THE CITY OF VENICE: Give Me Liberty, or Give Me Los Angeles
By Jim
Smith
On July 4, people across the
country remember and celebrate those heady days of the late 18th Century when
our rich white men with wigs defeated the despotic rich white men with wigs in
England. Plantation owners, shipping company magnates and crooked land surveyors
in the colonies believed that they should be allowed to run their own affairs,
and not be ruled from afar.
As with most good ideas, this one’s
been turned on its head with the passage of time so that today the descendants
of these wealthy gentlemen think they can rule better than, say, Iraqis, and
nearly everyone else in the world.
In
Venice, while giving a nod to the audacity of the founding fathers (and
non-voting mothers), we also think about the legendary founding of Venice on
July 4, 1905. There is some confusion about this, as there is with any good
founding myth. The date is actually the “grand opening” of Venice.
The founding was at least a year or more earlier. And there had been Native
peoples living in the Venice area for thousands of years before that. In
addition, Venice was called the city of Ocean Park until 1910, when it became
Venice. But myths don’t need to be factual, they just need to be believed
in.
What isn’t mentioned or
celebrated is the day Venice lost its independence, and became an appendage of
Los Angeles. On Oct. 2, 1925, an annexation vote carried in Venice by 3,139 to
2,197. Not an overwhelming turnout since Venice had more than 8,000 registered
voters at the time. The election was denounced by opponents who said voters were
coerced with promises of cheap water and electricity. Claims were made that
hundreds of people moved to Venice in order to vote for annexation, and then
moved out.
Weariness might also have
played a role. Just two years before, on July 11, 1923, an annexation measure
was defeated 1,849 to 1,503. A steady drumbeat for annexation that had begun as
early as Abbot Kinney’s death in 1920 continued nonetheless, apparently
directed from L.A. City Hall.
After
annexation was defeated in 1923, Venice celebrated. According to the Venice
Vanguard newspaper (reprinted by Arnold Springer’s Annexation and
Secession Movements, 1919-39): “A two hour spontaneous demonstration
occurred after the results were released and the huge fire alarm whistle siren
sounded the call to victory... Only once before in the history of the city, at
the time of the great fire, has the monster fire siren at the Kinney Power House
sounded as it sounded last night. It was heard as far away as Santa Monica
Canyon and Sawtelle... The town broke loose. It was the greatest demonstration
ever seen in the history of
Venice...”
The Vanguard also
printed what may be the earliest Venice poem to come down to us: “As
George W. Eldredge, poet-architect of the Rose Place Apartments stood in front
of his home last night and watched the joy mad throng of citizen celebrating the
defeat of annexation, it seemed to him that the spirit of Abbot Kinney hovered
over the city which he founded. Seizing a pencil, he caught the words which
seemed to come to him thru the air. Here they
are.”
Abbot Kinney
Speaks
by George W.
Eldredge
Blow the bugle!
Beach the Drum!
The spirit of
my town has won!
Of all the
places that I see
Venice is
most dear to me.
Of course men
say that I am dead.
I used to
be myself mislead
While it is
true that I have gone,
It
still is true that I am
here,
And for every right and
wrong
Have a feeling strong
and clear
Venice! Venice! You
will rise to be a glory
by the
sea as I view thru amber
sky’s
the vision of thy
destiny
Sporadic efforts to regain
cityhood continued through the 1920s, 30s and 40s. But by the late 1960s many
Venetians had lost knowledge about the early history of their town. In the very
first Free Venice Beachhead, dated Dec. 1, 1968, Jane Gordon wrote an article
explaining who was that man (Abbot Kinney) on the Post Office mural. She told
about the many canals with singing gondoliers, the amusement piers, and
everything else about what had by then become an unknown history. In the same
issue, John Haag wrote the first of many articles, titled Free Venice, urging
Venetians to regain our cityhood.
Since
then, Venice historians have given us books and articles about various aspects
of our history. We even have a street named after Abbot Kinney. And, there have
been a number of efforts since 1968 to regain our
independence.
So why should we try
again? It hasn’t been possible to win back our city so far, what’s
different now?
Perhaps Venetians are
more aware of the indignities heaped upon us by our overlord, the city of Los
Angeles. Decisions are made by unknown bureaucrats in downtown Los Angeles that
affect our daily lives. Developments that are opposed by the overwhelming
majority of Venetians usually get rubber-stamped in a megacity that is
controlled by big developers and big
corporations.
Even seemingly simple
stuff like what statue should go in the circle, or putting some limits on chain
stores, or deciding what should happen on Ocean Front Walk without violation the
U.S. Constitution, are decisions reserved for officials who live nowhere near
Venice.
At least, with cityhood we
would have a city council whose members would live in Venice. We’d see
them at Ralphs, at Danny’s, maybe even in church. They would be
accountable to us in a way 14 out of 15 Los Angeles city councilmembers will
never be accountable for what they do to Venice. While Bill Rosendahl has done
his best for Venice, he has difficulty getting even one additional vote on the
council if it has to do with restrictions on development or corporations.
Let’s urge Bill to establish legal residency in Venice and run for Mayor.
The movement to reestablishing the
city of Venice gains supporters when they learn about the history and culture of
Venice, and how it differs from Los Angeles. The new Venice sign hanging over
Windward Avenue reinforces our identity, and therefore brings us one step closer
to cityhood.
A city of Venice could be
a model environmentally-sensitive city. We could make it possible for people to
move about Venice in non-polluting cars, trams, scooters and bikes. We could
have a real recycling program. We could have a congestion tax on vehicles that
use our city as a “cut through” on their daily commute. This would
preserve the fragile coastal environment and bring revenue to the city. We could
insist that all development includes solar energy and is environmentally
friendly.
The possibilities are
endless. In our efforts to get free of the rule of Los Angeles, we could also
create a city that is artistic, poetic and of manageable size. We Venetians can
again be trendsetters, this time in saving the planet. Let’s talk about
this with our neighbors. Send your comments to
Beachhead@freevenice.org.
Epilogue:
Venice, 2017 - The Mayor of
Venice steps out of her apartment on Market Street into the bright July day. Now
that the fog has burnt off, she’ll push her baby carriage down to Ocean
Front Walk to get some exercise and find out the latest news. As she walks past
the Circle of Peace, she’s tempted to stick her feet in the solar powered,
salt water fountain in its center. She glances at the statues that surround the
pool. Some are abstract, all are products of local artists. She admires her
favorites, the 20 or so that are sculptures of famous Venetians from the past.
Statues of Vera Davis and Rick Davidson are deep in conversation on a park
bench. There’s an empty seat between them. She considers, but decides to
walk on. She passes Abbot Kinney and John Haag playing a endless game of chess.
Endless until last year when the chess board became holographic and now the
pieces actually move. They say it cycles through thousands of chess games but
each player ends up winning about half the games. Maybe six people are standing
around cheering on each player when a good move is made. She wheels her baby
carriage around Flora Chavez and Stuart Perkoff (who seems to be reciting a
poem). “Enough,” she tells herself, “I’ll come back
tonight when living people are scheduled to recite their poems and the poems of
their predecessors.” She pushes her carriage down the middle of the
pedestrian mall called Windward, headed toward the beach.
Posted: Sun - July 1, 2007 at 08:11 PM