I love, love, love this non fiction trade paperback novel, written, drawn and published by the one and only Eli Elliott, a Venice Beach local who is originally from Michigan. “You can check out” chronicles the Authors time in Venice Beach after a 5 yr. hiatus and the hijinks’ that insue as he finds himself...
The Dark Side of Comedy by: Jack Neworth For five decades, the world adored George Carlin as a stand-up comedian, social critic, actor and best-selling author. Carlin’s career included books, record albums, HBO specials, movies and television. But, to Kelly Carlin he was just dad. The only child of George and Brenda Carlin, Kelly, was...
By Krista Schwimmer As part of March’s “Women’s History Month”, the National Women’s History Project (NWHP) has announced as its theme for 2014: “women of character, courage, and commitment.” There are many ways to honor such women. My favorite way is by reading their stories – through novels, biographies, poetry, and more. Having worked in...
By Eric Ahlberg You may stroll in the eternal carnival that Ocean Front Walk has become. You may sit upon one of the distinctive cement and wooden benches and not even know that your ass is probably very close to some really hot Art. In 2000 two Venice artists created these tiles to depict distinctive...
By Carlye Archibeque In setting out to tell the tale of alternative past, present, and possible future of the Venice Beach community of California, author John O’Kane has set a daunting task for himself, while also creating a fascinating read for anyone interested in this city by the sea. O’Kane takes the reader on a...
By Greta Cobar Long-time Venice historian Delores Hanney did it again: published yet another wonderful Venice memoir, made up of over thirty “vignettes,” as she calls them. With grandiose vocabulary and in what could be called poetic prose, she tells funny and insightful stories from the times of Abbot Kinney’s arrival in Venice all the...
Reviewed by Mary Getlein Once upon a time there was slavery in this country. Jim Crow laws were laws put in place during the reconstruction of the South, for the management and regulation of freed black slaves. Ladies, when you’re walking down a street and it’s dark, and you see a Black man following you,...
Lions & Gondolas By Laura Shepard Townsend Reviewed by Delores Hanney Venetian Laura Shepard Townsend loves Venice and it shows. Opening the stunning mystical cover of her latest book, Lions and Gondolas, is something like stepping into a time machine to be whisked away – through a potent combination of painstaking research and elegant writing –...
By Jim Smith We live in a world shaped by history. It is hard to escape our personal history – parents, aunts, uncles – and others who want to shape us in their molde. One means of escape that has likely been practiced by many readers is to run away to Venice. Here, at the...
Reviewed by Jim Smith Sometimes those who report the news have the biggest influence on shaping the news in the first place. Probably no one had a bigger influence on the the development of Marina del Rey than Argonaut founder and publisher Dave Johnson. David Asper Johnson and the newspaper he founded were inextricable linked...
