News of Venice, CA and Marina del Rey CA
Fence on Wavecrest. (Photo by anonymous.)
Starry Night mural on Ocean Front Walk. (Photo by anonymous.)
Give them a graffiti park and they will destroy private property, murals, you name it. Perhaps, it is time to remove the graffiti park on Venice Beach. Last week it was the Vietnam POW memorial on Pacific.
Snapchat’s impact on the Venice community was discussed at Tuesday’s VNC Meeting. Community Officer Colleen Saro discussed her meeting with Snap, Inc. representatives, in which she expressed many of the community’s concerns — mainly about the Snap Security Squad and their apparent hostility toward tourists and transients alike. According to Snap, the security detail was hired to protect their employees, who have had incidents of harassment with the homeless as they make their way from one Snap location to another. Company reps pointed up Snap’s numerous, charitable contributions to the community, including coding classes at St. Joseph’s, showers at Safe Place for Youth, and a variety of projects at Venice’s elementary schools. Ms. Saro invited representatives from Snap to attend an upcoming VNC meeting, in order to address community concerns, but they refused (for now).
Various residents followed up her presentation with their own commentary about Snap, including the news that the Venice Freak Show on Ocean Front Walk will be closing in May due to Snap’s taking over their lease.
Both LUPC Consent Calendar items — a demolition/new build at 2334 Cloy and a demolition/new 2 unit condo build at 656 California, were approved.
VNC Board President Ira Koslow announced that there will be no Venice Community Barbecue in 2017. After 10 years of organizing the event, the organizers are simply “worn out”, he stated. It should be noted that a component of the Venice community called for a boycott of the BBQ last year after what they stated were “micro aggressive comments” made by the organizers at a VNC meeting (see: http://savevenice.me/boycott-venice-nc-bbq. Despite that, the 2016 event was a success and the BBQ will be missed.
Koslow also announced that the selection of a new Board member to fill a seat on the Board left vacant by the resignation of Erin Darling would be postponed until the April meeting, due to an incorrect date being posted on the nomination form.
Finally, a motion passed last month regarding development at the Thatcher Maintenance Yard in the Oxford Triangle was rescinded. At the February 21st meeting, a motion was presented calling for the VNC Board to support only R-1 (single family) housing there; this motion was amended to replace “R-1” with “multi-family”, thereby reversing the original intent of the motion. Many of the dozen or so Triangle residents speaking in favor of motion to rescind pointed out that amending a motion in order to reverse its original intent appeared to be a violation of Robert’s Rules of Order. The motion to rescind passed the board 13-0-1.
The May 2017 VNC Board meeting will be held on the third Wednesday in May, rather than the third Tuesday, due to a conflict with a local election.
Market Street 2 March, the day Snapchat went public. In addition to the commotion created by the TV crews, protesters were prevalent protesting Snapchat, which is now Snap, Inc. with the New York Stock Exchange Symbol SNAP. Most just call it “Snap” now.
“Snapchat has been changing the face of Venice, pushing a vibrant beach community into a corporate tech campus to support their 1800 employees…when there is a viable corporate tech area in Playa Vista just a few miles away.” A Venice Activist
“Market Street, once a jumble of restaurants and artists’ studios, has become a ghost town, vibrant and accessible only to those who can enter buildings with corporate I.D.s and eat for free.” The New Yorker
Dear Snap Protestors,
Welcome to Market Street! You certainly livened up our normally quiet little block 10 days or so ago. It was fun to see you; all several dozen disgruntled, distressed (to say nothing of disdainful) neighbors complaining about the end of the world as you know it…twice turning out in your clown outfits, shorts and silly hats, and toting your skateboards, surfboards and placards, performing for yourselves and Channel 4. (It’s no surprise these days that loud, colorful, outrageous and insulting claims get press attention, no matter how ill-informed they may be.)
But, really…Snapchat is “changing the face of Venice”? What “face”? Certainly not The Boardwalk’s. Surely not Abbot Kinney’s. And you can’t mean Market Street’s, which for the 40-plus years I’ve been there, has never had a face. In fact, with the exception of the solitary restaurant that operated, in all three of its iterations, almost without signage, there hasn’t been a visible or public space on the street since Aaardvark’s Used Clothing Store closed two years after the owner, Joe Stromei, died in 2008.
I could walk you down Market, both then and now, and point out that there are few windows open to that street; that the 18 spaces are occupied by people who work in private, in tolerant proximity. On Market, we’ve been doing our thing(s) behind closed doors and plain walls for decades. So what’s new? Do you know the history of our street? Doesn’t sound like it:
1) Nikki’s bar. 4 years ago, Nikki’s business was marginal, they were at the end of their lease and, frankly, were bad tenants and neighbors…unless you enjoy 2 AM street fights, drunks breaking bottles and arguing, guys peeing or puking in your doorway and defecating in your alley. It was the site of vice-squad busts, neighbor complaints, and numerous Health and Fire Department penalties. It was poorly maintained, and the kitchen was in shambles (food was hardly their forte.) The bar equipment barely functioned. On their closing night, their regular (and not atypical) customers expressed their affection by trashing the interior, breaking windows, and inscribing their initials in walls and bathroom mirrors. (I know, I know…some of you thought it was fun.) Nobody on Market misses it for a minute.
