610 California Ave
Venice, CA 90291
(310) 821-1769
The Venice Canal Historic District is a district in the Venice section of Los Angeles, California. The district is noteworthy for its man-made canals built in 1905 by developer Abbot Kinney as part of his Venice of America plan. Kinney sought to recreate the appearance and feel of Venice, Italy, in Southern California.The canals are roughly bounded by Eastern Court on the east, Court A on the south, Strongs Drive on the west, and Court E on the north. There are four east-west canals (Carroll Canal, Linnie Canal, Howland Canal, and Sherman Canal) and two north-south canals (Eastern Canal and Grand Canal). The beautifully lit canals with gondoliers and arched bridges drew widespread publicity and helped sell lots in the development.However, as the automobile gained in popularity, the canals were viewed by many as outdated, and the bulk of the canals were filled in 1929 to create roads. By 1940, the remaining canals had fallen into disrepair, and the sidewalks were condemned by the city. The canal district remained in poor condition for more than 40 years, as numerous proposals to renovate the canals failed due to lack of funding, environmental concerns, and disputes as to who should bear the financial responsibility. The canals were finally renovated in 1992, with the canals being drained and new sidewalks and walls being built. The canals re-opened in 1993 and have become a desirable and expensive residential section of the city.The residential district surrounding the remaining canals was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. However, in recent years, there has been extensive renovation work on many of the old houses, and many large, modern houses have been built.
Located on Hill Street in Santa Monica, the Sanctuary is a moniker for special musical events coordinated by Mikel Farber. The venue itself is in fact a beautiful church with incredible natural acoustics. There is no set entry fee as admission is donation based. Interested in performing at the Sanctuary? Get in touch!
The Binoculars Building, originally the Chiat/Day Building, is a commercial office building located in the Venice neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Built between 1991-2001 for advertising agency Chiat/Day (now TBWA\Chiat\Day) as its West Coast corporate headquarters, it was designed by Los Angeles architect Frank Gehry, his last project in Los Angeles until the Walt Disney Concert Hall began construction in 1999.The building is notable for the three different styles used in the main facade on Main Street, particularly the massive sculpture of binoculars that function as both a car and pedestrian entrance. The binoculars were designed by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. The entrance to the parking garage is between the lenses of the binoculars. The 75000sqft building was delayed for a few years after hazardous materials were found on the building site, requiring removal. TBWA\Chiat\Day is no longer a tenant in the building, having moved to another area of Los Angeles known as Mar Vista. The last tenant of this building was Ketchum Inc., a public relations group.In January 2011, W. P. Carey & Co. announced Google was leasing of space in the building and two neighboring buildings, part of a major expansion to establish a larger employment presence in Los Angeles.
A section of the beach was referred to as "Ink Well" and "Negro Beach" in the early 20th century when it was one of the few areas in California where African Americans were allowed to enjoy beach access in a largely segregated society. Other areas for blacks were Bruce's Beach in Manhattan Beach and the Pacific Beach Club in Orange County. Nick Gabaldon, one of the first black surfers in California, lived in Santa Monica, and used the 200 foot roped off stretch of beach demarcated for blacks. He died after crashing into the Malibu Pier
This is the Official Facebook Place Page of Vicki's Couch. If you've ever sat, drank, ate, slept, or anything else here, please feel free to join in the fun. Why a Facebook Page? The credit goes to Liz Schack Rabban. During a May 2011 visit to Vicki's Couch, she created a check-in when she was feeling "one with the couch." We then discovered we could fill in details about Vicki's Couch including type of business and website. We submitted a request to Facebook to "claim this place" and were approved May 25th. What Liz & Vicki didn't anticipate was how much affinity all the couch's previous visitors would have for it. As soon as Vicki's Couch appeared on Facebook, it quickly made fans and revealed how many feel a sense of ownership of the couch. And so the legend began...
The Pacific Jewish Center, also known as The Shul on the Beach or PJC, is a synagogue in Venice, Los Angeles, California, known for its outreach to unaffiliated and disconnected Jews. The Shul remains the last of the synagogues built in Venice during the first part of the 20th century. Although an Orthodox synagogue, due to its location in an eclectic neighborhood worshippers who identify themselves as many different denominations are all welcomed when attending services and other events.The 1925 building, originally a power station, was identified as a City of Los Angeles landmark.HistoryPacific Jewish Center was established as Bay Cities Synagogue in the 1940s. The congregation was one of several synagogues established in Venice Beach in the 1920s (two others also on the Venice boardwalk). All except this one had disappeared by the late 1960s. The membership had gradually dwindled until there was hardly a minyan available. However in 1977, a group of young, Orthodox Jews led by Michael Medved, and Rabbi Daniel Lapin re-established the community and it soon became the nexus of Orthodox outreach in Los Angeles for the next decade. Lapin was the unpaid rabbi of the congregation from 1978 to 1992.The Bar Mitzvah of Jason Gould, son of Barbra Streisand and Elliott Gould, was held at the shul.
The Warren Wilson Beach House, later known as The Venice Beach House is a Craftsman style house built in 1911 in the Venice section of Los Angeles, California. It has operated over the years as both a residence and a camp.The Venice Beach House structure was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.
Horatio West Court, built in Santa Monica, California in 1919, is an early example of attached houses with shared pedestrian and vehicle access. The six little buildings are grouped on a 60-foot lot. It was designed by Irving Gill.Horatio West Court divides its narrow lot symmetrically, placing two units on either side of a driveway that runs the length of the lot to a rear parking area, where two garages are topped with little apartments. Each building is a slightly inflected, flat-roofed two-story cube to which a small entrance porch and a walled terrace has been added. The arched entry ways and small patio courts reflect Gill's affinity for the Mission Revival style. However, the buildings themselves fall squarely into the Modern Movement.Richard Neutra extensively photographed the Horatio West Court as well as Gill's Dodge House and published in his book Amerika: Neues Bauen in der Welt (1930). In Leland Roth's American Architecture: A History, the Horatio West Court is described as "Gill's flat-roof crisply-rectilinear apartment complex." In Coastal California, John A. Vlahides and Tullan Spitz describe the complex as "one of the best examples of Irving Gill's revolutionary modernism."The Horatio West Court was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1977, the first building in the City of Santa Monica to be listed in the National Register.Gallery of images