© Stéphane Calvet - 2008
The most striking thing you notice when wandering around the streets surrounding the beach is the singular atmosphere. Venice is a quiet island right in the middle of an urban sprawl of about 495 square miles (1,290 km²). This is twelve times the size of Paris. Venice is like Camden Town in London, an eclectic microcosm which has constantly been redefining its own rules. The resort is just as colourful and vibrant as the punk City. Besides, history is infused in most of the vivid almost gaudy-coloured building wall murals. One of them features a bare chested Jim Morrison with a microphone in his hand on an orange background. He seems to be looking at us as we are casually heading to the beach. Giant graffiti walls are displayed on the street in an endless ballet.
Gradually, the eye loses itself in dazzling, saturated hues. As we are walking on the streets, we are overwhelmed by the highly original feature of the buildings and their inhabitants. The craze may come up at any moment, anywhere. Venice is a place outside the norm. Everybody is prone to his or her creativity which sometimes gives amazing as well as bizarre pieces of art. This lack of rules is visible on Abbot Kinney Boulevard, the main Boulevard in Venice where a colony of “medical marijuana dispensaries” offers medical marijuana cards to anyone that comes around.
On the other side of the road, street artists display what they have at hand, while others are just casually taking a walk with their domesticated snake around the neck. A little further, you can see dogs in pink bikinis and punks wearing fluorescent yellow spike jumpsuit. Now and then, bulging bodybuilders gently push people to move ahead. If we pay attention, we notice that Venice is also home to protein and tattooed bodies. The Muscle Beach outdoor gym can pride itself on being the spiritual temple of a city that is all about physical appearances. There, physical fitness has been the focus of attention, and muscles are displayed on the streets. Local hulks are everywhere and Venice dangerously juggles art and bodybuilding.
Gradually, the eye loses itself in dazzling, saturated hues. As we are walking on the streets, we are overwhelmed by the highly original feature of the buildings and their inhabitants. The craze may come up at any moment, anywhere. Venice is a place outside the norm. Everybody is prone to his or her creativity which sometimes gives amazing as well as bizarre pieces of art. This lack of rules is visible on Abbot Kinney Boulevard, the main Boulevard in Venice where a colony of “medical marijuana dispensaries” offers medical marijuana cards to anyone that comes around.
On the other side of the road, street artists display what they have at hand, while others are just casually taking a walk with their domesticated snake around the neck. A little further, you can see dogs in pink bikinis and punks wearing fluorescent yellow spike jumpsuit. Now and then, bulging bodybuilders gently push people to move ahead. If we pay attention, we notice that Venice is also home to protein and tattooed bodies. The Muscle Beach outdoor gym can pride itself on being the spiritual temple of a city that is all about physical appearances. There, physical fitness has been the focus of attention, and muscles are displayed on the streets. Local hulks are everywhere and Venice dangerously juggles art and bodybuilding.
Crédit Photo -- usestangerines
Beyond its eclectic side, Venice is mostly known for being the historic cradle of skateboarding. Indeed the city has been the stomping ground for skateboarders and the sound of skateboards either taking off or landing has become a background noise in Venice just like the waves. Venice Skate Park is the world’s famous Skate Park and you just have to stop by a few minutes to see why. The spot is not only adored by skaters but also by photographers who want to capture breath-taking melon grabs. Looking beyond their know-how, skaters in Venice also stand out with their style. For decades they have inspired a skate culture which is now known worldwide. They created and developed all the rules of skateboard. Here again, appearances are essential. Skateboarding is not only about outstanding figures, it is also about style displaying in order to keep visitors entertained and coming back years after years.
Crédit Photo -- Paul Alvarez Jr.
If we are overly impressed by the originality of Venice, its beauty culture and its diversity, Venice also reveals the hidden side of an American society where two worlds tensely coexist; affluence goes alongside with poverty being the by-product of a system that generates wealth. Many tourists fail to go beyond their first impression of the city and naively stick to the image of the California they are used to, the California they have seen in movies or on postcards.
But if we are paying close attention, Venice is really paradoxical and its beach both showcases and questions the Californian dream. Beyond its vibrant and flamboyant outsides and its overly self-confident inhabitants, the beach is also the back room of massive social demeaning that America has been hiding from tourists that are attracted to the country by its soft power.
In Venice, every palm tree hides a homeless person sleeping next to a shopping cart transporting his belongings. There are plenty of homeless roaming the streets. They are living alongside the Californian dream which they have been denied. 20 % of them are Vietnam War veterans that the US administration failed to help when there was still time to take action. Many of them are on the street because the local homeless shelter was closed. They are the symptom of a country that leaves the poor sleeping in the shadow of its symbols, a country whose image has been intertwined with greatness, eccentricity and softness to hide a dark side.
We are fascinated by Venice because it depicts an America full of contradictions; old-fashioned cultural Eldorado for some and social grave for others. It is maybe the only place in the world where skinny homeless brush their teeth next to bulging bodybuilders.
But if we are paying close attention, Venice is really paradoxical and its beach both showcases and questions the Californian dream. Beyond its vibrant and flamboyant outsides and its overly self-confident inhabitants, the beach is also the back room of massive social demeaning that America has been hiding from tourists that are attracted to the country by its soft power.
In Venice, every palm tree hides a homeless person sleeping next to a shopping cart transporting his belongings. There are plenty of homeless roaming the streets. They are living alongside the Californian dream which they have been denied. 20 % of them are Vietnam War veterans that the US administration failed to help when there was still time to take action. Many of them are on the street because the local homeless shelter was closed. They are the symptom of a country that leaves the poor sleeping in the shadow of its symbols, a country whose image has been intertwined with greatness, eccentricity and softness to hide a dark side.
We are fascinated by Venice because it depicts an America full of contradictions; old-fashioned cultural Eldorado for some and social grave for others. It is maybe the only place in the world where skinny homeless brush their teeth next to bulging bodybuilders.