My college mentor, Doctor Irv, was in town with his wife Irina for a convention.  I met the doc 21 years ago during my college years at a local swim, tennis and athletic club where I was a personal trainer and he was a member.  I was fortunate enough to be available for a Saturday jaunt with Irv in Venice, CA.  I haven’t been to Venice since about 2002 so this should make for good entertainment and fun photographic opportunities for both of us.

“Horsey” Faces by Rip Cronk: Venice

We began our day with a brief sniff of Santa Monica near the pier.

Park near Santa Monica City Hall

A beautiful park with modern design throughout.

Youngster Family Musical Trio

These “seal pups” provided some good vocals.

Versailles Bar Counter: Venice

I’ve been eating at Versailles for about 20 years now and this location was the first one I ever sniffed.  A friend lived right around the corner from here.

Combo Plate: Pork, Chicken & Plantains

Versailles is the gold standard for casual Cuban food in LA.  The pork is soaking in the lemony, garlicky sauce and it is ultra tender and flavorful today.  We ordered dark meat chicken only.

“Homies” Playing Paddle Tennis Versus…

I was thinking to myself that the doubles match on the court was a very strange one when senior citizen “Helen” began to tee off on one of the young “homies” for serving before she was set.

“Helen” and “Homer” Playing Paddle Tennis

During our people watching Irv and I had an interesting discussion about tattoos.  I recall when I was nineteen thinking that this fad would never last and would “go downhill quicker than a Winnebago on a San Francisco street”.  Well, twenty odd years later I am forced to admit they are MUCH more popular than they were back then.  These days, “everyone and their dog” has a tat.  Back then youngsters inked-in to show their individuality, as a form of self-expression or did so to rebel against their parents or “the man”.  Most of the time they stood out in the crowd for one reason or the other.  Now that nearly every youngster has one I wonder how they stand out.  Do they need a full “sleeve”?  Or, a giant neck tat?  Maybe a facial tat?  What’s next?  Inking your cornhole and then having to wear a t-shirt to inform others that you’ve done so in order to express how truly unique you are?  Did your mind wander and begin visualizing catchy phrasing for a t-shirt design?  If your wording rhymes then odds are that your t-shirt is very similar to mine.

“There’s something really the matter with most people who wear tattoos. There’s at least some terrible story.  I know from experience that there’s always something terribly flawed about people who are tattooed, above some little something that Johnny had done in the Navy, even though that’s a bad sign…It’s terrible.  Psychologically it’s crazy.  Most people who are tattooed, it’s the sign of some feeling of inferiority, they’re trying to establish some macho identification for themselves.” — Truman Capote

I never really understood the interest and felt it was usually just a way of defacing the body.  I found this to be especially true in regards to attractive feminine looking females.  Here you have these beautiful girls and they distract the eye or deface their “canvas” with more-often-than-not ill-chosen ink.  Often it makes women appear more like men; and I have a hard time finding much sexy or appealing about that.  I know I’ve exposed more than a smidge of conservatism, and while I’m a definite supporter of being true to who you are, expressing your inner self and showing your “individuality”, I’m not quite sure how this is accomplished when you look like the majority versus the minority.

“Women, don’t get a tattoo.  That butterfly looks great on your breast when you’re twenty or thirty, but when you get to seventy, it stretches into a condor.”  — Billy Elmer

Here is Doc Irv’s (MD, Obstetrics/Gynecology) feeling on the subject matter:

“For me, a tattoo usually represents a moment in time which a certain image or feeling needed to have expression and be seen by the world.  But we change over years and decades and our tattoos don’t.  In the 70’s hairy was in—long hair, facial hair, body hair, leg hair genital hair.  Now, bare is ‘de rigueur’ for both men and women.  Hair styles aren’t permanent.  I guess it seems too definitive to stamp oneself with a particular message.  If 50% of marriages fail, then 50% of tattoo names are going to be out-of-date but not out-of-body.  I think there will be a lot of regret by many tattoo wearers down the line.  Ché passé, pot plants won’t be a big deal when it is legal.  I guess I believe we were gifted when exquisite bodies.  Why adulterate it.  Would you put graffiti on a Rembrandt?”

“Ocean Front Walk”: Venice

Buy luggage, t-shirts, sunglasses, jewelry…and weed…”oh my”…

Old Timer Veteran of Muscle Beach

He’s been here since at least the 80s’ but I think there is an age reached where wearing Speedos becomes a criminal offense.  And that age is — at birth.  Unless you’re a member of a swim team…then we’ll sign off on it…”barely, barely”.

