Public Places : Debating the Fate of the Boardwalk

Ocean Front Walk in Venice is the place for L.A. to hang out at the beach. Vendors set up shop on the beachfront in the late 1970s and now TV shows, rollerskaters in bikinis and street entertainers have put Venice on the international tourist map.

The boardwalk draws huge crowds and some of the urban problems that go along with them, and has gotten rather down-at-the-heels. Problems include haphazard growth, crowded pedestrian bottlenecks, friction between bicyclists and skaters and areas of heavy graffiti.

For six months, local activists, merchants, residents and tourists have been asked for opinions on how to spend $7 million of Proposition A funds earmarked by voters to refurbish the boardwalk. In raucous Venice fashion, several factions are still battling over how far to take the refurbishing.

The last chance for public input is today, when the latest plan is to be presented in a workshop from 9 a.m. to noon in a tent by the beachfront basketball courts.

Question: Can Ocean Front Walk be both a historic beachfront boardwalk and a funky pop culture scene?

Answer: I think so. We have to do something to remind Venice of its past, but we have to look at this as a canvas to accommodate change also. We see Ocean Front Walk being something of a piece of public art, a kind of paseo for people interacting with art.

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Q: What are the results so far from the workshops?

A: It’s clear people want to clean the area up, reduce some of the seedy aspects and at the same time not turn it into an upscale mall.

Among the most important results so far are that more than 75% of people wanted a strong gateway or plaza statement at the end of Windward Avenue, the [main] entry to Ocean Front Walk. This would create a focal point for the historic colonnaded buildings that line the street. It may be a fountain in the shape of the old canal system or a brightly colored sunburst plaza or sculpture garden or some combination.

Most people support a new bike path with landscaping separating it from a rollerblading and jogging path. Many people want a skate park for rollerblading and skateboarding. Our plan also puts in a new police substation between a new spectator basketball court and tot lot.

There’s still strong disagreement on what to do with the boardwalk surface, although well over 60% want something different from [the worn asphalt] that’s there. We have presented paving from brick to concrete to asphalt. If we can’t find consensus, we’ll recommend a surface that will address the notion of compromise.

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Q: The idea of compromise brings to mind the joke about a camel being a horse that was designed by a committee. What do you think?

A: That’s true. If the public were completely empowered to do the design we know how much success that would have--none. Hopefully we’ve helped the community by drawing out ideas and listening, but it’s our job to prepare a design that will stand the test of time.

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Q: One of the most revered public spaces in the world is San Marco plaza in Venice, the city that was a model for California’s Venice. What are your thoughts about the remnants of that vision that remain?

A: When trying to re-create something that was done in another time, there’s a danger of things turning into Disneyland. Venice has become such a symbol of free expression of ideas. It has been a social barometer of change--economic, political, societal change, [so] to try to impose a particular kitsch style probably isn’t appropriate. But I think those elements that were part of the original Venice as it was done by [developer] Abbot Kinney [in the early 1920s] ought to be respected and restored.

Public Places columnist JANE SPILLER welcomes suggestions for places of interest. Contact her c/o VOICES or by E-mail at jane.spiller@latimes.com