Help Venice Create Its First-Ever Museum

VENICE, CA — If you want to know who you are, then you have to know where you came from — and that's certainly true for Venice.

The Venice Heritage Foundation launched a fundraiser this week to create the first museum dedicated to celebrating Venice's diverse history for future generations.

Native Venetians and longtime locals invite the community to join the fundraising campaign that will create a "campus-like" atmosphere and be a place for residents and tourists to view more than a century's worth of stories, art collections, and archives from one of the country’s most innovative and culturally diverse communities — Abbot Kinney’s Venice-of-America.

“Most people are very surprised to hear that a storied city like Venice does not have its own museum," said Grant Francis, VHF Board President and retired shop teacher of 35 years at Venice High School.

"We're not only going to showcase the historic images and treasures collected by our board members and partners—we’re aiming to preserve facets of our history, including the stories of community members past and present that are otherwise at risk of being forgotten,” Francis said.

The city known around the world for art, music, skate, surf and culture is missing its own museum, organizers said. The beach boardwalk, commercial shopping areas and canals draw 10 million visitors annually, according to data from 2015. So locals think it's time to document the stories, people, places and important events that led to Dogtown.

Venice is often considered the birthplace of cultural and countercultural movements, including music from The Doors, architecture from Frank Gehry, the world-famous home of Muscle Beach, the Light and Space art movement, the boundary-pushing style of the Dogtown and Z-Boys skateboarders — not to mention the generations of diverse community members who have all called Venice home.

"Our mission is to reflect Venice's varied subcultures in an accurate and meaningful way, not letting them be drowned out by convenience or gentrifying their voices," said Takara Tomeoni Adair, VHM Board member and Venice native. "Venetians have great range and there is a place for every level of expression. Museum visitors should leave having gained knowledge of Venice’s culture, and also having something to ponder."

The community-supported Indigogo fundraiser will help move the museum from concept phase and design to reality. Contributors can receive perks for donating, including a boardwalk-inspired gift with incense, matches and stickers, Venice-themed art, vintage prints, apparel, naming opportunities and other donor benefits.

The campaign creates an opportunity for community members, history lovers, and visitors to glimpse the museum’s plans, make a contribution and honor the preservation of Venice’s essential legacy in the fabric of Los Angeles' rich history.

Many local leaders support the project, including Sen. Diane Feinstein, Assemblymember Autumn Burke, Sen. Ben Allen, LA City Councilmember Mike Bonin (District 11) and the Venice Neighborhood Council, as well as partnerships with fellow community-led groups and organizations such as Beyond Baroque, Save Venice, and the Venice Japanese American Memorial Monument Committee.

The City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks has conditionally approved the nonprofit's plan to build the Venice Heritage Museum in Centennial Park at Abbot Kinney and Venice boulevards, which the museum team calls “The Gateway to Venice.”

To obtain the lease to Centennial Park, the foundation needs to present proof of sufficient funds to complete and begin the first phase of the plan, which includes restoring an original Pacific Electric Red Car trolley that will serve as the primary museum structure, and its transportation to the museum campus site. This historical gem was donated to the VHF by the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris, Calif., where the trolley is currently housed. The Red Car once took passengers from Downtown L.A. all the way to the beach on the Venice Short Line, right along Venice Boulevard where Centennial Park stands today.

Once the museum inside the trolley car is established, the team plans to add an additional structure that will replicate the Tokio Station trolley ticketing booth that once stood in front of Venice City Hall, which is now home to the literary arts organization, Beyond Baroque. This nostalgic building has also been donated to the team—in this case by their project architect, David Hertz and the Studio of Environmental Architecture, who is providing a local historic bungalow from a client’s project that would otherwise be demolished. Tokio Station is an important addition to the museum campus as it will provide archival space and serve as a meeting center for the community.

The Venice Heritage Foundation fundraising campaign must collect $115,000 to begin its first phase and prepare for the second phase of the business plan. Their goal is to obtain the lease for Centennial Park from the Department of Recreation and Parks by late summer, begin off-site preparations, followed by onsite construction starting at Centennial Park in early 2022.

Learn more about Venice and how to contribute to the first-ever museum celebrating the neighborhood's history on the Indiegogo campaign website.

Check out the Venice Heritage Museum video:

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