Windward Avenue, Venice, 1920s. Venice Beach was the brainchild of Abbot Kinney who founded the area in 1905. His lofty vision was to create an European style destination for Angelenos to come for leisure and pleasure. He dug several miles of canals, built a 1,200-foot-long pleasure pier with an auditorium, ship restaurant, and dance hall, constructed a hot salt-water plunge, and built a block-long arcaded business street with Venetian architecture. Today, there’s precious little of the original Venetian architecture he built but if you keep sharp eye out, you can still spot little pockets of it.