Walk through History at Venice Heritage Museum
A new museum is coming to Los Angeles within the next three years, which will capture all the fascinating history of Venice, California
Nestled on the westside of Los Angeles County is one of the most famous and notorious beachside towns in the world. Venice, Calif. is well known for its eclectic boardwalk, unique shops, and its community of artists and musicians. With around three miles of sandy beaches, Venice is a getaway unlike any other for those looking to let loose and feel free. Although there is a fascination and idolization of Venice, not many know the history behind the over 100-year-old city.
In 2018, Venice Heritage Foundation (VHF), an organization began their project of creating a new museum dedicated to the culture and history of Venice, Calif. Since their announcement, VHF has spent the last few years raising money through events, exhibits, and shows to open the city’s first-ever Venice Heritage Museum (VHM). This volunteer-led staff hopes to have VHM established and open within the next two to three years. The museum will have monthly memberships and will be free to enter, with only a suggested donation for admission, so it is accessible to all.
“The Venice Heritage Museum is intended to blend the really important cultural and sub-cultural phenomenons that have come out of Venice, from art to design to music,” Kristina Hoffman, Board President of VHF, said.
With the support of the community and charitable donations, the VHM plans to restore the 1905 Pacific Electric Red car trolley as the official museum space. In the early 1900s, the trolley served the Los Angeles community as public transport across the entire region. The Short Line operated for over five decades until the county decommissioned the network of railway cars in the 1950s. This trolley will house different art which will be a mix of shadow boxes, digital displays, and literary archives. Additionally, the museum will partner with the community to collect more photographs and memorabilia for the exhibition. With Venice of American Centennial Park, at 501 S. Venice Blvd in Venice, Calif., as the home for the trolley and museum space, the park will be a hub for the community complete with a garden, sculptures, a corner stage, and an information booth.
“Venice could use more of the positive because we are all too familiar with the negative,” Hoffman said. Crime and homelessness in the city has made outsiders associate those negative issues with Venice. Instead, VHM chooses to focus on the many different eras of Venice to show how the city has developed over the course of time. VHM will guide visitors through the city’s major periods since its founding on July 4, 1905, from developer Abbot Kinney's amusement park days to the post-World War II bustle to the current all-embracing city that many call home.
VHM seeks to display all of the community’s interesting and inspiring history. “If we don’t know where we come from, we don’t know where we are,” Hoffman said when asked why learning about Venice’s past is important. She hopes VHM’s presence will be a refreshing addition to the city. It will give Angelenos, as well as all visitors, a chance to walk through the history of the famed beach town.
