I am back in LA for the first time in a while, staying at the hotel I stayed at while attending my low-residency MFA classes back in 2005–6, the Venice Suites, right on Ocean Front Walk (aka the boardwalk: beyond, beach, then Santa Monica Bay). As I walked the boardwalk earlier seeking (without success) a small market selling yogurt, LAPD cruisers were patrolling the beach and walkway. There appears to be a small army of homeless here in the general neighborhood. And of course the usual Venice "characters"—a blues-playing guitarist, random artists selling small canvases and jewelry, t-shirts and sunglasses (memorabilia for the European tourists who also seem to be here in droves), and right outside the hotel's front door,
Harry Perry, the Skate Guitar Man aka Kama Kosmic Krusader, a Venice icon.
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| View from the hotel's roof |
I used to come down to this general area with friends when I was younger. Sometimes to lie on the beach, but more often to hang out on the
Santa Monica Pier and play pinball and arcade games, or just to walk and talk, or go rollerskating, or watch the gymnasts and muscle builders on Muscle Beach. And then when I met David, we'd come here because his mother lived right on the boardwalk, in a rundown old apartment building, the Sea Castle, long since revivified as "luxury" apartments.
It was quieter back then, less of this crazy wacky vibe—though I suppose it's always been a free-spirited place. Maybe I just didn't notice the craziness back then. Maybe I was used to it. It was home.
On my walk today, I was glad to see that the Ira Levin Senior Center and, a few blocks to the south, the Pacific Jewish Center aka Bay Cities Synagogue aka Shul on the Beach are still proudly serving their community, surrounded by tattoo parlors and vape lounges or no. The sunset was beautiful. Maybe tomorrow morning I'll wander up to the pier, out to the end (which is considerably less far than it was when I was a kid, part of it having been destroyed by storms in 1983). Maybe I'll even take a ride on the merry-go-round (of the 1973 movie
The Sting fame). Just for the heck of it—for old times' sake.
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As seen in The Sting (above)
and as it actually is today (below) |
On my walk today, I was glad to see that the Ira Levin Senior Center and, a few blocks to the south, the Pacific Jewish Center aka Bay Cities Synagogue aka Shul on the Beach are still proudly serving their community, surrounded by tattoo parlors and vape lounges or no. The sunset was beautiful. Maybe tomorrow morning I'll wander up to the pier, out to the end (which is considerably less far than it was when I was a kid, part of it having been destroyed by storms in 1983). Maybe I'll even take a ride on the merry-go-round (of the 1973 movie The Sting fame). Just for the heck of it—for old times' sake. 
3 comments:
what made you go there ?
I don't remember how I found this particular hotel when I was doing my MFA ten years ago, but it is definitely my go-to lodging in LA anymore. My mother was still alive at that point, but I reckoned that having my own place to stay was better than staying with her (and my sister-in-law and my mother's caregiver). Instead, I visited every other day or so, and we had some lovely connecting time. By then, her dementia was deep enough that I don't think she minded that I didn't stay at home. I think she was just happy to see me each time I appeared. Made it less stressful for me, and sweeter by far.
Or do you mean LA in the first place? It's where I'm from. I was visiting my brother and niece, plus going to museums and generally enjoying the things I like about the city. It's a great city. Aside from the traffic.
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