I've been living in the Southern California community of Santa Monica while my house is being renovated. It's a premier coastal city with a popular entertainment-themed pier, beautiful beaches, plenty of boutique shops, and a laid back luxury feel. Tech companies can be found in old and new architecture, driverless cars intermingle with normal traffic, and small robots scurry along sidewalks to deliver goods.
Santa Monica is polished and trendy.
My location is along its southern border, a mile from the ocean and within a few blocks of the quirky Los Angeles city segment known as Venice. Named for canals that were attempted here, Venice is as eclectic as it gets. Where Santa Monica is refined; Venice is randy. Santa Monica has architecture; Venice has a "come one, come all" hodgepodge of homes and businesses.
The change happens quickly. Within a couple of blocks, you leave trendy wealth behind for edgy hip. People don't flaunt wealth in either town, but you can certainly feel it change from posh to pauper.
Venice also has murals. Loads of them. I suspect if I were to walk all of its streets, they would tally to over a hundred. Some on short property walls, and some covering multi-story businesses.
The mural painters of Venice take great pride in their art. While vast in their appearance, they generally share the unified theme of community.
A number celebrate the diverse cultural blend that the area founder, Abbott Kinney, believed in and instilled. While other parts of the greater Los Angeles basin were segregated, Venice was for everyone, and the murals honor that.
Other murals are purely for the joy of expression, meant to brighten up your day, and if so inclined, steer you towards a local business.
And lastly, some harken to days gone by, and the stories of motorcycles and convertibles rolling along Highway 1, the road that rides the California coastline from Mexico to the state of Oregon and beyond.
In all, the vibrant art makes you laugh, makes you think, and when stuck in ruch hour traffic, makes you forget your troubles for a while.
