A Beach Head Write About the Beachhead

By Carol Fondiller

Frankly, I feel as if I’m viewing the decades of the Free Venice Beachhead’s existence on old celluloid film. Jumping and bumping with splats, cracks and flashes. Cutting through images that have been spliced together with cellophane tape being fed through the old moviola of my brain.

Who was that guy with the Jesus-length hair who was a master of lay-out? Can’t remember his name. And John Haag – “this paper is a poem” and through the four decades of its publication, there were poems in every issue of the Beachhead.

The remaining Beats watched with tolerant condescension as the collectives struggled to put this together.

The margins were never even, mis-prints, mistakes were always in abundance. Somehow, no matter now hard we tried to eradicate those cussed little errors, they’d pop up to be forever immortalized in print. Some contributors were really deeply hurt by what they considered negligence and disrespect for their articles. My thought was we gave voice to the voiceless. There were and are many voices in Venice who speak and are ignored. The Beachhead enabled those voices to be heard by a larger group than just their allies.

The Beachhead grew from a bothersome little rag to an influential voice in the community. Truly, the Beachhead worked locally and thought globally. The Beachhead was founded by the Peace and Freedom Party, but except for a few years, welcomed even political contributors to its pages. From polemics and theory to explanations of various laws and regulations and , of course, poems and stories to pro-renter and women’s movements, and anti-war activities, if it was happening locally, it was reported in the Beachhead.

The Beachhead ALWAYS had points of view. It reported events from a distinct populist, what is called leftist point of view. The Beachhead tried to be accurate in its reporting of facts. But it has always been pro majority of the people who inhabit this little blue planet, i.e., the low income folks who are struggling to stay housed, the people who are unhoused and the people who’ve lived in the area for years, but are being displaced because they don’t have $$$ to stay in their community because they have been told by landlords, the city, the state, etc., that they don’t count. (There are still renters who believe that they don’t have a right to voice their opinion, if any, about the direction of their community. The Beachhead still has a lot of work to do regarding consciousness raising about this).

Speak of consciousness raising, the Beachhead raised awareness about stalking and the vulnerability of the people to the dangers of this highly romanticized dangerous activity in a series of articles about the terror and disruption inflicted on a respected member of Venice and a collectivite on the Beachhead.

We used to lay out the Beachhead on the floor using glue, scissors, Xacto Blades and press tape. Oh, who could forget presstype – my nightmare. I don’t know who still uses it,  if it exists anymore – it consisted of a sheet of plastic with letters that are pressed down individually onto the paper, rubbed in, and a headline was created. That is, unless  parts of the letter fell off, and then the handy dandy black pen would come into play. My headlines were almost always crooked – sort of like a humpback whale swimming through the print.

When the Beachhead first came into being there were no computers. In the mid 70s the holy grail of print technology was an IBM Selectric Composer. I believe Moe Stravnezer and Linda Lucks were the proud owners. I never advanced to more than pen and pencil, having been intimidated at an early age with the typewriter ribbon and indentation. I am forever grateful to the people who slaved over my chicken tracks and transcribed them into print.

Now it is zipped through the computer straight to the printer, who mates with the disk and births many thousands of Beachheads.

The Beachhead has gone through many collectives and many changes, but the message remains the same: PEACE AND FREEDOM.

4 More Decades!

The New York Times and the L.A. Times try to be objective; however, in the face of injustice and greed there is no room for objectivity, but there is fairness. Thank Goodness the Beachhead hasn’t “balanced” discrimination with points of view from the KKK to balance out the view of racial equality.

There, I hope I’ve been clear.

 

This article is re-printed from the 40th Birthday Anniversary of the Beachhead in the December 2008 issue. 

