Venice Beach

Peter Sellars has come to Chicago, and with him, as usual, is controversy. A local gossip columnist, for instance, gasped last week during previews of Sellars' new production of "Merchant of Venice" that the director, utilizing Shakespeare's text uncut, had originally started out with a seven-hour show. Further reports indicated that preview audiences were fleeing in dramatic numbers during the single intermission, leaving the Goodman Theatre half full.

Forget the 200-foot-tall observation wheel. Venice Beach expects to get a zip line this summer. The Venice Neighborhood Council this week approved the installation of a 720-foot zip-line ride to run for a three-month trial period, clearing the way for consideration by the California Coastal Commission. Under the proposal, riders will take off from a 44-foot tower near the skate park and ride to a 24-foot tower at Windward Plaza by the basketball courts. The metal towers will be decorated with local art, and the attraction will bring in much-needed revenue to clean up the boardwalk, said Linda Lucks, president of the council.

The Kush Clubhouse and the Medical Kush Beach Club boast killer views of the ocean, and that's what Sean Cardillo says he was after when he opened the only medical marijuana dispensaries on the Venice Beach boardwalk. "It's proven that being by the beach can actually heal a person and make a person feel good," Cardillo said as he smoked a joint in a hazy, mirrored lounge. "We're trying to create this place where people can heal, and they're looking at it like, oh, it's not really that."

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will unveil a $16-million bike-share program Sunday that aims to put thousands of bicycles at hundreds of rental kiosks across the city. Initial plans are to add 400 stations and 4,000 bicycles over the next 18 to 24 months in areas around downtown Los Angeles, Hollywood, Playa del Rey, Westwood and Venice Beach. The private investment from Bike Nation will not need any city money, according to the mayor's office and the company. Bike Nation has agreed to a minimum contract of 10 years.

Bestselling novelist Michael Connelly's latest Harry Bosch thriller, "9 Dragons," just came out in October, but he's already got the next release lined up. "I don't have a title for it yet, but I'm shooting for next fall. I'm writing it now," he said from his office in the Tampa Bay, Fla., area. The ex-L.A. Times crime reporter still frequents these parts, however, and he had plenty of ideas on how he'd spend some time away from his computer -- although Bosch and Co. are never far from his mind.

Forget the 200-foot-tall observation wheel. Venice Beach expects to get a zip line this summer. The Venice Neighborhood Council this week approved the installation of a 720-foot zip-line ride to run for a three-month trial period, clearing the way for consideration by the California Coastal Commission. Under the proposal, riders will take off from a 44-foot tower near the skate park and ride to a 24-foot tower at Windward Plaza by the basketball courts. The metal towers will be decorated with local art, and the attraction will bring in much-needed revenue to clean up the boardwalk, said Linda Lucks, president of the council.

Retired lifeguard Nick Steers still remembers the day he helped rescue an injured swimmer at Venice Beach while onlookers gathered around him. "I'm on my hands and knees and I look around and all I see are crotches" and other private parts, he said. "Everyone was nude. " As he recalls, the injured swimmer was also devoid of a bathing suit. It was 1974, the summer of Venice's nude beach. Until then, Venice had been a relatively quiet area except for the occasional beat of a bongo drum.

A room and a tat in Venice Vacationers with high pain tolerance can save money with an unusual package at a new Venice Beach hotel. Guests at the Hotel Erwin can receive a $100 voucher for a tattoo from an in-house graffiti and tattoo artist. And they'll receive a $500 bonus if they get a tattoo that says "I ♥ Hotel Erwin." The "Ink and Stay" package, available through Dec. 30, includes Lubriderm lotion, an ice pack and a bottle of tequila. Prices start at $399 plus tax for a double room.

Nathan Alan Morgan, 25, was found beaten to death and buried under a mound of sand on Venice Beach on the morning of March 10, 2008. More than a year later, police still don't know who killed him or why. Just hours before his battered body was found in the area where the Venice Beach drum circle is performed, Morgan had been treated in Centinela Freeman Regional Medical Center's emergency room for an injury to his left elbow. Coroner's records show that he told hospital officials he had hurt himself while "doing gymnastics drunk."

Paige Clay and Eveline Popp are on two sides of a long-simmering controversy in the pricey neighborhoods near Venice Beach. Clay owns a restaurant on Rose Avenue that sits amid a hotbed of homelessness and people who live in cars, campers and recreational vehicles. Popp has been living in a rusty recreational vehicle, which she parks along Rose and nearby streets.

