Community Leader Handcuffed, Harassed by Los Angeles Police

When an elected official is subjected to intimidation and humiliation by “law” enforcement, are any of us really safe? And if there is no public outcry, can we be assured that it won’t happen again to another law-abiding Venetian? Ivonne Guzman, elected board member of the Venice Neighborhood Council (VNC) and outspoken community member, was handcuffed for close to an hour by 16 policemen in eight police cars for reasons that one can only speculate on. Did they target her because she spoke out in support of the Venice RV residents? Because she opposed the motion to keep the extra 21 police officers in Venice during a VNC meeting that the officers themselves were attending? Because of her role in the community? Because she is a woman?

She was driving to Mar Vista from Lincoln Blvd. and Sunset Ave. on January 8 to give a ride home to Petr Hromadko and his daughter Monae Hromadko . When she pulled into the driveway of his home 8 police cars surrounded her car with flashing sirens and 16 officers with drawn guns ordered everyone in the car to exit with their hands up. Ivonne Guzman and Petr Hromadko proceeded as ordered and were immediately handcuffed, but Monae Hromadko, suffering from cerebral palsy, was unable to understand or respond to the officers. Guzman and Petr Hromadko tried to explain Monae Hromadko’s situation to the officers, but they were ignored.

Refusing to cooperate with Guzman and Petr Hromadko, the officers approached Monae Hromadko with drawn guns, screaming through loud speakers commands that she could not understand. Meanwhile Petr Hromadko, who has raised and cared for Monae Hromadko for all of her 21 years, worried that the officers ignoring his explanations might harm his daughter, who is susceptible to spasms and seizures. Once they realized that she is indeed handicapped, they left her in the car and kept Ivonne Guzman and Petr Hromadko handcuffed because, according to the police, they were conducting a kidnapping investigation.

Sixteen officers and eight police cars were probably not necessary, but someone may have thought that they would be intimidating. A kidnapping call could have been made by someone seeing Petr Hromadko put his daughter in the car back on Lincoln Blvd. and Sunset Ave., but why would the officers follow the car all the way to Mar Vista while the presumably kidnapped child could be harmed on the way?

If the police would have really suspected kidnapping, they would have immediately asked for the identification of the father and daughter. Instead, they decided to draw guns and handcuff everyone. In addition, the officers did not end the standoff when Petr Hromadko volunteered to prove that there was no kidnapping by showing identification for him and his daughter. The officers were obviously not even remotely concerned with Monae, since they left her in the freezing car, with the doors wide open, without proper supervision while her father was handcuffed in front of his house and not allowed to approach his own disabled daughter.

The officers told Guzman that they did not run her license plates, but nevertheless called her by name without ever asking for her ID. Sergeant Mark Reina, who personally knows Guzman from the VNC, and the Ocean Front Walk Task Force, which she chairs, did not acknowledge the fact that he knows her, but instead treated her as a possibly dangerous criminal.

After what seemed like an eternity, especially for Monae Hromadko, who was terrified, the officers took the handcuffs off Petr and allowed him to take his daughter inside the house. Guzman, on the other hand, was not released. Instead, she had to take a sobriety test, which she passed. When all was said and done the officers left without further explanations or apologies.

It does not seem that the police officers were really trying to “protect and serve,” as they claim, but instead they targeted Guzman and harassed her for an hour under the guise of an alleged kidnapping call that was probably never made. The purpose of the hour-long standoff was to intimidate her as well as anyone else who might contemplate speaking out against extra policemen or in defense of the homeless in Venice.

The community came together at the January 18 VNC meeting with an outpouring of love and support for Ivonne Guzman. Venetians spoke out against the inappropriate conduct of the LAPD and demanded answers and investigations. Guzman herself wrote a letter to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and police Chief Charlie Beck stating the details of the incident, but she has yet to receive a formal answer.

This is just one of many incidents of police abusing their power, using excessive force and selective enforcement, going so far as to violate our human rights. It happens every day, usually to the weak and vulnerable, it is not a shocker anymore, but when an elected official is so blatantly targeted for her role in the community, it is even more alarming. And we can’t help but wonder: where does it stop and what can we do about it?

The Beachhead Collective is concerned and outraged at the treatment that one of our elected representatives received at the hands of Los Angeles police.

