By C.J. Gronner The front of Surfing Cowboys is painted with a sign that says “Purveyors of Beach Culture & California Lifestyle” and that pretty much sums it up. Owners Wayne & Donna Gunther have created a bright, happy space filled with all of the items that make the feeling of California living obtainable, wherever...
Review by Jack Neworth For those born before the time period known as the Sixties or for those who lived through the decade but whose memories have faded from time (or psychedelics) it was perhaps the most turbulent era in modern U.S. history. The phrase “sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll” reflected only part of...
Historical status for the building that housed the Venice West coffeehouse (see photo, right), the Potpourri coffeehouse, the Vox Populi coffeehouse and Sponto Gallery was approved by the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Commission, Jan. 7. That’s just the beginning, says Alan Leib, who initiated the application for historical recognition. Leib, who previously was instrumental in...
By Jim Smith They say that capitalism will sell anything – even ideas or arms designed to bring it down – as long as it makes someone a profit. Capitalism’s interest in making a buck was confirmed with the release of Avatar, a profoundly anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist film. Some say as much as half a...
By Bill Fleeman Long hair, beard, looking like Raskolnikov ‘bout to kill his landlady, back in Baltimore I didn’t fit. I read “On the Road” in ‘58, “The Holy Barbarians”early ‘59. Then I read a U.S. highway roadmap. Broke, no car, I bummed money from a friend and a ride out of town to I...
By Amy V. Dewhurst After 9 months of building, 10 years of lobbying, and 30 years of Skateboard History, Venice’s “Out Front” is finally being immortalized with it’s own park. This Saturday, October 3, 2009, The Dennis ‘Polar Bear’ Agnew Skatepark will open. The much anticipated 2.5 million dollar renovation was made possible with funds...
By Jebediah Reed Remember that time you went on a long drug binge and it turned into a crime spree and you totally messed up your life and hit rock bottom and had to go to jail for a while but in retrospect it was the best thing that ever happened to you because otherwise...
By Michael Wamback In 1903, a group of prominent civic and business leaders headed by Abbot Kinney, a Freemason, decided that a Masonic Lodge was needed to serve what was then the community of Ocean Park. They petitioned the Grand Lodge of California for permission to organize and form such a Lodge. By 1905, they...
By Amy V. Dewhurst Summer is here, and with it an estimated 5 million tourists will visit our beach. What that means is more kooks at The Breakwater. If someone snakes your wave, you get a bad sunburn, or just can’t shake the sand from your bed “Pop Surf Culture” will remind you why you...
For the past several years, the Beachhead has been advocating a memorial marker or other remembrance at the corner of Venice Blvd. and Lincoln Blvd. where local Japanese families were gathered together and shipped to concentration camps in 1942. Many were U.S. citizens and many were small children. None had been accused of any disloyalty...
