Venice Sign Rebirth

We rode the bus to the Venice Fest today. Venice was celebrating the rebirth of the lighted sign that used to hang over Windward Ave in the early 1900's. They had a lineup of bands including the band Venice.

Back in college I played in a saxophone quartet. Some guys from the Venice (the band) saw us playing on the 3rd Street Promenade and asked us if we would open for them at one of their concerts at the Mayfair Theater. We did, and it was a lot of fun. It was cool to see them today after all these years.

We also spent some time today hanging out at the beach near the dancing rollerskating area. I love to watch those people dance and skate - there are so many talented people there.

Walking L.A. #4 - Venice Beach

At the Rumor Mill this morning, we were surprised by two of our friends who showed up at the last minute even though they didn't RSVP. With them joining us, we had a total of 5 people for the walk of Venice Beach, which the book describes as Old world Italy meets Funky So-Cal Beach Culture.

The walk started at the east side of the Venice Canals, meandered through the canals, and then took us north on Venice Blvd to Abbott Kinney Blvd. It then continued on Abbott Kinney Blvd past all the restaurants and stores between Venice Blvd and Main St. Finally, it passed the Westminster Dog Park onto Winward Circle and back through the canals to the starting point.

I have seen all these areas before, so there wasn't any feeling of discovery as there may be on some of the future walks. I did learn a few things though about Venice. For example, the book mentioned that Windward Circle used to be a picturesque lagoon back in Abbot Kinney's day when there were over 16 miles of canals. Right as we read that, we noticed a big mural painted on the Ocean View Adult Day Health Care Center (1500 Main St.) that depicted the lagoon and the canals leading into it. We paused to enjoy the mural and ponder about the early days of Venice Beach and how neat it must have been to get around on gondolas.

The next walk is Mar Vista - not too far from our house!