Tag Archives: Venice Beach
St. Mark’s Hotel on the northeast corner of Windward and Ocean Avenues, Venice, California, 1905
Developer Abbot Kinney had a grand idea to build a seaside amusement complex. He called it Venice of America and, complete with canals, it opened in 1905. This photo of St Mark’s Hotel was taken that same year. That bunting … Continue reading
Holiday crowds at Venice Beach, California, July 4th, 1926
It looks like it was a roast-toasty July 4th holiday in 1926, when this photo was taken at Venice Beach. If you didn’t get there early, you had little chance of finding a free patch of sand to park your … Continue reading
Looking north along a very crowded Ocean Park section of Santa Monica Beach, California, 1925
Between the more famous Santa Monica and Venice Beaches is a stretch of Los Angeles called Ocean Park. In this photo we’re looking north along a very, very crowded stretch of Ocean Park beach in 1925 during what I can … Continue reading
Several people stroll by the dance hall on the amusement pier at Venice Beach, Los Angeles, circa 1905
How different our towns and cities must have looked when they were dotted with places for people to dance away their evenings. The twinkle of the lights, the sound of sprightly music wafting on the air. In circa 1905 photo, … Continue reading
A view looking northwest across the lagoon and Coral Canal, Venice, California, circa early 1900s
In this colorized (probably hand-tinted) postcard, we’re afforded a glimpse of how Abbot Kinney originally envisaged his “Venice of America” development. We’re looking northwest across the lagoon and that canal in the background was known as Coral Canal, which was … Continue reading
Muscle Beach, Santa Monica , California, 1949
From the looks of it, this 1949 photo of Muscle Beach along the Venice boardwalk was taken on a busy summer weekend. Those cafés selling 25-cent jumbo malts, 10-cent snow cones and candied apples and cotton candy now sell $5 … Continue reading
Marathon dancers at Venice Beach, California, circa 1923
The caption to this photo was something like “Marathon dancers at Venice, circa 1923.” But I always thought that the marathon dancing craze grew out of the evermore desperate financial straits of the Great Depression. The girls are all in … Continue reading
Windward Ave, Venice, California, circa 1915
This photo of Angelenos out for a stroll along Windward Ave at Venice Beach circa 1915 kind of makes me wish they had Kodachrome back then. Abbot Kinney’s “Venice of America” project was only 10 years old at that point … Continue reading
Angelenos strolling the boardwalk between Venice and Ocean Park, California, circa 1910s
These days, the boardwalk from Venice Beach and Ocean Park (the beach directly south of Santa Monica) is a tumultuous carnival of barking street performers, hipster tarot card readers, henna tattooists, angry bible thumpers, dubious marijuana dispensaries, and barely-clad roller-bladers. … Continue reading
Venice Miniature Railway train crossing over a canal bridge en route to Windward Ave, Venice Beach, California, circa 1905
Evidently, Abbot Kinney thought of everything when he created “Venice of America” (which we know today simply as Venice Beach.) Not only did he build a system of canals, but he also thought to install a miniature railway so that … Continue reading