth. She and her husband, Kiyoshi (Jim, but I always call him by his beautiful Japanese name) were always there for my family, in the best and worst of times. She was the originator of my cherry chip cookies. She was the one who told me when I moved far away for the first time, looking deeply into my eyes, that "Everything will always be alright, as long as you stay Carol." I knew what she meant. She was a special one, one who it was written in her obituary, "had a love for beauty in all things."

I was very sad as I walked along in the fog, the weather fitting my mood. But then I saw the little, tiny "Go" right above the Stop sign, and thought of little, tiny Pearl ... who would most certainly be telling me to go ... but to stay myself.

What a gift to have known her, and to be able to celebrate her memory by finding, seeing, and loving the beauty in all things.

GO!


Love to all the dear Kusunoki family, now and always.

My Grandma Olson Would Have Loved Venice

My darling Grandma Olson would have been 114 today. Whoa. She passed away in 1993 at 93, and I've missed her every day since. She taught me how to bake pies. She taught me how to be awesome to people. She would say please and thank you for every last thing, to her last breath. She played kickball with us until she was 90. I feel like my hands are starting to look like hers - both cool and alarming...

She was adventurous and would go on road trips all the time with her even older sister-in-law across the country. She took up painting late in life, and we always joked that she was better than Grandma Moses. I took Norwegian as my language in college so that I could rap a little with my Grandma in her native tongue ... we pretty much only got to where she was from and that we were hungry or thirsty .. but she was still stoked.

Leona Olson was famous all over Wisconsin for her flowers ... person after person got up at her funeral and called her "The Flower Lady". Her garden was something to behold, and we spent hours playing in it as little kids. She somehow managed to plant a tropical hibiscus in our yard in Minnesota that still manages to survive those harsh winters, year after year. She may or may not have liked the tattoo I got of it ...

I feel a little sad that she never got to visit me in either Hawai'i or Venice, as she would have freaked out at all the flowers everywhere, all year round. She was known for sharing her flowers and produce with everyone, and as I was strolling about on the Art Block yesterday, wishing she and my Mom were with me (more on that soon), I came upon this neighborhood sharing that would have absolutely delighted my Grandma Olson ...

Love, sharing, inspiration, art, nature ... I loved that about my Grandma and I love that about Venice. Every day.