Home of 'Dogtown' turns 100

By DAISY NGUYEN

updated 7:46 a.m. ET June 9, 2005

LOS ANGELES - In various incarnations, Venice has been called the Coney Island of the Pacific, ghetto by the sea, and - in a new movie about a group of trailblazing skateboarders - Dogtown.

The movie, "Lords of Dogtown," tells the true story of local teens whose daring moves revolutionized skateboarding in the 1970s. But the gritty Venice you see on screen is nothing like Venice today.

This famed seaside community west of central Los Angeles - also known for Muscle Beach and a bodybuilding culture popularized by former resident Arnold Schwarzenegger - marks its centennial this year.

And as the celebration gets under way this summer, local history buffs are looking back much farther than the 1970s - to the original vision of Abbot Kinney, the developer who founded "Venice-of-America" a century ago as a resort town modeled after the legendary Italian city.

"To us, it's Greenwich Village west," said Todd Von Hoffman, who came from New York in the 1980s. "When you're in Venice, you have this amazing sense of place, whereas the rest of Los Angeles is vast and overwhelming."

Reed Saxon / AP A cyclist pedals down the bike path adjacent to the boardwalk in the Venice Beach area of Los Angeles, on Wednesday.

Many people who live in L.A.'s coastal neighborhoods like to boast that they seldom venture east of the 405 Freeway - a symbolic dividing line a few miles inland that separates their world from the rest of the city.

But residents of offbeat Venice draw the line even closer to the coast, saying they're "always west of Lincoln" Boulevard, within a mile or so of the Pacific Ocean. Some proudly wear T-shirts bearing the acronym "AWOL."

With its entertaining beach boardwalk and labyrinth of canals and walkways connecting lushly landscaped homes, Venice is one of the most pedestrian-friendly districts of Los Angeles. A visitor can spend an entire weekend on the go without needing a car.

Residents of the community of 40,000 people range from low-income families to bourgeois bohemians. The most famous denizens include actors Dennis Hopper and Anjelica Huston, and her husband, sculptor Robert Graham.

Upcoming events include Carnevale, an annual music festival to be held June 25 just off the boardwalk. It's based on an Italian tradition featuring costumed revelers.

Over the Fourth of July, bodybuilding and swimsuit competitions and various performances will be held along the boardwalk.

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