We Have A History - Reprinted from the Dec. 1973 Beachhead
By John
Haag
The first issue of the FREE
VENICE BEACHHEAD came out five years ago on December 1, 1968. It had four pages
printed on green newsprint (which faded easily and so was not used
again.)
The front page contained the familiar
masthead, lettered by Bill Olive, a quarter-page photo of Venice in 1924 (the
last year that Venice was an independent city) looking down the Canal which is
now Main street, the first of a series of articles by Jane Gordon which gave a
history of Venice, and an editorial which said in
part:
"This paper is a poem for the
people. We decided not to sell it to some of you, but to give it to all of you.
It is a poem for all the people.
"Our
subject this issue is Venice. Our purpose is to create a
community."
Inside the first issue
were an article by Carol Fondiller on an instance of police harassment, the
first of a series of articles by Rick Davidson on L.A.'s disastrous Master plan
for Venice, articles by me on the Venice Survival Committee formed to counteract
police abuses and on the concept of a self- creating, self-governing Free
Venice, a poem by Dora Bayrack printed in Yiddish, and an article by Phil
Chamberlain proposing an outdoor art show. 10,000 copies of the first issue were
delivered free door-to door throughout
Venice.
The BEACHHEAD was not an
accident. It began as a project of the Venice Peace and Freedom party. In 1968,
I was the PFP candidate for state Senate in the 25th District. Realizing that I
had little chance of being elected, I wanted to use my campaign to raise issues
that could be worked on after the election and I hoped the campaign would
produce on-going projects.
One of
the issues I raised in the Campaign was the fact that the Venice Community had
no control over “our” police, schools, parks, streets and city
planning. That issue produced the slogan, "Free
Venice!"
After the election the few
people who had worked on the campaign continued to meet at the weekly Venice PFP
meeting and discussed projects to achieve self-government in
Venice.
Our first decision was to
start a community newspaper that would give information lacking in the
establishment press and to give our side of stories that did appear elsewhere. A
newspaper seemed the logical and and necessary first step to creating a
community that could begin to move in its own
interest.
We decided that the paper
should support itself by ads so that it could be given away rather than sold.
Beginning with the first issue we invited all Venice residents to submit
articles and help with the paper so that it could become self-sustaining. Within
a year the BEACHHEAD was was being produced outside the PFP office. It had
acquired its own identity and became truly a community
effort.
During its first year the
BEACHHEAD exposed and publicized L.A. City's plans for redeveloping Venice and
issue after issue helped to mobilize community opposition to the proposed
freeway through Venice, the Canals assessment district, police abuses and other
government rip-offs. It was and still is a vital means of expressing our
community's problems and
achievements.
To continue as a
community effort the BEACHHEAD needs your articles and your help with production
and distribution.
Happy Birthday,
BEACHHEAD, and Many Happy Returns!
Posted: Wed - December
1, 2004 at 05:00 PM