Little Big Man at Muscle Beach

This was the friendliest facial expression this guy revealed.  It seemed like he was giving the crowd the “stank eye” the entire time we were there.  Or, he was incredibly focused on his exercise routine.

Bodybuilder Type Poses for Us

Doc Irv is pretty knowledgeable of this sport and requested a particular bodybuilding pose.  The guy wasn’t familiar with the terminology so here is what he gave us.  What do you expect though for the $1.00 he solicited from the doc.

Pick-up Hoops at Venice Beach

Scenes from the movie “White Men Can’t Jump” (starring Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson) were filmed here.

Infamous Rollerblading Turban Wearing Guy

This guy may not be a spring chicken but between the slow-ass shutter speed on my point-and-shoot camera and this guy’s reflexes I was SOL when I tried to get a frontal shot of him on his blades.  He held up a t-shirt (“for sale” of course) with his image on it to cover his face.

Talentless Street Performers

I’ve been visiting here since the mid-eighties and I don’t recall talentless street performers exploiting the cuteness of the audiences children in order to earn a buck.  This was “lame sauce” to the tenth power.

Mural Displayed in Movies

As I recall this mural was utilized in the movie “LA Story”.  It served as the apartment building where Sarah Jessica Parker’s character lived when Steve Martin’s character picked her up for their date.

Ocean Front Walk

It was pretty busy for a Fall Saturday afternoon.

Organist on Display

The blonde female pictured gave me “hard looks” for taking a picture and not contributing to the till.

Transient with Cart

This is a standard visual for this hood.

“Fun House”: Venice Beach

Above photo taken by Doc Irv.  You could see peeps inside through that middle window.  He had the patience to wait for the “cattle” to clear for him to capture this shot.

Sci-Fi Sexy Girlfriend…

Building Climber by Rip Cronk

This has been shown in movies as well.

King Kong Mural

I’m unsure as to who the artist is on this mural.  There doesn’t seem to be a reference to it online.

Bike Path from Venice to Santa Monica…

The man in the black shirt on the bicycle had a cute Asian baby in the large basket attached to the front of his bicycle.

Owl Art

Of course the vendor got cranky as I photographed this.  I guess I should’ve pulled some “copper” out of my pocket at some point along the way.

Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” by Rip Cronk

Located on a side street of Ocean Front Walk.

Zoltar Fortune Teller Machine…

This looks like the machine from the movie “Big” starring Tom Hanks.  The fortune teller spoke to us as we passed in order to entice us into dropping in a coin.  Once again, no duckets exited our pockets.

Venice Canals by Doc Irv

The doc can really frame a shot.  I love his perspective of lining the shot with the bushes along the right edge which also draws the eye to the line of the walkway railing.  This really draws the eye in and helps you avoid missing the full perspective of this scene.

Venice Canals

Irv and I hadn’t expected the homes and canals to be as picturesque as they were.

Venice Canals

The entire time we were here we only observed one “beater” house.  And that house looked like it was transplanted from Santa Cruz in the 60s’ and was badly abused by drug-induced hippies.

Venice Canals: By Doc Irv

Flowers are the doc’s specialty I would say.

Venice Canals

I really find this shot visually interesting even though there isn’t a lot going on.

Venice Canals: By Doc Irv

The doc says it is very rare to see a “Birds of Paradise” plant fully intact as this one is.  The yellow fiery glow was created by the sun being in the background on this shot.

Butterfly Tangled in a Spider’s Web…

This occurred in the front yard of one of the homes on the canal.  Fortunately the butterfly was able to free itself just as the orb weaver spider (from “Charlotte’s Web”) was going in for the kill.

Moroccan Inspired Home

This home displayed a sign warning of “24 hour security guard protection”.  Irv stated that it was likely a Chihuahua.

Red Rooster: Venice Canals

Large rooster metal art piece in a yard.

Huge Corner Lot House

I’m unsure as to the name for this Euro style of architecture.

Bridge: Venice Canals

A nice reflection of the bridge off of the water.

Mallard Ducks on Boat Dock

QuAcK!!!

Contemporary House for Sale

Contact Pardeeproperties.com if you have $5.00 to spare.

Victorian Style House

I believe this architecture is a combination of Victorian and another similar style of that time period.

Doc Irv: Venice Canals

The doc has a reputation for taking great photos which are often featured in the holiday and travel vacation cards he sends friends and family.

French Girl and Companion on Canal

They paddled underneath us as we stood on a bridge.

Japanese Style Architecture

The doc was more interested in an English cottage styled house across the street.

FINITO!