The Beats in 1959 Venice

By Bill Fleeman
Long hair, beard, looking like Raskolnikov ‘bout to kill his landlady, back in Baltimore I didn’t fit. I read “On the Road” in ‘58, “The Holy Barbarians”early ‘59. Then I read a U.S. highway roadmap. Broke, no car, I bummed money from a friend and a ride out of town to I 94 [...]

Venice ‘Out Front’ Skatepark Opens on the Beach

By Amy V. Dewhurst

After 9 months of building, 10 years of lobbying, and 30 years of Skateboard History, Venice’s “Out Front” is finally being immortalized with it’s own park. This Saturday, October 3, 2009, The Dennis ‘Polar Bear’ Agnew Skatepark will open.

The much anticipated 2.5 million dollar renovation was made possible with funds [...]

$20/Gallon: How the Inevitable Rise in the Price of Gasoline Will Change Our Lives for the Better

By Jebediah Reed

Remember that time you went on a long drug binge and it turned into a crime spree and you totally messed up your life and hit rock bottom and had to go to jail for a while but in retrospect it was the best thing that ever happened to you because otherwise [...]

Freemasonry in Venice

By Michael Wamback
In 1903, a group of prominent civic and business leaders headed by Abbot Kinney, a Freemason, decided that a Masonic Lodge was needed to serve what was then the community of Ocean Park. They petitioned the Grand Lodge of California for permission to organize and form such a Lodge. By 1905, they had [...]

If Everybody Had An Ocean….

By Amy V. Dewhurst
Summer is here, and with it an estimated 5 million tourists will visit our beach. What that means is more kooks at The Breakwater. If someone snakes your wave, you get a bad sunburn, or just can’t shake the sand from your bed “Pop Surf Culture” will remind you why you fell [...]

Venice High Students Push For Memorial For Japanese

For the past several years, the Beachhead has been advocating a memorial marker or other remembrance at the corner of Venice Blvd. and Lincoln Blvd. where local Japanese families were gathered together and shipped to concentration camps in 1942.
Many were U.S. citizens and many were small children. None had been accused of any disloyalty during [...]

More Letters From Students In Support of Memorial Marker at Venice and Lincoln Blvds.

Hello, my name is Wendy Santiago, and I am sixteen years old. I go to Venice High School, where I’m in the 11th grade. I’m in the New Media Academy, and I’m in Mrs. Hayashibara’s Honors U. S. History class. In Mrs. Hayashibara’s class, I have learned about the Japanese American Internment Camps, and I [...]

Carnevale – June 6

Carnevale – June 6
Venice artist, Jeff Verges won the annual Carnevale poster design chosen to be the face of 2009 Carnevale! Verges has lived in Venice since 1998 and is very involved in the skate and surf culture.
You may have seen some of Jeff Verges other poster designs since he has also won three poster [...]

Suzy Williams, Venice Songbird

By Jim Smith
Perhaps you’ve seen Suzy Williams peddling down your street on a flower-festooned bicycle named Gladus. Just another Venetian with pink hair going about her business in our community.
But if you’ve seen Suzy at night when she comes alive in a cabaret, bar or at a party, you know you’re seeing the Venice Queen [...]

Venice in the 1960s: A Series of Circles

By Lisa Marguerite Mora
Maria was a large woman, a round body, a series of circles. She scared me. But not because she was fat. It was because when she looked at you, it was like she could see not only who you were trying to be, but who you really were. Her eyes were blue [...]