Carol Fondiller (June 22, 1936 – January 9, 2010), pictured above, was the one and only Queen of Venice. She was one of the founders of the Free Venice Beachhead in 1968 and continued to be one of its wittiest, most prominent writers for the next 41 years.

this paper is a poem…

By Delores Hanney

Singing with the promise of passion, these five simple words composed the opening sentence of the Free Venice Beachhead’s inaugural issue, of which 10,000 copies were let loose upon the realm on December 1, 1968.   It was the golden age of the “underground” press, those years of love-ins, groovy music, psychedelics and flower power, of peace marches, draft dodgers, student uprisings and Democratic National Convention snarling; when fevered activists so raucously made their anti-establishment sentiments public.

And doing so changed everything!

The Berkeley Barb (1965-1980) may have been the earliest, the loudest and indubitably the most prominent, but no other counterculture rag – mainstream press either, come to that – could brag of such a strong poet’s contingent as the Beachhead; not to imply that a vigorous dissident factor wasn’t fully engaged. Nor was any other alternative press cooked up on a completely volunteer basis as the Beachhead was and is, governed by a fluid “collective” staff of equalitarians.

The first four-page issue commenced pretty gently: defining its purpose, “to create community;” inviting participation, “the next poem you read may be your own;” recounting, briefly, the beginning of Venice-of-America. Thus warmed up, it made good on its claim of an establishment-challenging persuasion with articles about police harassment, opposition to a Master Plan that took no account of whom the planning was for and cheerleading for secession from Los Angeles. Binding it together – like duct tape – was a scattering of local ads with downscale, wild-child panache.

Steve Clare climbed aboard the Beachhead brigade with the second issue. Additional high profile concerns, during his three-year tenure, were (of course) the Vietnam War and rallying support for the objectives of the Peace and Freedom Party.

Community organizing under the banner of “Free Venice” – an aim not necessarily synonymous with advocating succession – the Beachhead successfully promoted into existence the Free Venice Food Co-op, and the Venice Survival Committee, to provide people with information about their rights. Backing “Save the Canals” activities brought about a restoration on East canal that became a community center, embellished with a terraced bank of cheery flowers, housing a community switchboard and a communal vegetable garden.

During this era, Clare recollects, the Beachhead partnered with Echo Park’s, Common Ground, to have their separate publications printed as one – since it was cheaper that way – taking bimonthly turns to de-mingle the amalgamation for distribution. For this task or to review submissions – with a bias towards showcasing the community’s creativity and diversity – or to lay out the next issue, collective members gathered at the Peace and Freedom office in front of artist Earl Neuman’s studio. In 1970, the legal aid office became their meeting spot, thanks to a new connection with its director, Marge Buckley. After duties were dispatched, they repaired to the Saucy Dog on Pacific for a bit of collectivee bonding.

With a stint at The Great Speckled Bird – the alternative newspaper out of Atlanta – already a mark of merit upon his curriculum vitae, Larry Sullivan moseyed into town to join up with the Beachhead, an affiliation running through the 1980s. Development was a major concern during this period, especially the threatened development of the Ballona Wetlands, the critical rest stop for migrating birds that may have traveled hundreds of miles before dropping in for a snack and a snooze.

He remembers many successful Beachhead fundraising events, often organized in cahoots with kindred groups like the VOP Food Co-op, or the Venice Community Housing Corporation. But perhaps mostmemorable, ironically, was the dance party at The Church of Ocean Park, one Valentine’s Day, when just four folks showed up due to a rain storm of record-making proportions.

In his self-appointed role as institutional memory keeper, Sullivan has arranged for the archiving of his collection of 20 years worth of the Beachhead, along with a bunch of years of The Great Speckled Bird, within the non-civil rights portion of the progressive archives at Georgia State University.

Today, idealism leaking from practically every syllable, between 8,000-10,000 copies are printed each month, depending on the budget, to be dispensed by subscription and at approximately 125 pick-up points around Venice. Confronting issues such as the threat to the WPA-built post office or the attempt by the City of Los Angeles to impose a midnight curfew on the beach and Ocean Front Walk, the Beachhead still radiates sass and righteous anger. Its tone remains urgent. Poets and poetry and passion retain their positions of eminence.

