Venice Boardwalk

Leave it to an Easterner to appreciate the good life in California: the eerie stillness of the Venice boardwalk at dawn, an unobstructed sunset from Santa Monica Pier. He may hail from Connecticut, but the actor sounds like a native talking about his favorite hangouts. From Surf Dogs at Surf Liquor to the latest releases at Benway Records, Mann has everything he needs to enjoy a weekend at home in Venice.

On a hazy Saturday afternoon in Venice, an impossibly pneumatic blond in a G-string is slathering oil all over her husband, a pumped-up hunk called Voodoo in form-fitting shorts. She's getting him ready for their big moment at the semifinals of "L.A.'s Sexiest Competition," where about 40 people of varying degrees of sexiness are vying for a $5,000 prize and the dubious honor of being dubbed L.A.'s sexiest man, woman or couple. Picture the unscripted TV show "Am I Hot?"

Venice Confidential: Will Karges, the restaurateur responsible for swinging spots like Jones, Rix, Circle Bar, Voda, Blueberry and El Dorado, will open his hippest place yet Friday just steps from the Venice boardwalk. Drake's doesn't have a listed phone number, and don't expect to see a sign out front or even the address. (Clue: The door is the one just to the left of the entrance of the St. Mark's Hotel.) "I'm not trying to be exclusive," Karges insists.

Cracking down on a fad, the Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday voted unanimously to ban motorized scooters on the Venice Beach bike path and boardwalk. The ban is the first of its kind in Los Angeles. Last year, the state Legislature passed a law permitting the motorized scooters on bike paths and in bike lanes unless specifically prohibited by local ordinance. Council members are studying the possibility of banning the popular scooters in other crowded city areas.

Artist William Attaway is applying tiles to his "Grunion Run" mosaic at the restrooms by the new basketball court along the Venice boardwalk. The City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks commissioned Attaway to work on the mosaic and a nearby 20-foot ceramic column Attaway calls "Cultural Currents." Both were officially opened Jan. 11. * "So anyway, I'm cross-culturing my incantations here . . .

Fresh cement, soil conditioner, new sod. Workers were pouring it on Friday afternoon at Venice Beach in a race to finish most of an $8-million boardwalk restoration project in time for delegates to the Democratic National Convention to visit it today. Completion of a new plaza area at Ocean Front Walk and Windward Avenue is the third phase of a four-part, $15-million rehabilitation effort for Venice Beach that began six years ago.

The fire breather's gone. So is the musician who lugged his piano to the Venice Boardwalk every weekend. Even the snake charmer hasn't been seen in months. Saying that it unwittingly banished these characters from Venice Beach, the Los Angeles City Council moved Wednesday to bring back the performers and artists who have been crowded out by T-shirt and sunglasses salesmen, and even by the homey craftspeople selling beaded bracelets and earrings, among other things.

The urban archeologists got an early start Sunday morning. Clad in walking shoes and armed with steaming cups of coffee, they gathered on the Venice boardwalk before 9 under a salty mist that drifted over from the gray ocean. Their mission: to troll the streets of Venice, excavating below the funky veneer for a glimpse of its glamorous past.

My two dogs and I read "The Bowser Ban" (June 11) with furrowed brows. As we understand it, the L.A. City Council has determined that dogs (most notably pit bulls) are transforming the Venice boardwalk--normally a pristine and safe pathway--into an "intimidating environment" because they are attacking everything from humans to horses to other dogs while accompanying their owners for a stroll down this promenade. With her head cocked and an expression of puzzlement on her furry face, one of my pit bulls inquired of me, "But doesn't it seem that the blame has been placed at the wrong end of the leash?"

Freewheeling, fun-loving Venice Beach has lost another of its beloved freedoms--the freedom to strut the boardwalk with your schnauzer, Shih Tzu or pit bull. The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday voted to ban dogs from the beachfront promenade on summer weekends and holidays, saying dogs are biting tourists, discouraging shoppers and terrorizing children.