It’ll open again in the future as 72 Market Street, the Venice pioneer restaurant from which it sprang. That’s because Snap stepped up and invested more than their landlord could afford to restore it. It’ll again be a clean, classy, civilized joint you can enjoy. (If you still yearn to get wasted, dance on tables, pick fights, and puke on the sidewalk, I know a couple of places on The Boardwalk.) Until that day, Snappers get to eat there for free and you don’t. Get over it. (Or go to one of the shelters that enjoy the same food Snap donates every day via foodfinders.org)
2) The so-called “Private Crosswalk” on Pacific and Market. For decades, long before Snap, this previously unmarked intersection, one of the busiest between the beach and the rest of Venice, has been a treacherous contest between drag-racers from the Windward traffic light and unwitting pedestrians who correctly, but naively, assume that California pedestrians have the right of way. Snap pushed it through when no one else would or could. But it’s not private; it belongs to everyone. (Thanks, Snap.) Nevertheless, you demonstrators blocked it, and Pacific traffic in both directions. Well, you sure showed us! (Thanks, demonstrators.) If you still want to boycott it, try crossing Pacific one unmarked block north, at Horizon, where your chances of survival are about 90/10.
3) And, speaking of traffic: how about the parking and traffic calamities ascribed to Snap? Did you know that most of their Market St. employees don’t drive to work? Didn’t think so.
4) Security. And what’s the problem with Snap’s security men and, please note, women…except for those goofy Smoky the Bear hats? Until 4 years ago, we had to clean the sidewalks, gutters and alleys of Market ourselves. Daily. Trash, bottles, needles, vomit, (thanks, again, Nikki’s!) doorway piss and poop, vagabonds and their leftover junk…daily. Does anyone find that scene attractive enough to lament its passing? Snap keeps it clean now, and safe. Is that a problem? Not for us. Several years ago, one of our residents was – and this is not a misuse of the word – literally carved up, standing next to his studio, by a homeless guy he had befriended and helped. And is anyone naïve enough to expect tech companies, architects, filmmakers, et alia to open their doors to passers-by? The last time you tried to stroll into Google, didn’t they have security? Did you peek in their windows or hang around their front door? In fact, has anyone, uninvited, been inside our studios and workspaces on Market Street? No? Well, that’s why we moved there.
5) Displacement. Behind those locked doors on Market St., Madonna and Basquiat cohabited; Randy Newman and Dudley Moore and Andy Summers composed and recorded; Costa Gavras, James Brooks, Oliver Stone, Hal Ashby, Frank Pierson, Barry Levinson, and many others wrote, edited and screened their movies. (Google them, kids.) I ran into Bob Dylan coming out of 73 one night. Major artists have come and gone, but…contrary to such uninformed depictions (a “jumble…”) as in the recent New Yorker article quoted above…there hasn’t been a gallery there in well over 10 years. The last major artists on the street were Robert Graham, who died in 2005 and Larry Bell, who happily found a larger and cheaper space nearby around 2012. The L.A. Louver moved out over 20 years ago. Notice all the closed doors and blank facades? Our little street is not the Hollywood Bowl; you can’t buy a ticket to watch us. People have always been quietly and privately creating their own things there: things that have later become famous and appreciated.
Sort of like what Snap is doing right now.
Let’s check again in 2 or 3 years, when all Snap’s leases have expired (they’ve bought almost nothing…two small spaces that I know of; another myth.) By then, they’ll probably have moved their entire operation out of Venice to the Santa Monica Industrial Park at the airport. You remember the airport?…before the traffic gridlock created by that city’s slickers who retired on the payola they exacted from real developers…guys who knew how to build ‘em big and tall. It’ll soon be another Playa Vista…right in our own back yard. Full of tech companies and the jobs and customers and taxes they’ll be sending to another town. Just like you wanted.
Oh…and the “face” of Market Street? It’ll look almost exactly like it did thirty and twenty and ten years ago. And today.
Thanks for reading this,
From the oldest guy on the street.
Preliminary results of the Tuesday, March 7 election reveal overwhelming support for Councilmember Mike Bonin’s re-election came from every single neighborhood of the 11th Council District, including heavily-contested Venice, where neighbors backed Bonin with a convincing 54% of the vote. Bonin defeated his closest rival in Venice by 28 percentage points.
Some areas of the district saw more than three out of every four voters choosing Bonin over his rivals. Though there are some provisional and vote-by-mail ballots left to be counted, initial results show that Bonin won 70% of the total votes in his re-election effort, a resounding show of support by neighbors up and down the district who approved of his positive message of getting things done for Westside neighborhoods.