We urge Councilmember Bill Rosendahl to speak up on Ivonne Guzman’s behalf.

We urge that a citizen’s committee be convened to investigate this incident and report to the community and the department of justice.

-The Beachhead Collective

Beach Curfew Fight Coming to a Head

By John Davis

Last August several people filed complaints with the California Coastal Commission that the City Council of Los Angeles passed a curfew preventing the public from accessing and using their public beaches at night. The Coastal Commission then sent advisory letters to the City Attorney and copied Councilpersons Rosendahl and Hahn, whose districts were affected. The Commission agreed that the Curfew violated the California Constitution and the California Coastal Act by preventing people from using the beaches they own, at any time.

The City Attorney responded by claiming the Coastal Commission did not have jurisdiction in the Coastal Zone, and failed to address the violation of the Constitution.

Peter Douglas, the Executive Director of the Coastal Commission, sent a final letter which required the City Council to respond and apply for Coastal Development Permits if the Council wanted to close the beaches to the public. The approval for permits would stand a slim chance of survival. The letter required the City Council to respond by last.

A request for the response was recently sent to the Coastal Commission. The Commission letter stated there is no public record of response by the City.

Councilman Rosendahl of CD 11, which includes Venice Beach, has made several remarks deploring the State Commission for enforcing the Coastal Act in Venice and ignores the State Constitution protections against such closures. In fact he recently advocated for establishment of private parking permits for residents of Playa del Rey. The Plan was denied by the Commission which voted unanimously to keep the beaches open to the people.

The Coastal Commission only has one move left. The Executive Director can now issue a temporary Cease and Desist Order, and a Restoration Order to force the City Council to withdraw. Once that is done then the Commission at a public meeting can make it germinate.

The problem is that the Coastal Commission moves far slower than a constipated elephant. The fact that Councilperson Rosendahl refuses to acknowledge the rule of law, the California Coastal Act passed by the State Legislature (which implements the U.S. Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 passed by the Congress), and the State Constitution itself is saddening.

Bill is simply pandering to real estate owners who really want the beach all to themselves. This would drive up their property values while all others fall. To do so, he is willing to spit in the face of the State Legislature, the U. S. Congress, and to trample the State Constitution, with due process of law, into the ground.

The Councilperson need only to place a resolution before the Council to remove the curfew, but he apparently does not have the balls. He seems to prefer forcing the State to spend its precious funds on a legal fight which Bill knows the City will lose. The State holds four aces and Bill can only throw down four jokers.

 

Letters

• Bill Rosendahl’s Police State for the Poor – Calvin Moss
• Gasland – Suzy Williams
• Battle of Marina del Rey - Jon Nahhas

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Bill Rosendahl’s Police State for the Poor

Dear Beachhead,

Venice has become a police state for the disabled, unhoused people living on the street. A special unit of the Los Angeles Police Department has been harassing, arresting people and towing vehicles.This beach community in southern California has been a refuge for artists, musicians and craft persons. Many of them are disabled with disabled license plates who are parked to have access to the beach, medical clinics and food programs. The recent appearance of a special LAPD task force has had an extremely negative impact on the poorest people living in the community.

A recent incident of a disabled man, a Venice artist, who was found dead in his van has been attributed to police harassment. Threats of violence and misinformation have been coming from some hateful Venice blogs. People posting on these blogs are members of the local Neighborhood Watch – people associated with the LAPD who influence the LA City Council.

Venice area City Councilman Bill Rosendahl, a former Neighborhood Watch block captain and a popular member of the Democratic Party, has helped spread hatred towards the poor and disabled by supporting those who hate the homeless and by facilitating hate forums, such as the September Venice town hall meeting over an exaggerated alleged RV dumping incident. One of Rosendahl’s supporters and volunteer staff, Jim Horowitz, a well-known Democratic party functionary, was seen at the town hall meeting standing with the local police who regularly bash on the homeless and was then seen standing behind a sign being held up by two children. The crude cardboard sign read “Our streets are not toilets.” These young children where obviously brought to the meeting by their parents who have taught them to hate the poor, parents who themselves instructed them to make the sign.