Dear Beachhead Readers

We just wanted to reach out as the end of the year is almost here, and if you’re looking for things to donate to, please consider The Free Venice Beachhead. So many people came up and told us how much they love the Beachhead at the Abbot Kinney Festival, and so many people around the whole world look to it to keep up with this place that we all love, but not that many of you actively support it. We welcome financial donations (whether we have enough to print this ALL volunteer, ALL donation run, FREE to you paper every month is always up in the air, and as writers and creative types, it’s not any member of the Collective’s main skill set to be salespeople), ads placed by the businesses in our neighborhoods, volunteering your time to help deliver the papers, help fundraising, and writing articles and poems to submit so we can hear more from YOU, as this paper is about all of us in Venice. It would be a terrible shame to see this free press publication started in 1968 (HAPPY 44th Birthday, Beachhead!) no longer exist, just because of money, like is happening to so many other Venice institutions. Thank you for your support, truly, and a beautiful holiday season to each and every one of you!

All the very best,

The Beachhead Collective

About The Cover

Independence Day ~ Venice Style is an original acrylic on canvas by local Venice artist Frank Strasser. The painting depicts the amazingly eclectic swarm of locals and tourists seeking hot fun in the summertime and cheap thrills in the lurid carnival atmosphere of our world-famous Venice.

Frank has performed music and painted in Venice Beach for over 30 years. He will perform as part of Hinano’s 50^th anniversary celebration on Friday, June 1. His art can be seen at www.frankstrasser.info and www.frankstrasser.com and is on display at Very Venice Gallery, 1629 Abbott Kinney Blvd. He can be reached at franksterrocks@live.com or 310-827-5729.

The Beachhead Hits 43

By Jim Smith

One of the many distinctions Venice holds is that of being the only city in North America with a progressive newspaper run by an all-volunteer collective. Even back in the heyday of alternative newspapers – the Sixties – most were owned by one person, usually a man.

In Southern California, there was the venerable Los Angeles Free Press, owned by Art Kunkin, and the OB Rag, which now has a website <OBRag.org>, was initiated in Ocean Beach in 1970 by Publisher Frank Gormlie. Countless other papers started up, published an issue or two, and disappeared.

Meanwhile, mainstream newspapers, some of which have been around for more than 100 years, are ceasing publication. Most have been bought up by newspaper chains which are beholden to Wall Street. The Los Angeles Times, long the plaything of the Chandler family of Pasadena, is now in the clutches of the Chicago Tribune (which might explain all those articles about Chicago). The Tribune Corporation was run out of New York City by a victorious strike at the Daily News before it turned its attention to the L.A. Times.

Thanks to a compliant Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the ban was lifted in 2007 on any media company owning both a TV Station and a newspaper in the same city. The Tribune, which owned Gene Autry’s old station, Channel 5, was free to also buy the Times. Channels 13 and 11 both became the property of Fox, neatly ending “independent” television. Like other greedy corporations, Tribune ate too much and had to declare bankruptcy. Earlier this year, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the ban. Now, the new FCC Chairperson, Obama-appointee Julius Genachowski, wants to re-overturn it to the applause of the media corporations.

In the olden days, big wheels in small and large towns would own a newspaper for prestige, not for profit. That all changed as Gannett, Knight-Ridder, Thompson, the New York Times Inc. and other big corporations bought up papers by the bushel full and changed them into bland purveyors of the Truth as seen by Corporate America.

Here in Venice, the Beachhead continues to chug along blissfully unaffected by the ups and downs of the stock market. All the other Alternative newspapers are gone, or have morphed into advertising vehicles like the L.A. Weekly, which is now owned by the New Times Corporation.

