A Gentrified Venice Stars In Netflix's 'Flaked'

The City of Los Angeles has become Netflix's latest star, with Judd Apatow's Love prominently featuring hipster enclaves like Echo Park, BoJack Horseman's animated Hollywood satire, and the forthcoming Flaked, which is set primarily in Venice.In Flaked, Will Arnett (who voices the titular character in BoJack Horseman) plays Chip, a recovering alcoholic who has lived in Venice for a decade. He works at a furniture store and offer platitudes and flowery speeches at AA meetings.

"I came to Venice by accident. Let me rephrase that. I came to Venice because of an accident," he says.

Chip can't drive—he was in a drunk driving accident in his past—so he gets around on his bike. The furniture shop he works at is on Abbot Kinney, but as the value of the property rises, the owner plans to sell. In his personal life, Chip struggles in his relationships with his friends and love interests, as his selfishness tends to get in the way.

Many locations should be recognizable to the average Angeleno who spends time near the ocean. Interiors for the show's fictional TRI Furniture were filmed at the Orange 20 Bikes on Melrose, while the exterior shots are at The Stronghold on Abbot Kinney. Chip resides in a cute, green bungalow that can be found off Abbot Kinney in Venice.
Chip and his best friend Dennis (David Sullivan) share a crush on London (Ruth Kearney), a new waitress at Venice mainstay Gjelina.
A young man who attends the same recovery meetings just opened a new coffee shop—filmed at 529 California Avenue—and finds his front door plastered with a "Save Venice" flyer. He protests he's been a Venice local since 2014. Meanwhile, Chip's friend Cooler (George Basil) is frequently called 'Mar Vista' derisively by others for not technically residing in Venice, but calling himself a local. Amusingly, the Google Street View car seems to have caught the crew filming Flaked at 529 California Avenue.

Not everything is shot in Venice. At one point, three characters on their way to Palm Springs stop at a diner that was filmed at the kitschy retro set of Pink Motel in Sun Valley.

The show is clever, though like many modern comedies, tragic and dark as you watch sort-of-terrible people poorly deal with their own issues and egos. Chip is great at making excuses and not so great at being a decent person to the people who should mean the most, including himself. Arnett, however, said on the TODAY Show that he prefers to call Flaked a "30-minute Netflix show" rather than a "dramedy."

Flaked premieres on March 11 on Netflix.