Bill Rosendahl and his city council staff continue their campaign against the most impoverished people living in the Venice community. He has openly threatened people at public meetings by saying its jail or the highway “we dont want you.” This type of get-rid-of-people politics has only created animosity in the Venice community.

Just imagine the ruthlessness of the military on the Afhganistan population: night raids, assassinations, children being wounded, maimed and killed. Rosendahl’s special (task force) police units are pushing hard on the homeless people in Venice. People living on the streets with serious disabilities are being driven out by cruel and ruthless LA city politics. After an LAPD raid on a disabled person ends in a tragedy – who is to blame?

The city agencies doing the harassment should be held accountable: Bill Rosendahl, the LAPD and neighborhood watch members. Persons posting hate rants on local blogs are just as responsible for violence as big-mouth, talk-show hosts. The recent tragedy in Arizona was caused by irrational hatred. This is also true of what is going on in Venice. Hatred and bigotry directed towards the poor is alive and thriving. This is being orchestrated by callous and cruel politicians, the LAPD and their Neighborhood Watch cronies.

Calvin Moss

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Gasland

Deaar Beachhead,

A little follow-up to the GASLAND article that appeared in the October 2010 issue of The Beachhead. I listened two nights ago to the right-on and spiritually ecstatic Caroline Casey on KPFK, who was conducting an interview with Josh Fox, the maker of GASLAND, the movie. He has been nominated for Best Documentary by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.

The Oil industry has already come out with this dart: “The Movie industry should stick to art and keep out of science.”  Man, that should get a few goats! It turns out that since this poetic and factual film has been made, the only tangible positive result (besides oceans of appreciative viewers) is that the state of New York has declared a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, aka “fracking.”

Honestly, this fracking thing has to stop, immediately!  Even tho Venice and California are not on the oil industry’s  current crosshairs, fracking does concern us all.  We’re talking about millions of gallons of fresh sweet water being poisoned right now! As a Venetian, I lovingly urge anyone reading this to see the movie, and go to the website:  gaslandthemovie.com – and get those letters to congress people and any appropriate higher-ups post-haste! Anyone who wants a free copy of this film, do call me at 310-306-7330.

thank you,   Suzy Williams

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Battle of Marina del Rey

Dear Beachhead,

With some of our politicians pledging not to hide or hinder their public interactions in light of the January 8th shooting incident at an open meeting in Arizona, there is one local leader that has been absent from any public outings in the unincorporated area of Marina del Rey for many years. Don Knabe has failed his constituents in providing explanations for the numerous drastic changes that will come before the Board of Supervisors on February 1^st.  The community organizations are “lawyering- up” and the battle for our public lands along the coast of Los Angeles continues.

Mr. Knabe and the appointed Harbor Director, Santos Kreimann, are planning to eliminate 800+ more public boat slips and continue to increase residential/commercial densities without an adequate public vetting of the Local Coastal Program Amendment on the agenda to be heard next Tuesday. The LCP is already touted by State experts as the worst document of its kind and with its changes would give even more public resources over to the private sector.  Academians from USC and UCLA have long stated that the deals in the Marina are not in the best interest of the public and now further revenue generating potential will continue to taint the original intent established by the Federal, State, and Board of Supervisors.

The continued reduction of small, affordable entry-level boating opportunities will inevitably damage boating in and around the harbor of MdR.  This belief has been supported by Dr. Ed Mahoney and Dr. Daniel Stynes of the Recreational Marine Resource Center at Michigan State University.  Both Boating Economists have stated that boating communities are like most other ecosystems and food webs – diminishing the primary and secondary levels (small boats) will cause irreparable damage.  Their research along with recent statements by the National Marina Manufacturers Association President, Thom Dammrich, clearly indicate bad planning by the County and its sole interest in generating revenue.

“For years, as long as I’ve been in the industry, everybody was working to build bigger and bigger and bigger boats and it’s interesting to hear that it’s kind of moving in the other direction, and I think it needs to. We’ve got to build what the market wants and right now it wants smaller boats.” –Thom Dammrich, President, National Marine Manufacturers Association, November 2010

The lack of public participation into the decisions of Marina del Rey development have been a topic of concern at the California Coastal Commission.  Commissioner Bill Burke (former County Supervisor Yvonne Burke’s husband) spoke to his fellow commissioners about the lack of input and public process in Marina del Rey.  Jim Fawcett, former Director of Planning for the Department of Beaches & Harbors, has described it as a public process gone wrong questionable planning practices.