While most other newspapers are feeding their readers pabulum, the Beachhead has been informing the community about the issues that affect their lives. In the past year, we have advocated for the homeless, including those in vehicles, since they have no one else to speak up for them, and because it is the right thing to do.

We sounded the alarm on the plans of the city of Los Angeles to take the Vera Davis Center away from the community. Today, it remains a social service center serving the Oakwood section of Venice. We blew the whistle of the stealthy plans to erect a giant Ferris Wheel on the beach. The plan is still moving ahead, but most people know about it now.

We have enthusiastically supported the Occupy Movement. What other newspaper has devoted its entire front page to Occupy as we did last month?

And since April, we have been fighting, along with the rest of Venice, to save our historic post office on the Circle. The Beachhead has reached out to bring in all segments of the community (some of them kicking and screaming) in a wall-to-wall coalition that has the power to take on the U.S. Postal Service’s ill considered sale of our Post Office.

The Beachhead’s record in past years – going back to 1968 – is just as noteworthy. We believe it deserves support from the community. In fact, our support is all from the community. It is from local Sustainers who contribute $100 a year (or $8.33 a month) that allows us to publish, and from local merchants who take advantage of our low advertising rates to let the community know of their existence.

Here in the midst of a Depression that is driving much bigger newspapers out of business, we need your support more than ever. We have no high salaries to pay. In fact, we have no salaries at all, only volunteers. But we do have to pay our printer, who does a great job in turning our articles, photos, letters, poetry and cartoons into thousands of copies that are snatched up by Venetians at more than 100 locations. Let’s keep the presses rolling.

 

Please join us at our annual celebration on Dec. 17 at Beyond Baroque. See details on back page.   

Working on the Beachhead

By C.J. Gronner

I dug the Free Venice Beachhead from the day I moved here. An entirely volunteer operation, it has been in existence since 1968, celebrating the auspicious 43rd Birthday this December! Every community needs its newspaper, but a community like Venice especially does. People have come here from all over the world to seek and explore what the left-ist edge of the country has going on, and the Beachhead has been documenting it all for decades.

I got involved myself when I would occasionally submit articles about things I thought were cool in the neighborhood (You can too! We love to hear from EVERYONE, and Venetians tend to have a lot to say. Don’t be shy, that’s silly) … or uncool as the time I had my dear bike, Delores, stolen. I reacted by writing a story, basically a livid Bike Amber Alert, and the Beachhead Collective was nice enough to print it on the front page. Well, a month later I got her back, and wrote another – triumphant – story to share the unlikely news. That was the beginning of me taking a more active part in the paper as Collective member Greta had been reading my blog about me and Venice (Blogtown, like Dogtown, get it?) and extended an invitation for me to come to the Beachhead meetings, and see if I wanted to join the Collective. So I did.

Meetings are held each Monday evening at the “Beachhead House” in the heart of Venice. You duck through some thick foliage and enter the house to be met with shouts of welcome from the long wood table that serves as the Bridge on the Mother Ship of Beachhead operations. Protest posters from past and present, and original works by Venice artist friends adorn the walls, as, of course, does the visage of Che Guevara. A beautifully colorful Murano glass chandelier hangs above it all, as sort of a reminder of the original Venice.

It doesn’t take long before someone usually opens up the first bottle of Charles Shaw, which helps to calm the nerves when talking about local and worldwide events that rile us up. We stick impressively close to the agenda each week, considering we are all vocal and tangent-prone contributors, but this paper has to get out! It takes a lot of work – by people that also have to actually work and maintain busy lives. And these people … what a bunch. Each of us is so different from each other, but somehow it all works as a whole, and a mutual respect is maintained (save for the pretty uncommon outbursts of healthy disagreement) to make that so.

