Life Can Turn Ugly, Even on the Venice Boardwalk : Crime: Theft, violence and Sunday’s gang fight are seen as evidence that the colorful year-round street fair may be on the verge of a dangerous new age.

Venice Beach merchant Barbara Duffy knew something was going wrong when she saw a tourist wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the picture of a machine gun and the slogan: “Venice: Welcome to the ‘Hood.”

“They’re selling these in Japan,” said Duffy, who owns a clothing and jewelry shop on the boardwalk. “I was shocked when I saw it. Is this what they think?”

Duffy has never seen a gun on the boardwalk in 13 years. But other merchants and residents are worried that Venice Beach--long a symbol of Los Angeles’ playful side, where you can watch a man juggle chain saws and another yodel upside down--is beginning to reflect the same violence as other parts of the city.

They cite the clearing of the boardwalk by Los Angeles police after a gang fight Sunday as evidence that the colorful year-round street fair--one of Southern California’s largest tourist draws--is on the verge of a dangerous new age.

The melee and resulting police action also strengthened the hand of business leaders who have called for more officers along the beach, even proposing to hire a squad of off-duty cops for weekend duty.

“We thought we were the Riviera of the masses. We looked forward to having people come to visit,” said Donald Feinstein, a boardwalk activist who lives three blocks from the beach. “But now you’re confronted by a lot of intimidation. There’s a lot of fear down here.”

The problem is twofold. Larger-than-ever Venice Beach crowds, which can reach 200,000 on summer weekend days, have overwhelmed the Los Angeles Police Department’s summertime beach detail. And growing numbers of visitors are gang members from across Los Angeles, especially on Sundays, police say.

Police first noticed a sizable gang presence last summer--one teen-ager was killed by rivals near the police substation--and the 25-person weekend force was beefed up with about 40 members of the LAPD’s elite Metro Division.

Unseasonably summer-like weather has drawn early crowds this year, and police have called in additional gang specialists and extra patrol officers weeks earlier than normal.

“It’s all weather-dependent,” said Sgt. Frank Montelongo, who heads the Venice Beach detail.

A business group called the Ocean Front Walk Assn. is lobbying city officials for the right to hire five to 10 off-duty police officers year-round to supplement the police patrol.

But shop owners say the problem is more about crowd control than gang violence.

“It’s not real surprising. It’s just amazing more hasn’t happened with all the people out here,” said Steve Heumann, association president and vice president of the company that owns the Sidewalk Cafe and other properties. “It’s just getting tenser.”

Boardwalk life returned to normal by Monday afternoon. Gawkers videotaped a dance group while fortunetellers waited for customers behind card tables nearby. But Heumann and other merchants fear that exaggerated reports of boardwalk violence may scare away tourists at a time when the recession, despite the larger crowds, has cut business there by a third and some shopkeepers are looking for a way out.

Jean-Charles Delsol said he fell instantly in love with Venice after moving from France 10 years ago. He saw it as an artsy village where he could chase the American dream. “When I saw Venice Beach, I told my wife--here we are going to stay,” he said.

But now Delsol, who just sold one of his three boardwalk properties, plans to leave as soon as he can. His sons are grown, and there is little to keep him tied to a place he considers intolerably crime-plagued.

“A lot of people are doing the same thing today,” he said. “They’re all upset. Business is gone. Violence is part of the problem.”

Many of the Korean-American merchants who run boardwalk shops also said they are fed up with conditions on the boardwalk, including so-called “tornado” attacks by bands of teen-agers who dash through their stores stealing merchandise.

“This summer will be the last summer for a lot of Korean merchants,” said Hwan Song, head of the Venice Korean Chamber of Commerce, who pays $6,000 a month for a tiny shop near Muscle Beach.

The troubles have prompted some to call for a ban on gang members on the boardwalk, a concept that is being tested in other public areas of Los Angeles. Last month, city prosecutors secured an injunction limiting the activities of the Blythe Street gang in Panorama City.

But most boardwalk denizens say that more police would solve the problem. City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter has scheduled a boardwalk news conference Wednesday to announce new safety measures, including stepped-up summertime police patrols and her just-approved proposal to keep menacing dogs out of parks and public places. There have been complaints that gang members have used dogs to intimidate boardwalk patrons.

Songwriter Joe E. Covington, who works out every day at Muscle Beach, said the gang members make him feel less comfortable than in his bohemian days when he would cruise the beach in a marijuana fog.

“It was fun” he said. “Now the times are so wicked.”