One thing will be clear on Tuesday Morning, February 1^st, a very large contingency of Developers, their representatives and special interests will be present at the Hall of Administration to give the Supervisors their support to pass this controversial amendment to the LCP.  We haven’t found one member of the general public that does not stand to make money from these deals in favor of the comprehensive amendment to our laws.  This is a prime example of Noam Chomsky’s “manufactured consent.”

Jon Nahhas, The Boating Coalition

 

In Brief:

• Google Venice
• New Book on Japanese-Americans in Venice
• The Coffee House Revolution
• DeDe Audet Turns 90
• Cafe Collage

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Google Venice

The announcement last month that Google Corporation had leased the Binocular building at 314 Main Street and two adjacent buildings totaling 100,000 square feet was generally greeted with delight.

However, many Venetians are now wondering what will be the impact on our town when a corporation with $29 billion in revenues moves in next door.

Should such a giant profit-making enterprise locate a branch in the coastal zone, which was created to preserve the natural environment and provide a haven for those escaping the city?

Some people are calling this corporate office a “campus,” but it is nothing like the traditional definition as used for an educational facility. The public cannot stroll the sidewalks and admire the gardens as we can at UCLA or Cal State. The use of the term campus is designed to make big corporations appear to be “warm and fuzzy,” which they are not.

The offices in Santa Monica that Google will vacate for unknown reasons were about half the size of the Venice location. It employed about 300 workers. Presumably another 300 would be hired to fill the Venice buildings.

Will Google hire from the local community? What will we do if they do not? Will Google practice affirmative action (google it) for people of color, women, the unemployed and the homeless? If not, why not.

Or will Google bring more people into the area where they will add to the unaffordability of housing in Venice and contribute to the glut of auto traffic? Venice has some experience with big corporations including Whole Foods (with revenues of only $9 billion) which brought much more traffic to the Rose and Lincoln area. RVs which once parked in the commercial area on Rose disappeared when Whole Foods began its move into the former Big Lots and Sav-on Drug Store. Armed security guards roam the parking lot creating fear in some and security in others. The grocery chain received little criticism from community organizations, some of which were, and still are, given cash and food on a regular basis.

Perhaps Venice organizations should refuse a handout this time while asking to meet with Google representatives to discuss how our new corporate neighbor is going to improve the natural and social environment of Venice.

There’s no word yet on when Google will make its move to Venice.

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New Book on Japanese-Americans in Venice

A new book on Japanese-Americans in Venice has been published by the Venice Japanese Community Center. It is a large book with hundreds of photos and maps chronicling “the 100+ year history of the Japanese American Community of Venice, California.” The book was written by Perry Miyake Jr. with Tiffany Yoshikawa Sato and Alexa Giffen, and is published by the Venice Japanese Community Center. Copies can be obtained from the Community Center. Call first: 310-822-8885.

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The Coffee House Revolution

When I visited Tunisia a year and a half ago I was impressed with the huge business done by outdoor coffee houses. There were not just hundreds, but thousands, of Tunisians sitting at tables on the broad sidewalks with a coffee cup in front of them. I would pass them in the morning on my way to see the sights and when I returned in the afternoon, they were still there. I mean the same people.

“Doesn’t anyone in this country work,” I wondered. I soon found out the answer was no. There were few jobs. Many people in Tunis, the capital and main city, hang out on Avenue Habib Bourguiba, which is the main street.

Ask anyone what they thought of Bourguiba, the first president of the Republic, and they will tell you that he was a wonderful leader. They will point out that he brought equality for women, public education including college, family planning, a modern, state-run healthcare system, and an emphasis on literacy to Tunisia.

Then when we asked them what they thought about his successor, Ben Ali, they would change the subject. Ben Ali fooled no one with his coup in 1987 when he had Bourguiba declared mentally incompetent. The police state began with Ben Ali’s sly rise to the presidency, and only ended with the coffee house revolution last month. Ben Ali was so paranoid that he decreed a year in jail for anyone – Tunisian or foreigner – taking a photo of his presidential palace.