Jim is the true keeper of the Beachhead flame, having been involved with the paper for a good chunk of its lifetime. He is a deep and creative poet, and is also real good at cracking the whip on the gang to keep things moving along. Karl is the Professor of the bunch (of Chemistry), so he’s our go-to source for all things scientific. He also writes great poems, and is great at reciting the poem submissions that come in in his actorly fashion. Mary is the poet on the Collective that makes me well up almost every time she submits, so touching and wise are her works every time. She’s also the one that always catches my raised eyebrow or pointed glance, and exactly gets what I mean without even talking. A great lady.

Don is the most senior member of the Collective, and also the biggest flirt. He is out there, active and involved, every day of the week. He is never afraid to exactly speak his mind, and share his vast knowledge about pretty much all things. He is a true inspiration as to how to be of service and lead a full life. And he can make you blush. As can Greta. She is the Romanian spitfire of the group, and cracks me up every week. She is the supplier of the most double-entendres I’ve ever heard, and is as smart as she is funny (she is a school teacher during the day). I look forward each week to seeing what she’ll wear, or what she might cook, as she’ll often display her culinary skills for us, on top of her writing pointed and provoking articles for the paper. {She would laugh and shout, “ON TOP!” here}.

Roger is the grammatical stickler of the bunch, and we’re lucky to have him, as even under his microscope, it’s still not hard for typos and stuff to sneak by when proofing nights go late. Roger is a smart one, and a good debater too, as he’s another one not afraid to speak his mind. No one is really, and that makes for super interesting discussions, and we hope, a better paper each month. There are new members, Ron and Annie, who are proving to be fine contributors, and both jumped right in with offers to to get things done. There are more phantom members, like Alice, who can rarely attend meetings, but handles the finances of the paper, which is always a struggle (we’ll get to that). Lydia, a very involved activist, sometimes makes an appearance, and always has great points to make. Krista is another lovely poet, who we don’t see as much of these days, but are always happy when we do. It’s always a treat when Suzy shows up, and even better when she pens one of her enthusiastic reviews.

These characters all sit around the big table and discuss distribution, who called which expired sustainer, who hit up who for ads, what events are coming up, what timely topics need to be addressed, how many more have died at war or been arrested for Occupying, current events, etc. Then we all take turns reading story, poem, letter and calendar event submissions. It’s a democratic vote for each of them that winds up in the paper, and if only those walls could talk, they’d have volumes of thoughtful, interesting, important and funny things to say. I look forward to these meetings each week, as I always emerge a little more well-informed, and cheered that a diverse people really can come together and create something positive together. And that’s a good lesson to apply to everything in life, right?

I try to make my contribution each month be a reminder of why we all want to be in Venice. I like to focus on the GOOD stuff – the art, the music, the events, the people and businesses that make this an intriguing – no, MAGICAL place to live. The more we know each other better, the better we’ll be to each other, is my way of thinking. The more you know someone’s story, the better you can identify with or learn from them. Which brings us to the point of a community paper … knowing the stories of a time and place in history.

As I mentioned before, it’s hard work, all done for free, with free minds and spirit and speech. (And you get it for free). We don’t just tell the stories, we deliver the stories to you. We hustle to get ads and sustainers to keep the paper afloat – everyone’s least favorite part of the deal. No one likes to ask for money, especially creative, activist type people. I know that a lot more people enjoy the paper than currently support the paper, and I think that could be improved upon. Simply based on the number of times I’m stopped and talked to about it in a normal Venice day is telling of The Beachhead’s place in the hearts of locals.

So please consider being more active in your appreciation for a truly rare and original, Beat-originated and still inspired, cool LOCAL hard copy newspaper. Send us YOUR stories, thrilled or outraged. Become a sustainer (it’s easy, you can just Pay-Pal it right up at www.freevenice.org!).

Place an ad for your business. Announce your wedding or baby or graduation or party! Come to an event we sponsor. Volunteer to help lug papers. Do something awesome that we can write about!

Above all, THANK YOU! Thank you, Venice, for being so great to live in and write about. Thank you for supporting a free press, and a free spirit. For inspiring every day, and for the sense of FUN and community we all love, and love to document.

