Venice (Italy)

And You Thought Lincoln Was Bad on a Normal Weekend

Venice Hit-&-Run Claims Life of Man Walking

Our hit-and-run epidemic is well known in South Los Angeles, the East Valley and Koreatown. But the far Westside often seems to have been spared from this fatal scourge. Not this time. See also: Chief Beck's Hit-and-Run Crisis. Cops say a 33-year-old man was killed when he was struck by a driver w ... More >>

L.A.-Area Rents Skyrocketed 10 Percent This Year, Study Finds

It's not just your imagination: The rent really is too damn high. In the last year, in fact, rental prices in the Los Angeles area increased a shocking 10 percent. That's according to Venice-based startup RadPad, which analyzed the data from multiple rental services in August 2013, including its ow ... More >>

What's With the Attitude? L.A.'s 5 Surliest Neighborhoods

We all know you think your neighborhood is the best, especially if you live in one of the hipster zones such as Venice's Abbot Kinney area. Yes, your grocery store is full-on organic, the local dog park is to die for, and Yelp lists a dozen hot foodie joints on your main drag. But is your 'hood tou ... More >>

The Best Concerts to See in Los Angeles This Weekend

Don't forget to check our constantly-updated Los Angeles Concert Calendar Friday, June 21 Sea Wolf EL REY THEATRE On the third Sea Wolf album, Old World Romance, lone wolf Alex Brown Church embraces adulthood. These beautifully crafted songs showcase Sea Wolf's signature emotive nature by turning ... More >>

10 Essential Beat Generation Landmarks in Los Angeles

When most people envision the Beat Generation, they probably start with a vision of Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady and Allen Ginsberg, stumbling into a bar in New York City, rambling on about Nebraska and staring into the electric religion of the American plains. Or perhaps people think of Lawrence Ferl ... More >>

Top 4 Weekend Events: Surf & Skate Festival, Thai New Year, Tony's Darts Away Anniversary Grilled Cheese Invitational

Thai New Year To ring in the Thai New Year, RockSugar Pan Asian Kitchen will give out a free shrimp toast appetizer with croutons, water chestnuts, jalapeños, chives and Sambal mayonnaise during both lunch and dinner. Thai musicians and dancers are scheduled to perform. WHAT: Thai New Year WHEN: Sa ... More >>

Venice Drum Circle Goes Digital

The popular Venice Beach Drum Circle has done away with the bongos and embraced the digital age. This week the group, which meets every Sunday just before sunset, announced that it has replaced traditional instruments with a collection of smartphones and Rock Band drum kits. Ariel Coriander, who de ... More >>

Blood on the Water

Venice Wurstkuche Crash: LAPD Pursuit Ends With Truck Into Restaurant, 6 Injured

Updated at the bottom with at least six injured. Headline has changed. First posted at 9:26 p.m. Sunday. At least two people were injured tonight when a pickup truck being chased by the LAPD crashed into the popular Wurstkuche restaurant in Venice. The crash after a short chase was reported shortl ... More >>

Venice Zip Line Approved For Spring

Starting as soon as spring, flying high in Venice will no longer just describe what homeless youths do on the boardwalk. Yes, after a big push by L.A. city Councilman Bill Rosendahl, the community he represents will get a zip line. The project needed the approval of a notoriously hard to please bu ... More >>

Anthony Perini: Elusive Cause Of Death For Body In Ransacked Venice Apartment

The cause of death for a man found in his ransacked Venice apartment was yet to be determined. Coroner's officials identified the deceased as 54-year-old Anthony Perini. They told the Weekly today that further tests would need to be conducted in order to come to a conclusion about how he died. In ... More >>

Venice Man Found Dead, Apartment Ransacked

A homicide investigation was underway in Venice this week after police responding to a report of a body also found that the victim's apartment had been ransacked. Cops were alerted to the situation about 8 p.m. Tuesday by the victim's brother, who was concerned because he hadn't seen his sibling fo ... More >>