Tunisia has been part of the civilized world since the founding of Carthage in 814 BCE. It may not have been well known in the U.S., but it’s now taking center stage. Pundits are now attributing the revolution to everything from WikiLeaks to Twitter or Facebook.

But in Tunisia, according to Wikipedia, only 17 percent of the population even have internet access. In most third-world countries internet access is very slow and tentative. Those who can afford broadband and the latest gadgets tend to be the local elites, whose long-term interests may not be the same as the masses of poor and unemployed who are taking to the streets in Egypt, Yemen and other countries.

When Egypt cut off access to the internet throughout the country, the protests didn’t stop. Coordination proceeded with landline telephones, motor scooters and public transportation. There is still no substitute for face-to-face contact if you want to challenge the status-quo. It remains wishful thinking to believe that the internet is available to the seven billion people on planet Earth. Even here, perhaps a third to a half of our community doesn’t have a computer at home or a broadband connection.

In Venice, we are blessed with quite a few coffee houses. Problem is that many customers don’t think they have the power to affect anything, certainly not high rents, food prices, foreclosures and lack of jobs. We have many unresolved problems in Venice, and America, as the economy slowly settles to the level of a small North African country. Perhaps our liberation, like Tunisia’s, will not come with Pot or LSD, but with caffeine.

–Jim Smith

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DeDe Audet Turns 90

Venice activist DeDe Audet was celebrated at the Venice Neighborhood Council, Jan. 18, with a cake. Audet accomplished her goal of blowing out the candles, which numbered somewhat less than 90.

Audet is the former president and president emeritus of that body. Long ago she was also an active member of the Venice Town Council and was a leader of several successful efforts to stop a freeway from coming through town.

Her activism has extended to the city of Los Angeles, where she was named a “True Angel” by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Unlike most Venice activists, Audet is a registered Republican, although many in Venice would define her as a “feisty Republican.” Also unlike some of her colleagues, Audet works with, and is friends with, Venice activists on the political left. She has been an irregular contributor to the Beachhead over the years. Her most recent article, which criticized pro-growth attitudes in Los Angeles, was in December.

Audet is currently working on some of the most complicated issues, including the L.A. city budget, water resources and the Dept. of Water and Power. She says she is studying “Complexity Theory.” Can you say the same?

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Cafe Collage

Things change, and they do so without warning. The tables outside Café Collage used to be a Venice hangout spot, where the likes of Dr. John prophesized, inspired, taught and otherwise had countless hours of conversation regarding the state of current affairs and the way one could take over the world in order to fulfill its true potential for happiness and true love.

Counter-culture does not express the views of the majority, much like Socrates and Plato did not back in their days, but its importance cannot be disputed. By removing the tables and chairs from the front of Café Collage, the owner, Steven Han, eliminated one of the spots where people could gather, socialize and mobilize. When asked why he decided to remove them after all these years, his answer was: “To get rid of the homeless. It makes the place look bad.” Not only are the so-called “homeless” not allowed to sit, they are also denied service by Han. He stated without hesitation: “I do it because I can.”

We can’t say that we live under a dictatorship similar to the one in Tunisia, but their revolution was partly conceptualized and mobilized in and around coffee shops. Not surprisingly, then, Han stated that the LAPD pressured him to get rid of the tables outside. Our democracy is far from perfect, and without resistance even the limited freedom and the few rights that we do have are in peril.

The Jones Settlement (2006) states that a person is allowed to lie on the sidewalk between the hours of 9pm and 6am. However, Café Collage hired a security guard during those same hours to make sure that the sidewalk is used as a passageway only. Asked about the legality of the issue, Han stated that it is private property.

The Beachhead and all other free publications got evicted out of Café Collage as well. Although the Beachhead had enjoyed the shelter of the café for many years, its rack now has to sit on the corner, braving the elements, rain or shine. Sadly, it still has more privileges than some Venice residents.

Whatever you do, remember that you cannot eliminate certain people and you could never stop the progressive, off-mainstream movement of Venice. Also, there’s a reason why The Coffee Bean went out of business: it was not a local hangout.