Happy 43rd Birthday, Beachhead! It’s a real honor to celebrate both the history and the NOW with you! CHEERS (with something a little better than Chuck S. for the occasion!)!!!

Thanks for your generous donations!

 

• Electric Lodge
• Ed Ferrer
• Mary Getlein
• Great Western Steak & Hoagie Company
• Arleen Hendler
• Sydney Lovelace/L.A. Surf and Swim
• Nutritional Warehouse
• Rebekah/Michael Ozier
• James Schley

Survey asks Venetians: How do you feel, What do you think?

A survey conducted by the Beachhead at the Abbot Kinney Festival, Sept. 25, showed declining support for Barack Obama and Bill Rosendahl, but overwhelming support for Venice Cityhood. Abbot’s Habit was voted the most popular coffee house and the Free Venice Beachhead, the most popular newspaper (of course).

It was a random, but not a scientific survey, comprised of those festival goers who wandered near enough to the Beachhead booth to snag. Here are the results for those who said they were Venice residents (less than 100):

Their average residency in Venice was 22.7 years. The best thing about Venice is the people, followed by the beach. Others mentioned the diversity, the arts, and the undeniable freakiness of Venice.

They didn’t like aspects of gentrification by a wide margin. This was followed by too many tourists, too much development, crime, trash, homelessness, helicopters, the cops, traffic and parking problems.

The most popular coffeehouse, according to the survey, is Abbot’s Habit, with 31 percent of those responding. It was followed by the Talking Stick (17%), Groundworks (14%) and scattered votes for Cafe 50s, my kitchen/front porch, French Market, Unurban, Dannys, 242 Pier, Rose Cafe, Collage, and the 7-11.

When asked who they voted for in 2008 for President, 81 percent said Barack Obama, 16 percent said Ralph Nader and 3 percent said Cynthia McKinney. But when asked who they would vote for in 2012, only 47 percent said Obama. Next was “no one” with 16 percent and “don’t know” with 13 percent. Scattered votes went to Nader, Dennis Kucinich, a socialist, Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, Newt Gingrich, Jim Smith, and Lisa Green.

Councilmember Bill Rosendahl may be overstaying his welcome. If the election were held today 65 percent would not vote for him.

Venetians are mostly united on wanting their own city, with 81 percent saying yes, let’s do it.

The survey asked participants to rate several institutions on a scale of one to ten, with one being really good and 10 being really bad. The LAPD had the lowest ratings with a score of 7.0. The best ratings went to the Fire Dept. with a score of 4.4. In between and tied were the Neighborhood Council and the City of Los Angeles at 6.1, more bad than good.

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.

 

The Venice Poetry Renaissance

The Venice Poetry Renaissance, a free Beachhead holiday event, Dec. 30, filled Beyond Baroque’s theatre with an enthusiastic crowd of poetry lovers. The readings were followed by a party featuring some of Venice’s best musicians at a local home.

The poetry event began with readings, and rare audio recordings, of the works some of Venice’s great beat poets, including Stuart Perkoff, Tony Scibella, Frank T. Rios, John Thomas and Philomene Long.

Contemporary poets then took the stage and showed that a renaissance in poetry was in full bloom.

Live readings were heard from Roger Houston, Krista Schwimmer, Hal Bogotch, Linda Albertano, Pano Douvos, Lynne Bronstein, Jim Smith, Mary Getlein, Karl Abrams, Peggy Lee Kennedy, Wayne Slappy, Suzanne Verdal and Hillary Kaye. An Open Mic brought still more poets to the stage.

The first all-Venice reading was followed by a showcase of Venice musicians including Peter Demian, Brad Kay, Alfred Johnson, Eric Ahlberg, Freddie Ginn, Sam Clay and Suzy Williams.

A high point of the evening was a rendition of Black Palm Tree by Demian and Moon Over Venice by Williams, both of which were joined by every voice in the house.