Another Venice Landmark Goes Up In Flames
By Paul
Tanck
On the night of Tuesday, January
11, Venice lost another famous landmark. Firehouse 63 of the Los Angeles Fire
Department responded to a fire at 1101 Ocean Front Walk and Wavecrest Avenue at
10:30 p.m. The tall, vertical sign of the Beach Market was on fire.
It took the fire company approximately 20
minutes to put out the flames on the blazing sign, caused by a faulty electrical
connection. The rapidly melting plastic sign had become engulfed, sending smoke
upwards to the third floor of the accompanying apartment building which houses
the Beach Market on the ground floor along the board walk, and an offshoot
crystal shop and piercing studio.
Luckily, by the next morning, all that was left was a blob of molten plastic
underneath the dissolved sign, and the bare fragments of what once was a
long-lost signature of the Venice boardwalk of
lore.
Fire officials at the time shut
off power to the sign, then contacted the owner of the building, informing him
that he should contact an electrician to alleviate any further problems.
Employees of the market, which was closed at the time, arrived the next morning
to a state of shock and resignation. Their beloved sign was no longer
there.
We’ll all just have to
wait to see if the neo-San Francisco typefaced sign will be rejuvenated and
replaced. If not, we can happily reminisce on the lost signage with R.
Cronk’s mural on the south side of the building. And the rapidly fading
sign above the doorway.
Ah, Venice. It
seems like you’ll be forever burnt down into our memories.
Posted: Tue - March 1, 2005 at 11:12 AM