– Greta Cobar

State Senate Candidates Respond to the Beachhead’s Questions

Eight candidates filed for the vacant state Senate seat formerly held by the late Jenny Oropeza.  To read the full responses, go to www.freevenice.org/2011candidates.pdf

When the Shooting Starts

By Jim Smith

Back in the ‘60s, the level of paranoia in Venice was high. Most of us held radical views, were poor or black or brown. We endured daily harassment by L.A.’s finest. Our heroes JFK, RFK, Martin Luther King, Fred Hampton, Malcolm X and others were being gunned down by either overt or covert government action to the approval of good Americans across the country. Meanwhile in Vietnam millions of residents of that country were being executed by more good Americans. The carnage in Vietnam was so bad that it led King, the modern-day Prince of Peace, to call America “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world. He was assassinated one year to the day after that speech.

Our worst fears, that vigilantes or G-Men in vigilante disguises would start shooting anti-war protestors and other radicals were not realized, at least not yet. Some of my closest friends in Venice packed up and moved to Canada, a decision they have not regretted. Others of us scouted potential places of exile in Mexico. It’s happened before. Another Venetian friend grew up in Mexico City, where her family had fled during the McCarthy years (if you don’t know about this terrible time in American history, google “anti-Communist witch hunt”).

Comes now the horrible shooting in Tucson of a member of Congress, a judge, a nine-year-old girl and many more. The media and leaders of government shed crocodile tears that such a thing could happen in this great country. Meanwhile, a million people lay dead in Iraq because of senseless American action, thousands more fall because of American drones in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In Gaza and the West Bank, still more feel the bite of American weapons. At this writing, Egypt’s dictator is on the verge of using American weapons against its people. Iran, North Korea, Yemen, Cuba, and some South American countries are threatened by the American government which has shown it is not above stooping to thuggery on behalf of corporate profits.

None of this is mentioned in the memorials and recriminations about Jan. 9 in Tucson. It is as if such violence is an inexplicable catastrophe. How could this have happened? It must be because of Fox News or Sarah Palin or those Republicans in Congress. If we can only swat these mosquitos, everything will be fine. No need to drain the swamp. Don’t think about the the billion people in the world who live on a dollar a day or less. Don’t think about the tin-horned dictators around the world who daily commit atrocities against their own people with the backing of American arms.

Yes, we are a violent species and if it wasn’t America it would be someone else oppressing and killing mothers, fathers and children. But we have to admit that America is the best ever at holding down the whole world. The Nazis couldn’t do it. The sun has set on the British Empire, and the French. But America has cruised along for the past 65 years on top of the world. During the same time random, and not-so-random, violence has invaded our cities and our politics.

Even in our lovely Venice, hostility and threatened violence against the poor has reached such a level that a small but well-heeled segment of our community has earned the title, “Haters.” No one has yet been shot in Venice. But that may only be because the right mentally-unbalanced person has not yet acted.

Recently on a local blogsite, one of the anonymous haters posted a photo of himself sunbathing and surrounded by his gun collection. Isn’t this just a little more obvious that Sarah Palin’s crosshairs on Gabby Giffords’ congressional district? Why on Earth does someone living in an apartment in Venice need a lot of guns? And by the way, the Second Amendment calls for a well-armed militia, and is not carte blanche for lone gunmen to arm themselves.

Is it a surprise that the shooting started in Arizona? In my article, entitled Sinking Arizona, last June, I versified: Oh Arizona…a Death’s Head has gripped your state. It didn’t take an oracle to see that taking up arms was coming. But since the main targets of hostility were immigrants, who are nearly invisible to middle class pundits, no notice was taken until it was too late.

Even the timing of the shooting left a trail through history. It came within a week of Martin Luther King’s birthday. In the 1980s it had taken a boycott of the state to compel its legislature to acknowledge the national holiday. Since then the state has been “enriched” by white Californians relocating there because they do not want to live in our state which is becoming a majority minority. Their racist, right-wing views fit in well with the frontier mentality that still permeates much of Arizona.

In America’s long history of slavery, the taking at gun point of half of Mexico, thousands of lynchings, segregation, McCarthyism, assassinations, mass killings in our schools, the most massive prison system in the world, wars and more wars, the shooting of a Blue Dog Democrat, a federal judge, a little girl and others will likely end up as a footnote in the sad story of a country that never outgrew its wild west attitude.