STRONG SUPPORT IN EVERY PART OF THE DISTRICT
119 of the 120 precincts in Council District 11 supported Bonin over his two challengers, including 109 precincts where Bonin won at least 50% of the votes. An astonishing 76% of voters in Mar Vista, home to the Councilmember, supported his re-election; choosing Bonin over his nearest opponent by 63 percentage points. Bonin also enjoyed huge margins of support in Brentwood and Playa del Rey (74%), Pacific Palisades (73%), West Los Angeles/Sawtelle, Del Rey and Playa Vista (72%) and Westchester (70%). The unambiguous result in Venice was particularly meaningful, since it is the home neighborhood of both of Bonin’s challengers, and a focal point for the Councilman’s strategy to end homelessness. Bonin received nearly 70% of the vote in some Venice precincts.
COUNCIL DISTRICT 11 TURNOUT HIGHPOINT FOR LOS ANGELES
Though voter turnout throughout Los Angeles County was much lower than usual for municipal elections, the residents of Council District 11 headed to the polls in larger numbers than neighbors in any other part of the city. Council District 11 turnout was 17.7% – significantly higher than the 11% turnout countywide, and the highest of any council district in Los Angeles.
While Venice only made up roughly 11% of the total votes cast in Bonin’s first election in 2013, the community showed up in greater numbers in Tuesday’s election. Venice and the Marina Peninsula together casted nearly 16% of the ballots in the election. Mar Vista also turned out big, with more than 17% of registered voters there casting ballots, and Westchester represented nearly 16% of the total vote.
Beaches and Harbors sends out its ocean vacuum cleaner after the rains. It picks up the garbage left in the bay and then disposes of it. After a storm or just rain, it can vacuum up a lot of litter.
Stewart Oscars, Venice’s own graffiti seeker took this photo of the wall on Pacific near Sunset Ave. It has happened again.
This Hall of Fame, honoring those who were killed or captured in Vietnam, was graffitied just before Memorial Day last year. The Bus Yard where the sign is will be redeveloped and Social and Public Art Resources Center (SPARC) has agreed to take care of the wall. SPARC is going to take charge shortly.
SPARC is located at 685 Venice Blvd. If you have any questions, call 310-822-9560.
Protesters, Venice preservationists, and relatives of Irving Tabor family gathered in front of the former home of Irving Tabor at 605-607 Westminster Ave Saturday to tell press and other members of the community that they were unhappy with the “redevelopment” occurring on the property without a California coastal permit.
There were 33 individual permits instead of a redevelopment permit encompassing all the work, which would have required a coastal permit. Many were also concerned about the historical preservation of the site. The California Coastal Commission started investigating the project last week. The following was handed out at the protest.
California Costal Act states: According to sections 13250 and 13253 of Title 14, Division 5.5 California Coastal Commission administrative Regulations, improvements to existing single-family residences or other structures that changes the intensity use of the structure requires a coastal development permit because they involve a risk of adverse environmental effect, adversely affect public access, or involve a change in use.
Irvin Tabor was the personal assistant and friend to Abbot Kinney, the founder of Venice. The plaque tells the story of Tabor and his house and was put there by a former owner. The property had six or eight bungalows and all were occupied by members of his family.
The above picture is the back of the property. It shows one or two of the bungalows on the left and roof of another dwelling on the right. A roofing contractor, who was on site, was amazed at the group gathering in the front. He couldn’t understand the protest. He said buildings were filled with termites. He noted that it was built in the 20’s.
Sue Kaplan in the video gives more of the history of the house and the neighborhood.
Robin Rudisill, who ran as a candidate for the CD11 council seat, explains that there were 33 separate permits instead of a permit to renovate the whole project that would have required a California Coastal development permit.
Note: Darryl DuFay did this meticulous vote-by-precinct breakdown and map to give Venice voters an opportunity to see what precincts voted for which candidate and to show the total turnout.
The election for CD11 Council Seat was held 7 March. Running for the seat were incumbent Mike Bonin and Venice activists Robin Rudisill and Mark Ryavec.
If you do not know your precinct, go to LA Vote. Type in your house number and street name (do not include Ave., St, or Blvd). and submit. See your precinct number near bottom of page and then view your precinct boundaries by selecting “View Election Precinct Map and Adjacent area” next to the Precinct Number. Note that precinct 9002394A, shown on the map as “M,” reaches beyond Venice into the Del Rey area. Precinct “S “has similar characteristics.
PRECINCT RUDISILL RYAVEC BONIN
A 9001938A 46 48 116
B 9005388A 28 50 83
C 9001542A 49 33 67
D 9003235A 34 27 82
E 9001546B 42 22 59
F 9002388B 33 32 56
G 9003201A 64 60 72
H 9001547A 44 36 163
I 9002863A 54 66 107
J 9002389A 76 108 161
K 9005936A 47 49 151
L 9001874A 16 107 57
M 9002394A 26 40 71
N 9001884A 30 31 63
O 9000561A 41 41 116
P 9001549A 30 38 112
Q 9001554A 73 70 241
R 9003202A 43 24 163
S 9005634A 17 25 92
Totals 793/ 21% 907 / 24% 2,032 / 55%
A vessel lien sale will be held 24 March, 9 am at Mast-Up Storage, 12377 Fiji Way. Previews are set for 9 am; bidding will start at 10 am. Free parking at 13552 Fiji Way. For more information, contact the Boating Section at 310-301-9152.
