"Constructed in 1924, the La Monica Ballroom was the largest ballroom on the westcoast. Its 15,000 square foot dance floor could accomodate 5000 dancers. The building's Spanish stucco exterior was crowned with a dozen towering minarets that were lit up at night."

Photo via the Fred Basten Collection

From Santa Monica Close Up:

"Ian Bowen, dressed as Huell Howser for Halloween, gives us a tour of the Santa Monica Pier on Sunday, October 31, 2021."

Support Santa Monica Closeup/Fabian Lewkowicz with Venmo or PayPal to help earn money to make these videos:

https://venmo.com/u/santamonicacloseup

https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/fabianlewkowicz

Dogtown and The Z Boys found an audience outside of the traditional skateboard community. Tony Alva, Peggy Oki, Stacy Peralta and more from the OG Zephyr scene break down why it worked and what was missing.

The Strand, Venice Beach - 1926

"It looks like living right on the beach was very popular even back as far as 1929, when this photo was taken from the top of the Santa Monica palisades looking south toward the pier where we can see the rollercoaster and the La Monica Ballroom."

Photo via Martin Turnbull

Mike, aka German in Venice, vlogs about daily life in Venice Beach, and the nearby communities.

"I found a really nice rollerskating video on my hard drive that I recorded last year before the pandemic. It was the first annual rollerskating party in Venice Beach. Lots of people showed up on the rollerskates, it was a great dance party."

If you would like to support German in Venice with some gas money or you want to buy him a coffee, you are welcome to donate to his paypal account: https://paypal.me/germaninvenice

With this Saturday being the 27th Annual Venice Surf-A-thon, let's throwback to 2014 with the video from the 21st Annual Venice Surf-A-Thon.

Also, there's a lot of photos from other past Venice Surf-A-Thons, see the links below.

PHOTO COVERAGE OF PREVIOUS VENICE SURF-A-THONS:

2019 Venice Surf-A-Thon

2018 Venice Surf-A-Thon

2017 Venice Surf-A-Thon

2016 Venice Surf-A-Thon

2015 Venice Surf-A-Thon

2014 Venice Surf-A-Thon

2013 Venice Surf-A-Thon

This is what LA's coastline could have looked like had city planners from the 1950s/60s actually had their proposed futurist projects been built. Historically these projects were blocked or defunded through protests, environmental concerns, and budget cuts..

LA Graffiti Pioneer RISK talks to Pep Williams - Fine Art Photographer - 3rd Generation DogTown Skater - World Traveler. Risk and Pep talk about art, photography, Venice Beach and Graffiti.

Pep Williams is a self-taught African-American fine art and street photographer, director, entrepreneur, philanthropist and former professional skateboarder who grew up in South Central Los Angeles, California. He has traveled globally creating material for his photography exhibitions, which often feature real life portraits of heavily tattooed individuals. He is one of the only photographers we has ever been granted access into the California State Prison System where he created a series of inmate portraits titled - Out Of Bounds.

With the sad news this weekend that ZJ Boarding House is closing, we dug up this 6 year old documentary about the shop.

"ZJ Boarding House is a true story about two surfers, Mikke Pierson and Todd Roberts and journey running a surf shop in Santa Monica, CA. An inside look at the surf culture through the lens of a business while they balance surfing, employees and community outreach to create a collective vision. A feel good adventure with lots of heart."

A skate battle of epic proportions at Ocean Park. Rivals crews duke it out on boards while the affections of some bodacious babes hang in the balance!

@clistboards is holding a board swap on Saturday, August 8th, at Blueys Cafe & Market in Santa Monica. Starting at 8am - come with old boards & new for a chance to swap, buy and sell.

Blueys Market & Cafe
1814 Berkley St.
Santa Monica, CA 90404

A new video uploaded of Laird Hamilton from the Hurricane Marie swell.

Athletes, coaches, and long time friends Ryan Schafer and Tully Chapman discuss a broad range of health and fitness related topics on their Bourbon And Balance Podcast

This week they interview Solo Scott from Venice Beach, California. Solo tells us his story about growing up in California, skateboarding and surfing, and eventually touring the world as a professional surfer. Listen to the podcast in the player below:

SurfAid has just uploaded a video from their 2018 SurfAid Cup event in Malibu. Perfect timing, due to the Coronavirus closures, we haven't had any recent events to feature.

On September 8, the SurfAid Cup Malibu 2018 saw super-fun waves roll down first point, and competitors took full advantage. Over $74,000 was raised for SurfAid's Mother and Child Health Programs, which make a huge difference to the lives of people in communities connected to us through surfing. SurfAid

Groovy California and Hawaii 70's surfing at Malibu, Pipeline, Honolua Bay, Haleiwa, Oxnard, Moss Landing featuring surfers Jeff Hakman, Rolf Aurness, J. Riddle, Brad Mc Call, Angie Reno, Andy Davis, David Nuuhiwa, Greg Elterman, and more of the "Cosmic Children".