If we had any storytellers of merit, he or she might write a Greek tragedy about that terrible day of Sept. 11, 2001 and the hope that was born on that day with the birth of Christina Taylor Green. The tragedy ends with that hope – that young girl – being shot dead nine years later in a Tucson shopping center.

James Baldwin’s aptly named book, The Fire Next Time, may describe the next few years of the American “experience,” as atrocities mount on atrocities both at home and abroad with nothing or no one to stop it.

Rip Cronk Paints Venice

By CJ Gronner

Of course I’ve been familiar with the art of Rip Cronk for years and years … we all are, here in Venice. His murals are icons of the community, from Jim Morrison on Speedway, to the huge Abbot Kinney on North Venice, from his self-portrait hanging over The Boardwalk, to the brand new one he’s been working on for the past three months on the side of Danny’s Deli … I’d argue his art is as important to Venice as any attraction we have.

I was not familiar with the man himself, however, until we sat down and had a beer at Danny’s together after he knocked off for the day, so I could learn about how it all came to be. What a cool guy.

Rip grew up on the East Coast, then went to get his art degrees in Florida and New Mexico. From there he moved to Hawai’i, where he got into the mural medium. He didn’t feel the desire to pursue gallery art, as it’s hard to get into one, and then they just want more of the work that got you in, so your freedom of expression is pretty much censored by the gallery owner’s market. No, he wanted to get the big public walls. The walls that not only reach a wide audience, by their sheer size alone, but that also affect society, and become landmarks of a neighborhood, as Mr. Cronk’s surely have here in Venice. (Check his website – www.rcronk.com – for super insightful and wise essays on art and culture).

He moved to Venice in 1979 “on a lark,” (he’s lived here three different times, as he said, he doesn’t visit places, he just moves to them) and one day saw an ad for a muralist needed at SPARC. That is what you call destiny.

He has been involved with SPARC ever since, and the social/public art they champion. The mural projects gave Rip ways to interact with the fine art context in new and different ways, as evidenced by the variety of his works.

The art murals come about in different ways. Rip keeps his eyes open for attractive sites, and he’s also approached by business owners who want a cool wall, that enables them to be seen as a “culture provider.” That then tends to help them commercially, so everyone wins. Rip explained that he’s “not trying to make the big bucks, I’m trying to get the big walls.” He isn’t interested in being commissioned to do, for instance, a big historical vignette, he’s more interested in the mural BECOMING history, which it does the day it goes up. The big walls give him the freedom to take ideas in unexpected directions, as he really only does a rough sketch of a piece, and then makes most of it up on the wall as he goes along. It’s been fascinating to fly down Speedway every morning and see his progress sailing along, and funny too, as various citizens lobby to get themselves included up on that vast Venice tableau.

We talked about Venice itself a while, and all that Rip has seen change (and stay the same) over the decades. I liked when he said that of the 200,000 people down on the Boardwalk on a weekend, the 2,000 of them that are a real part of the community are all you really see … the ones that truly have a sense of “Core Community.” He finds there to be a very protective, self-regulating camaraderie among locals, that crosses financial lines. “The business owners and the street people have the same values, and mostly even dress the same,” said Rip, when explaining how he feels that Venice is really a focal point for creativity.

“Not just the Boardwalk or Abbot Kinney, every SIDE street is FULL of creators, in every house. They’ve been drawn here for more than half a century, and creativity just BREATHES out of here. Even if an idea started somewhere else, it catches on here. It’s a cultural vortex.” I sat there listening to Rip explain what I’ve always felt, while surrounded by the faces of Venice past and present that Rip painted on the inside walls of Danny’s Deli. You could almost see the faces of the mural nodding in agreement.

Rip has notebooks of ideas that have never been used, because the idea comes from the location. And with Venice as a location, there has been no shortage of ideas. “The Boardwalk is a cultural EVENT that happens every day, unto itself … Venice is an International Beach, unlike anywhere in the world.” That got us to talking about how for as big of an attraction (and revenue earner) as Venice is, how little the city of Los Angeles gives to it (gross bathrooms, poor street cleaning, not enough garbage cans, etc.). On that note, and for the record, Mr. Cronk is FOR Venice cityhood.