Venice Beach resident Karen Wolfe says she will file a police complaint against a community activist and blogger who published on his website her name, address and a photograph of her home as a place where the homeless would be welcome to camp overnight. Mark Ryavec, president of Venice Stakeholders Assn., listed not only Wolfe's name and home address but also those of 10 other activists, journalists and politicians who he said shouldn't mind having the homeless set up tents and sleeping bags outside their doors because they had expressed sympathy for them.

A British company's proposal to build an observation wheel about as tall as a 20-story skyscraper at Venice Beach has some residents' heads spinning at the prospect of more crowds, trash and noise. With enthusiastic support from Los Angeles park and tourism officials, Great City Attractions is seeking permission to operate a 200-foot-tall mechanical ride just west of the Venice Beach boardwalk at Windward Avenue. The attraction would consist of 42 enclosed, air-conditioned "capsules," each capable of accommodating eight people.

A crackdown on Venice Beach homeless encampments and renegade vendors is pitting longtime residents and merchants against homeless advocates and younger transients. The Los Angeles Police Department enforcement efforts, begun almost two months ago, were spurred by mounting complaints from waterfront residents and business owners who said aggressive, intoxicated transients and violent disputes over vendors' spaces had made the boardwalk an increasingly lawless, frightening place.

For as long as the Venice boardwalk has been an archetypal mix of California quirkiness and balmy beach, it has been a challenge for police to patrol and for residents to coexist with. The scenic promenade that is populated by day with chain-saw jugglers and pamphleteers is occupied at night by a mix of longtime homeless, young transients and vendors or their surrogates saving choice selling spots for the next morning. Residents complain about noise, fights and the boardwalk being used as a bathroom.

The crew of "NCIS: Los Angeles" was in the middle of filming a scene on the Venice boardwalk when a man wearing only his underwear and a cape rode by on his bicycle shouting obscenities. On another occasion, a stranger wielding a plastic light saber showed up on the set and challenged one of the actors to a duel, temporarily halting production. "Those kind of things continually go on in Venice, but we love going down there because it's so colorful and captures the essence of what people think Southern California is — the beaches, the sunshine, the palms and the craziness," said Tony Salome, location manager for the crime drama starring Chris O'Donnell and LL Cool J. Venice Beach, a storied cinematic backdrop since the silent film era, continues to play a starring role in Hollywood.

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved an ordinance to limit commercial selling on Venice Beach's famed Ocean Front Walk. The ordinance is the latest in a series of efforts to tame the popular but unruly attraction, which draws about 16 million visitors annually but has lately seen more than the usual number of transients and violent crimes. The city's earlier attempt to impose a lottery and permitting system for the western side of the boardwalk was blocked in October 2010 by a federal court on the grounds that it violated the 1st Amendment.

Police on horseback and in sport utility vehicles swept across Venice Beach in the darkness Friday morning, arresting nearly 50 people, many homeless, on warrants and felony violations, authorities said. The sweep was part of an effort to address a recent spike in crime and a jump in the number of transients sleeping on the beach after it closes at midnight, LAPD officials said. Friday's action marked the first time the beach curfew task force had combined a sweep with outreach efforts, officials said.

The crew of "NCIS: Los Angeles" was in the middle of filming a scene on the Venice boardwalk when a man wearing only his underwear and a cape rode by on his bicycle shouting obscenities. On another occasion, a stranger wielding a plastic light saber showed up on the set and challenged one of the actors to a duel, temporarily halting production. "Those kind of things continually go on in Venice, but we love going down there because it's so colorful and captures the essence of what people think Southern California is — the beaches, the sunshine, the palms and the craziness," said Tony Salome, location manager for the crime drama starring Chris O'Donnell and LL Cool J. Venice Beach, a storied cinematic backdrop since the silent film era, continues to play a starring role in Hollywood.

The gig: In addition to being a senior engineering director at Google Inc., 47-year-old Thomas Williams is the site director for the company's newly opened 500-person campus near Venice Beach, where it develops video advertising for YouTube, pieces of the Google+ social network and the Chrome Web browser. After sifting through a pool of hundreds of potential properties for Google's L.A. location, Williams and his team settled on Frank Gehry's Binoculars Building, and redecorated the interior with touches that mixed Google's whimsical design tastes with hallmarks of Los Angeles culture.

When Santa comes to Southern California, more often than not he's on a boat. We don't have white Christmases, but what we do have can be even better: sandy beaches, comfortable temperatures and the backdrop of spirited holiday boat parades. On Saturday, the 49th annual Marina del Rey Holiday Boat Parade circling the channel will comprise sailboats, yachts and charters decked out in holiday lights and decorations, blasting music and sporting spirited sailors. The event will kick off with a fireworks show, promptly followed by the two-hour parade and concluding with judging in categories such as best sail, music and spirit.