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PHOTOS | From the Venice boardwalk to Wall Street: Snapchat’s path to an IPO

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Times photographers first covered Snapchat in 2013 when Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy worked with a few employees in an old building on Ocean Front Walk. The company went public on March 2, 2017, with an opening valuation of about $33 billion.

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The offices of Snapchat along Ocean Front Walk in Venice on May 6, 2013.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

The offices of Snapchat along Ocean Front Walk in Venice on May 6, 2013.

Micha Schaffer, from left, Evan Spiegel and Allison Beck, work at Snapchat headquarters on Ocean Front Walk in Venice on May 6, 2013.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Micha Schaffer, from left, Evan Spiegel and Allison Beck, work at Snapchat headquarters on Ocean Front Walk in Venice on May 6, 2013.

Bobby Murphy, 24, left, and Evan Spiegel, 22, co-creators of Snapchat, at the company's offices on Ocean Front Walk in Venice on May 6, 2013. Snapchat is a mobile app that allows users to capture videos and pictures that self-destruct after a few seconds.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Bobby Murphy, 24, left, and Evan Spiegel, 22, co-creators of Snapchat, at the company's offices on Ocean Front Walk in Venice on May 6, 2013.

Snapchat geofilter overlays. Left to right: Snapchat-created geofilter, community-created geofilter, and commercial geofilter for McDonald's.
(Los Angeles Times)

Snapchat geofilter overlays: Snapchat-created geofilter, community-created geofilter, and commercial geofilter for McDonald's.

Snapchat faced criticism in 2016 for a sponsored lens that turns users in Bob Marley.
(Dexter Thomas / Los Angeles Times)

Snapchat faced criticism in 2016 for a sponsored lens that turned users into Bob Marley.

People wait in line to collect their Snapchat Spectacles; video camera-enabled sunglasses from Snap Inc., that went on sale in November through a sidewalk vending machine in Venice. About 150 people kept a constant line waiting about three hours for the opportunity to purchase the glasses for $130.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

People wait in line to collect their Snapchat Spectacles; video camera-enabled sunglasses from Snap Inc. that went on sale in November through a sidewalk vending machine in Venice. About 150 people kept a constant line waiting about three hours for the opportunity to purchase the glasses for $130.

Danielle Mitchell, right, joins her fellow Venice residents, business owners, artists and landlords in a protest in front of the "Snapchat Campus" on Market Street in Venice on Feb. 28, 2017. Local residents and community groups are upset with Snapchat for what they believe is the co-opting of Venice landmarks and rendering them private and turning beachfront residential properties into office space which they say is a violation of zoning regulations.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Danielle Mitchell, right, joins her fellow Venice residents, business owners, artists and landlords in a protest in front of the "Snapchat Campus" on Market Street in Venice on Feb. 28, 2017. Local residents and community groups are upset with Snapchat for what they believe is the co-opting of Venice landmarks and rendering them private and turning beachfront residential properties into office space, which they say is a violation of zoning regulations.

Employees of Snap enter one of several Snap buildings along Market Street in Venice.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Employees of Snap enter one of several Snap buildings along Market Street in Venice shortly before the company's initial public offering.

(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

CEO Evan Spiegel, center, rings the bell at the NYSE for its debut, along with colleague Bobby Murphy, left, and NYSE President Thomas Farley. Snap Inc. is the parent company of Snapchat.

(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel, right, enters the trading floor before he rings the bell at the NYSE for its debut. With him is NYSE President Thomas Farley.

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