Ah, Venice!

Spray painting trash palms.  Wish I'd thought of that.

Succulent garden
 Skateboard park
 What model was this professional crew shooting? 
 This kid was the model

 Lots of tourist shops


 Artistic homeless camp and rollerblader
 Metal work from the past
 Panorama of the human zoo
 Lots of phone camera action
 Inexplicably, a Chinatown style building
 Ah, there's a gardener's home!  We know our own. 
 Sunday afternoon stroll
 Meanwhile, at the skatepark...





 Ah, Venice.  The other Venice. 
 Not the Venice you were thinking of, right? 

Comments

  1. Ah, no, not the Venice I thought.

    Not the Venice of long ago with little houses facing the beach and snowy plovers on the sand. We played beach volleyball (at Dockweiler). We sailed Sabots. There were no skatebord parks, no multistory buildings.

    Last photo is like it was fifty years ago.

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    1. I can remember when the people who lived in Manhattan Beach were the people of modest incomes--school teachers, secretaries, in yes, little houses.

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  2. Actually, this is the first one I think of. Fond memories. Thanks!

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  3. That display of Agaves and other succulents is ASTONISHING! chapeau!!

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  4. no, I tripped over the palm trees.
    Trash palms?

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    1. Washingtonia species, they reseed like crazy everywhere here and rats love to nest among the fronds. A palm that belongs in the trash.

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  5. Love Venice! Used to live there when I first moved to SoCal from NY. Like Laguna, it's the place where multi-million dollar homes neighbor bohemian shacks. Sadly, more and more its becoming multi-million dollar and we lose the diversity of people and native residents. There are a lot of interesting gardens in Venice if you walk off the boardwalk. Thanks for a trip down memory lane!

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    1. I eyed a few interesting gardens in the spaces between houses, back away from the ocean front. Didn't quite have the energy to explore more, we walked 4 miles amidst crowds--it was like NYC in that we were dodging people and vehicles and weaving around sidewalk obstacles, with strange sights everywhere we looked.

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  6. Brings back memories! When I lived in LA, the beach was the place to be on a day off. No admission charge for the healing atmosphere of the waves and sand, a kind of solitude even when full of people.

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    1. Yes, just the sound of the waves, and for me best on the grey winter days, when the sand is cold and sometimes even now you have a vast stretch of beach all to yourself.

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  7. Love that succulent garden and gardener's home. Watching the kids at skateboard parks make me nervous. What if someone falls and breaks something?

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    1. The LAPD and Fire trucks are part of the traffic on the strand. Instant help.

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  8. You're braver than I am. I steer clear of the place to the extent possible. A friend bought a condo on the beach where Santa Monica's border connects with Venice and even driving into the area makes me crazy.

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    1. We got there early to avoid the worst traffic, but leaving was an adventure. Dear Husband drove, he's patient and brave!

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  9. Knowing where you live this is exactly the Venice I figured you were referring to. Thanks for the fun slice of California life.

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    1. Well, I'm not exactly a world traveler. Glad you liked the post!

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  10. It's been so long since I've been there. In a crazy way, your photos made me want to go, people and all.

    Of course I'd curse myself as soon as I hit traffic...

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    1. Probably even longer since I've been there. It was fun to observe the human zoo, and even better to enjoy a steady, cool breeze off the ocean in mid-August.

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  11. Yeah that human zoo. I don't think the crowds would do much for me, I prefer the wind and waves sans spray paint and music!

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    1. I too prefer wind and waves, dogs and plants, but someone said something like "Mankind was my business"-- (googling) oh, it was Jacob Marley. So I try to balance a bit.

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