Feature Image: Wall Mural of Charlie Chaplin

The Truth about Venice Beach

Venice Beach has always been this side of skuzzy and although two decades have passed since I first encountered this iconic Californian beach town it hasn’t improved much.

I lived in different parts of this Los Angeles enclave over the years. Initially, I sublet a cramped one bedroom apartment that three of us shared for a summer just so that we could be in close-proximity to the beach. The novelty wore off after a season, and I moved a few streets further away to the iconic Rose Avenue.

Nowadays Rose Avenue is buzzing with the hip and trendy. It’s shoulder-to-shoulder with independent coffee shops, small boutiques run by local designers, and cramped little bijou bars serving food on small plates washed down by fine Californian wine.

But back when I lived on Rose, I had the daily dilemma of choosing which gauntlet I ran after returning from work to get to my apartment.

I could enter Rose from the north (Lincoln Blvd) and side-step the past-their-sell by date hookers plying their trade outside a row of ramshackled rent-by-the-hour motels. Or I could enter the street from the opposite, eyes fixed on the pavement to avoid the furtive gaze of the nickel and dime bag hustlers selling smack outside the laundromat.

My third Venice apartment was just off the Venice Canals. It was a roomy studio apartment with an excessively large floor to ceiling picture window that overlooked a pedestrian cut-through leading to the beginning of the canals.

Each weekend I had to keep the blinds closed, or live my life on display as droves of tourists wandered past in search of the canals, rubber necking my living space.

After three failed attempts at finding a suitable apartment, I decided that Venice was “a nice place to visit but I wouldn’t want to live there” and I moved to another part of the the City.

But I’m not adverse to taking a trip down memory lane and during my recent trip to LA I wandered around the old neighborhood to see how things had changed.

Camel Rides in Venice Beach

Abbot Kinney is the name of one of the most gentrified streets in the area, home to a dizzying array of restaurants and bars. It was named after the man who built the canals as a homage to Venice, Italy — but he also threw in a dose of Coney Island.

A recent addition to the area I hadn’t stumbled across before, was a wire mesh pubic art project of camels wandering down the street. A cultural reminder of a time when Abbot Kinney interjected the fun of the fair to offer Live Camel Rides.

They sculptures look a lost and out of place. They’re described as topiaries, but are devoid of any living plant or foliage. I like their arrival in the neighborhood, but I wish they didn’t look so sad and down on their luck.

Venice Murals

There’s murals, street art and graffiti all over Venice—it’s this area’s  signature trademark. And Abbot Kinney is no exception.

But my favorite is a tall incarnation of the man on the side of a brick building just off Venice Boardwalk. It’s the man himself, Abbot Kinney. Looking very dapper in a three-piece suit.

I have a soft spot for street art, and Venice with it’s eclectic mix of residents and visitors wouldn’t be Venice without it. Here’s just a tiny sampling of others within a block or two of the camels.

It seems like the camels are then only ones there to brighten up the neighbourhood. Houses and hedges have been adorned with flowers to brighten up the street.

This artificial grass hedge had been spray painted with flower to add privacy and a bit of color to an otherwise drab corner of Venice.

Charlie Chaplin

Abbot Kinney isn’t the only famous resident of Venice. Charlie Chaplin owned a 1913 California Craftsman style house just off Abbot Kinney, and this mural is just streets away. This iconic funny man looms large, while his eyes—the windows to his soul—tell a much different story. And just to add insult to injury, we’re being instructed to SMILE.

If you’re intrigued enough about this area to want to spend a few nights here exploring for yourself, you can rent Charlie Chaplin’s former home via Homeway.

A trip down Memory Lane

It was interesting to wander around the streets of my old neighborhood again.

Whereas the neighboring areas of Marina Del Rey and Santa Monica have become fully gentrified, and the second-hand and family run shops have been pushed out by global brands and chains, Venice is clinging onto its heritage.

It retains is counter-culture roots, which coexist amid ribbons of new world commercialism. I don’t think it’ll ever completely go over to the dark side of respectability – and that’s fine by me. After all, I don’t have to live there!