Venice Stabbing: Son Attacks Parents, Mother Seriously Injured, Cops Say

A 25-year-old stabbed both of his parents in Venice today, sending his mother to the hospital in serious condition, cops say. The father's injuries were "minor," LAPD Officer Sara Faden tells the Weekly. The son was arrested in connection with the morning attack and was still in the process of bein ... More >>

Hopeton Parsley, Playboy Gangster Crip, Charged In Oscar Duncan's Venice Murder

Hopeton Parsley, a 23-year-old Westside gangster, was charged with the murder of a popular Venice youth pastor, the L.A. County District Attorney's office said today. Parsley is said to be a member of the Playboy Gangster Crips, which claims turf about a mile south of Beverly Hills along La Cienega ... More >>

Sexy Venice Firehouse 'Burlesque' Hula Hooping Video Prompts Investigation

Updated at the bottom with a response from Hoopnotica, the video's maker. The L.A. Fire Department has been criticized recently for its response times, or at least the way it reports them, not to mention occasional firefighter shenanigans that include allegations last year that LAFD rigs were used ... More >>

36: Tacos Al Pastor at Tacos Leo

Celebrating this year's Best of L.A. issue -- now out in print and online -- we're counting down, in no particular order, 100 of our favorite dishes. 36: Tacos Al Pastor at Tacos Leo. Great lonchero wagons are certainly thick on the ground in this city, but when Tacos Leo first appeared on the str ... More >>

Ready For Carmageddon II? Here's Some Soothing Music For Your Drive

Venice-based, classically-trained pianist Ken Elkinson has often become outraged on the road, such as while witnessing other drivers reading, changing clothes, or putting on makeup while behind the wheel. He even once saw a man smash the window of another man's sedan with a baseball bat. See also: ... More >>

Want To Gourmet-Bathe and Farm-To-Table Dine at Angelica Huston's House? Of Course You Do!

What is gourmet bathing? This will soon be the burning question for residents of Venice, who are about to get their very own social club with a membership centered around the activity. Not only that, but this gourmet bathing will take place at Angelica Huston's house.

Ronald Weekley, Jr: LAPD Task Force Involved in Videotaped Take-Down Pulled From Venice

The videotaped LAPD take-down of college student Ronald Weekley, Jr. has some in Venice's African American community concerned about police tactics. The department says the West Bureau violent crime task force to which the officers belong has since been reassigned to other areas as the investigatio ... More >>

Dog Stabbed on Venice Boardwalk: VIDEO

A dog was stabbed by a man on the Venice boardwalk today, police said. Witnesses captured on video said the pooch was a "service dog," ostensibly for a legally blind person. The attack happened in the 1300 block of Ocean Front Walk shortly after 7:35 a.m., LAPD Lt. Mark Day told the Weekly: Venice ... More >>

American Royalty Are a Dance Band Playing for Crowds Too Cool to Dance

On American Royalty's latest EP, Matchstick, it seems like there's more than one band playing. Marc Gilfry and Billy Scher, two 23-year-old multi-instrumentalists who like to "fall down every rabbit hole," and drummer Mat Ungson make up the band. They write psychedelic dance songs that venture dow ... More >>

Venice Beach Biennial: Boardwalk Artists 'Museum' Artists = A Confusing, Messy Success

Anyone who went to the Venice Beach Biennial this weekend just to see the "art world" artists would have been frustrated. At the Biennial, organized by curator Ali Subotnick to coincide with the Hammer's current "Made in L.A." exhibition, artists who frequent the sphere of M.F.A. programs, galleries ... More >>

Hardcore Deathmatch: Cro-Mags vs. Beowülf

[Editor's note: Deathmatch pairs two artists who have something in common, and determines who is better. It's a concept we sort-of ripped off from MTV, except that instead of claymation it's the printed word!] See also: Top Five Best Post-Hardcore Records Harley Flanagan, founding bassist of New Y ... More >>

