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"To this area of Los Angeles, as to similar areas of other large cities, have come the rebellious, the nonconformist, the bohemian, the deviant among the youth," wrote Lawrence Lipton of Venice, the "Slum by the Sea," in 1959.
While real estate has proven that you can put lipstick on the proverbial pig and move celebs into desirable digs at an inflated price, the fact remains that Venice is still a gathering place for the less traditional folk. Now, however, the LA City Council is looking to bring some control to the chaos along the famous boardwalk, according to the LA Times.
Facing more than 500 noise complaints from boardwalk neighbors over the last 20 months, the Los Angeles City Council directed city lawyers Tuesday to draft new rules, including a ban on musical instruments and amplified sound between sunset and 9 a.m. Council members also hope to grant new authority to the Los Angeles Police Department to ensure that performers who attract big crowds rotate in and out of shared spaces. The council is considering expanding an existing lottery that parcels out space to certain activists and performers, making it a year-round system rather than just in the summer and fall.
Civic leaders have been trying to tend to the noise issue in the area for years, but continually face "complaints and legal challenges." Many who work and perform in the area are also concerned that the new rules won't solve what they see as the real problem, which is "the proliferation of illegal commercial vending on the ocean side that is crowding out longtime activists and drawing business away from merchants who operate legally on the east side." This is complicated by a lottery that awards boardwalk selling spots for some zones, and issues permits only part of the year for other kinds of selling, which seems to have the commercial sellers at odds with the more free-spirited types Venice is known for.