Rip now lives up north in Weed, California, where he raises horses with his wife, Lindy. Though not a resident at present, he remains a key figure of Venice, to the extent that publications continually contact him as a Venice source – for good reason. He works down here a lot, obviously, and when he’s in town, he can most likely be found – when not up on his scaffolding machine painting – at Danny’s Deli, James Beach and the Sidewalk Cafe. He loves the beach and the canals, and continues to be inspired by that creative vortex, even now after all these years.

As far as changes to Venice, Rip said that thanks to things like our Art Crawl (every 3rd Thursday!), people can go out in an alley now and feel safe, and “I like that!” He feels it’s less dangerous now, with no loss of edge. One failing, as he sees it, is that hippies seem to have been edged out, and he urges them to come back! (I guess he didn’t think I was hippie enough, but then, we just met). “Other than that, everything that’s been happening the past 40 years meets with my approval.”

And everything I’ve seen and heard from Rip Cronk, both artistically and humanly, completely meets with my approval.

Lawrence Scott

Scotty’s time was up Saturday, January 22 just after midnight. He was 67 years old.

Having lived in Venice since his return from the Vietnam War, Lawrence Scott was well-known around the Venice Bistro as Scotty. He could be seen most nights dancing to the groove, especially Sunday afternoons, when his favorite band, Peace Frog, entertains the crowd. Legend has it that during the last 13 years Scotty only missed two of their Bistro shows. On their third show without his presence, on the Sunday after his passing, the band gave a warm shout-out to Scotty, whose spirit undoubtedly was in attendance.

Scotty is survived by Lawrence Scott Jr., his biological son who lives in Texas, JJ Rogers, his step son, Joann Allen, his adopted daughter, and Sarah, his goddaughter. Standing by the impromptu memorial set up for him by the Bistro, Joann recalled how she ran away from home when she was 15 because she couldn’t take her mother’s beatings anymore and how Scotty took her in to live with him, his wife Phyllis and Phyllis’s biological son JJ, whom Scotty adopted and helped raise.

Scotty became homeless 15 years ago when his wife Phyllis passed away. He was given shelter in March of 2009 in Santa Monica, but continued to hang out in Venice on a daily basis.

Sarah described him as “the kindest, purest person I met in my entire life.” Jeanne, the Feather Goddess, referred to him as “my favorite dance partner at the Bistro.” Diane Butler remembers him as a constant figure on OFW between Dudley and Rose, where he greeted a-many on a typical Venice sunny day.

–Greta Cobar

Patrice Martinez

Patrice Martinez, the gregarious and kind owner of the French Market Cafe, who has brightened my day for years and years, has passed away.

I still have chills. I can’t bear to imagine how Patrice’s wife, Agnes, is feeling. Theirs was a true and obvious love, full of fun and adventure. Adventure is what Patrice was up to in Chile on a motorcycle trip with his best friend. There was a fatal accident on the bike, when Patrice was hit by an oncoming car. The only comfort you can think of is that he was doing what he loved with his best friend.

I will remember him always exactly as he is pictured above, which is how he looked most of the time. Always a kind word, always a little teasing, always the ultimate host of the delightful neighborhood oasis that he and Agnes created together.

My favorite thing Patrice ever said to me was one day when I met a friend for coffee in the morning at The French (as we call it) … which became lunch … which became one, two, then three bottles of daytime champagne with other regulars on the patio. I went inside to get something and bumped into Patrice and said, “Patrice, my morning coffee has become three bottles of champagne!” To which he replied, “C’est bon, that is very french!” We laughed together … and I stayed until it was dark out.

Please keep Agnes and all the French Market family in your thoughts and kindnesses. And man … remember to LOVE your life every moment that you have it. It can be gone oh, so quickly.

Rest In Peace, Patrice. You will be forever missed.

–CJ Gronner

Charles Brittin

The 82-year-old artist and photographer of Venice’s beat scene died Jan. 23. Brittin’s photos are invaluable for visualizing Venice in the 1950s and 60s. He also photographed the civil rights movement in Southern California and the deep South.

Brittin’s friend, Marsha Getzler of the Temple of Man, says he will be honored with a memorial when a scheduled showing of his work opens in April at the Michael Kohn Gallery in Hollywood.