Nude Man in Venice Captured on VIDEO Dry Humping Air; Bath Salts Suggested

Forget buying a new bathing suit for summer. Just take some bath salts and, viola!, you have an instant fashion statement. Something about the newish drug seems to make people freak out and want to go it al fresco. Which might or might not explain the latest nude guy to go apeshit on video (after t ... More >>

Venice Zipline: You Could be Screaming Over The Beach This Summer

Venice is once step closer to getting a temporay zipline for summer. Area L.A. City Councilman Bill Rosendahl announced that the council unanimously approved a motion to draft a proposal for the California Coast Commission's okay. Why does Venice need a zipline? Aren't bikinis, waves and a skatepar ... More >>

Art Walk This Way

Confirmed: Google Will Take Over Gold's Gym in Venice, Plus 170,000 Square Feet of Surrounding Real Estate

Updated at the bottom: Google may work out some sort of sublet deal with Gold's, allowing it to stay in its historic location. And the jocks beat the nerds again! Originally posted May 14 at 5:30 p.m. Last week, the former owner of Gold's Gym in Venice leaked to Muscle Week that Google would be ta ... More >>

Venice Boardwalk Marijuana Pipe, Bong Sellers Threatened by Lawsuit

Some Venice residents are upset that marijuana pipes are sold in the marijuana capital of America -- the Venice boardwalk -- and have planned to file suit against the city. But before you say, Duh, where else would find a good bong, consider: The lawsuit would note that a city ordinance prohibits ... More >>

Is Google Buying Gold's Gym, Expanding Venice Digs Into Mountain View-Style Compound?

For months, rumors have been rippling through the Venice real-estate crowd that Google might be buying up the iconic Gold's Gym on Hampton Drive, and possibly the Digital Domain building next door. And for months, we haven't been able to confirm. But Jason Stern, a local blogger who focuses on Veni ... More >>

Venice's Own 'Skid Rose' Homeless Camp at 3rd Slowly Being Flushed by City Officials

Ever since the LAPD started enforcing a strict curfew along the Venice boardwalk, the homeless hangout on 3rd street (located a few blocks inland) has blossomed into a bona fied bum party. The stretch of 3rd where they sleep, between Sunset and Rose, is mostly populated by businesses and warehouses ... More >>

816 Pacific Avenue, Venice: The Bad Haircut

Did you ever go to a Supercuts and ask for the cheapest haircut? 816 Pacific Avenue in Venice is the building equivalent of that bad decision. Or maybe you've been the lucky recipient of one of those free do's from a local beauty school that leave you considering a wig? This apartment building is l ... More >>

Sean Flynn and Jon-Kane McCullough, Venice High Grads, Arrested for Attempted Murder in Party Town of Isla Vista

Two young regulars around Venice have been arrested for attempted murder in Isla Vista, a small party town adjacent to UC Santa Barbara. Jon-Kane McCullough, 19, and Sean Flynn, 21, were tracked down in their hometown -- a joint operation between the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department and th ... More >>

Super Yacht Off Venice Pier Causes Commotion on Summer-Like Day

SNL​A multimillion-dollar super-yacht is making waves in Venice today. The Serena (or perhaps Serene) is sitting off the coast south of Venice Pier, close enough to gawkers on this summer-like day that authorities have been fielding calls inquiring whether the awesome vessel is too close to s ... More >>

Close Up on Venice

Quiksilver's Venice Surf Shop Vandalized; Venice Originals Store Burglarized

veniceoriginals.com​Venice surf shops were burglarized and vandalized over the weekend. The corporate newcomer to the liberal, beach-side community, Quiksilver Boardriders Club, was treated to a wash of white paint so thick that you couldn't even see inside its windows, one observer told us. ... More >>

