Public Invited to Meeting on Future of Pavilion

The future of the long-vacant Venice Pavilion will be discussed at a meeting sponsored by the city Recreation and Parks Department tonight, officials said.

The meeting will be the first of several at which the community will be invited to voice opinions about the best use for the pavilion and surrounding area, said project manager Kathleen Chan of the Recreation and Parks Department.

Built in the early 1960s as an open-air theater, the pavilion fell into disuse after about 10 years because poor acoustics made it a bad venue for live performances, Chan said. The building has been closed since the mid-’80s, and what was once an adjacent outdoor cafe has become known as the “graffiti pit” for the colorful art--both sanctioned and surreptitious--that covers its walls.

The meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. at Westminster Elementary School, 1010 Abbot Kinney Blvd.