Venice is a
town located on west-side of Los Angeles, California.
It includes famous Venice Beach and a boardwalk, as well as a small
web of canals, downtown and residential area. Venice of America
was founded by pioneer developer Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a resort
town, and was modeled after Venice Italy.
Venice
Canals
"Ocean
Front Walk" or "the
boardwalk" is the promenade (and the bike path) that runs parallel
to the beach. It features the "Muscle Beach", the tennis
courts, Skate Dancing Plaza, number of beach volleyball courts,
parking lots, "Graffiti
Park" and the businesses and residences on the Ocean Front
Walk.
Venice
Beach Boardwalk
Along the southern
portion of Venice Beach, at the end of Washington Boulevard, is
a 1,310-foot concrete structure of Venice
Fishing Pier (opened in 1964). On December 21, 2005, the pier
suffered damage from waves of an unusually big
northern swell.
History of Venice
Beach includes Venice's amusement parks that were very popular in
the first half of the 20th Century, but were either burned to the
ground or destroyed by storms.
Venice was annexed
to Los Angeles in 1925, and shortly after most of the canals were
filled in to allow for automobile traffic. In the 1930's hundreds
of oil wells covered the area, and drilling waste clogged the remaining
waterways. It was a short-lived boom, but the wells were still producing
oil into the 1970's.
The famous rock
star Jim
Morrison, leader of the band "Doors", lived in Venice in the
late 50's.
Venice Beach
is a magnet for tourists, artists and merchants, street performers
and entertainers, surfers and rollerbladers, as well as exercising
and dog walking locals, drunks, crazies and homeless people. It
is well-known for its eclectic, counterculture atmosphere and laid-back
California lifestyle, and is generally safe and fun place to visit
any time of the year.