Skateboard Parade World Record Set in Venice, According to Guinness

Yo! Venice!SkateLAvia?​How many Angelenos with skateboards does it take to create a world record? Apparently not many. Guinness World Records announced today that a skaters' gathering outside Venice High School last summer took the prize for "largest skateboard parade." The number of part ... More >>

Video: Great White Shark Baby Rescued by Surfers Near Venice Pier

YouTube​Usually when surfers see a great white shark they run the other way. But a handful of guys south of Venice Pier ran toward an ailing baby great white like first responders over the weekend, and it appears they might have saved its live. Video (after the jump) depicts at least a couple ... More >>

Best Beer Fest of the Week

Venice 311 Commotion

New Venice Beach Live Cam Lets You Check Out Surf (or Tourists, Babes, Rooftop Parties)

VeniceBeachLiveCam.comDon't mind us! Just checkin' the surf!​This isn't Venice's first online surf watch -- but in the wide world of webcams, the brand-new Venice Beach Live Cam, sniffed out by crime blog Venice 311 today, is certainly king. And it does a lot more than surf watch. With insane ... More >>

Raw Milk Raid in Venice: Three Arrested For Alleged Unpermitted Sales of Unpasteurized Dairy

Don't do it.​Another day another raid in Venice. But this one didn't involve marijuana shops or pot docs or even RV dwellers. No, this time the targets were purveyors of fine, raw milk, a product you can't really sell legally without special permits. Those, authorities say, were not in-hand w ... More >>

Venice's Penmar Park Pulled From Consideration For Homeless Parking Program After Double Murder There

Dennis RomeroAn RV in Venice.​Few issues in the liberal seaside community of Venice are more contentious than what to do with otherwise homeless RV dwellers who have flocked the artists' enclave in recent years. City Councilman Bill Rosendahl, who represents the area, has come up with a compr ... More >>

Sexy Circus Comes to Venice: Accordions, Sirens and Lesbian Lady and The Tramp at Robin's Sculpture Garden

Mistress of the Shattered Path​ The circus came to Venice on Saturday night, where an almost exclusively female coterie of performers enchanted a small crowd under the stars with a bill of sultry music, inspired clowning and acts of derring-do. An accordion-heavy array of Bulgarian drinking ... More >>

Best Police Blog: Venice 311

Walk Like a Venetian

Jesus Hates Skater Kids: 'Lincoln Ramp' Half Pipe in Venice Torn Down by Fun-Killers at United Methodist Church

Juice MagazineThe Lincoln Ramp in better days​Updated after the jump: Photos of the Lincoln Ramp being dismantled, set to be U-Hauled -- in sad little strips -- to various parts of the Valley. Plus, the reverend's defense. The riff-raff who frequent the Lincoln Ramp in east Venice Beach are f ... More >>

Venice Crimes Such as Auto Theft, Aggravated Assault, Burglary Way Up

Tony Vera / YouTubePolice on the beach.​The unusually warm spring weather has brought out the rowdies in Venice, it seems. April was a violent month on the beach, with fights, stabbings and even a shooting. New LAPD statistics from mid-April (PDF) show that certain categories have seen huge i ... More >>

Venice Beach Crackdown Results in 197 Arrests by LAPD Over Warm Weekend

Tony Vera / YouTubeCops crack down in Venice.​Venice has long been the bohemian heart of L.A., a crossroads of art, music, surfing, cuisine, and pot smoke. It's as laissez-faire as laid-back as SoCal gets. Except last weekend. Police were out in full force following three previous weekends of ... More >>

Venice 'Drum Circle' Stabbing Puts Young Man in Hospital: At Least Third Weekend of Violence on Beach

Tony VeraMore violence on the beach in Venice.​For at least the third weekend in a row violence broke out on the sands of Venice. This time someone was stabbed during the Venice "drum circle" festivities that take place Sunday afternoons. Last weekend fighting broke out in the drum circle one ... More >>