if this is a school project, you're getting ripped off..

No offense, but that sounds like you're trying to replace the culture of the beach, which you don't agree with, with one that you personally feel is acceptable. Kinda over-bearing and destructive. The respective cultures have occured where they are for a reason. Work with that rather than against it.

can't you integrate the two? a floating stage, with a beached audience

"a floating stage, with a beached audience"

MTV's Spring Break?!?

yeah, there you are. pop culture.

the beach is always moving. build a theatre around around it and the castles will be of sand. the nice thing about mtv spring break...

that it's a break.

from what? i sure as hell don't know.

but the beach...
yeah.
the beach.
a whole nother thing.

Ummm, I think Venice has everything but the theatre. The LA art world has always been at the beach. Deibenkorn, Moses, Irwin, the LA Louver, and the Gagosian gallery. The beauty is that it's never been centralized and turned into an art ghetto.

But yeah, if you wanna go catch a flick you might have to leave the beach. Bummer. Sounds like you should float your idea past Rick Caruso, it might be right up his alley.

there used to be one of the best theatres in la right there on lincoln blvd., called 'venice fox'. the building is still there used as a chinese / korean/ mexican swap market, in front of smart and final store.
it went out quietly as most people did not move their fingers for this great theatre. all the people switched to santa monica mall, and marina theatres near by.
the person who started this post has know so little about venice yet trooping up to change it, that in itself is scary and puzzling.
at first i thought it was a joke..
do some people really think 'culture' is a weekend entertainment idea with galleries, restaurants and dog grooming centers topped by theatres showing blockbusters? there goes the neighborhood or whatever is left of it. is this a eurotrash culture thingling i am loosing my temper for?

What you want is a mall.
Move inland....

q: why cant we architects take it a little easy on ourselves???

I don't think there is anything wrong with the idea per se, however it would need to address the reasons that art galleries (new, good ones) and movie theaters aren't being built in VB &MdR - the return on investment doesn't justify the cost. The areas you mention have some of the highest realestate prices in LA... if this is a studio project you will have to do something tricky to balance the amenities we want with the ROI that the bank needs in order to issue a loan for this sort of thing.

Sorry if my acknowledgement of capitalism offends anyone.

I agree with pixel*****. Some level of integration might lead to an interesting result. But when we think of Marina del Rey and Venice, those are very different cultural contexts (one is the near-barren are of docks and 'seaport village', while the other has the renowned boardwalk). And Janosh's inclusion of 'capitalism' is something we know, but often neglect to address (alongside so many other issues). Not only could it be employed directly (to satisfy client's 'return-on-interest'), but could also yield architecture design/ form... I keep on thinking of 'that' barge-museum (was that Aldo Rossi?).

damn it, uzulskuub

the beach already has a culture

and it is obviously one that you are not part of. you are welcome to join it if you like or go elsewhere and find one more to your taste bu to attempt to change something (which you are not part of) for the sake of your preference is foolish and insulting to everyone who is already there.

check out the entries to the Parachute Pavillion competition, the program called for something to this at Coney Island.

wow, aren't we presumptive? Before you even SPEAK of doing something like this, I think you need to spend some quality time in those areas. Really embrace the beach culture that already exists. Get out in the waves for a few hours a day for a week, go to one of the already existant (and perfectly adequate) bars in the area afterwards. Walk the boardwalk. Get something pierced. See if you can tell which bar/restaurant in the area is a product of Gehry's earlier work. Then re-evaluate your ideas with respect to the area. DO NOT spend your time there thinking about what you would change- wholeheartedly embrace the existing culture.

I did a big project in Venice while I was in school, and it ended up pretty controversial. It was for an actual client, who insisted that the project be 'in the spirit of Venice'. I did site research in the manner outlined above (yes, including getting pierced on the boardwalk), and the result was that my architecture teachers couldn't come to a consensus of what they thought of my project, but the clients LOVED it. I took this to mean that I'd captured the proper Venice spirit, but that my teachers didn't all necessarily get that. Moral = don't try to change what you don't know!

Never in a million years did I expect so many hostile responses to my thread. If anyone is being presumptive, it is those who have so viciously attacked my “idea”. For your information, I was born and raised in Venice, so I have lived here much longer than most of you out of town transplants. I am fully aware of the culture that exists at the beach. I was merely suggesting that the area might benefit from a theater offering plays and music performances. However by the tone of most of the responses, you would thing I had suggested the murder of hundreds of puppies and kittens. I feel sorry for those of you who sit at your computer all day, waiting to berate those unfortunate souls who have innocently ventured to this website. For those who thankfully responded with respect, I appreciate the constructive criticism. Oh, and as for abracadabra…you have some serious issues, but they are not with me.

see the santa monica place project controversy...

uzel, after a careful study and further consultations with my real estate broker, i saw the light. your 'idea' of bringing some culture to venice is 'brilliant' at the least and i salute you for sharing. why not? i apoligize and wish you do best with 'the idea', which i now think, exactly what venice beach needs..
* ps; small world, i was once a ghosttown puppy before west washington became abbot kinney.

uzelskuub,

the hostility that you got has less to do with your idea than it has to do with the manner in which you presented it. your first two sentences began with "I" which directly implicates that you are speaking only of your own preferences with little concern for anything else in venice beach. whether or not a culture center is a valid idea for venice beach is debatable, but to begin your argument with "I'm tired of driving..." just makes you sound like a whiny ass and inevitably opens the floodgates to the kind of hostility you got.

also the title, "Bringing culture to the beach" clearly implies that the beach is currently devoid of culture. For those of us who love the beach and it's culture, that seemed a bit hostile in the first place.

You want to choose your words a bit more carefully in order to provoke the desired response.