Photos via Venice Justice Committee

On Saturday, a brush fire was reported a few minutes before 1 p.m., and it was described as being one-eighth of an acre above 19056 W. Pacific Coast Hwy. Reports stated the the "Fire possibly originated from a homeless encampment. LAFD eventually put out the 1-acre fire.

Hazarous marine and surf conditions caused by strong NW winds and large seas will affect the waters and coast Sun into Mon. Use caution if you are planning to be on or near the water.

Point Dume access road & parking lot closed due to storm damage. The Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors is doing emergency repairs in close coordination with CA Coastal Commission. The beach remains open, but is heavily eroded - hazardous conditions, beachgoers advised to stay away. For info call 424-526-7777

These are just a few of the 200+ photos from this session. If you were out there, you probably got some surfing shots, probably multiple photos, they will be in the complete photo galleries for this day, check them out, the links to the complete galleries are down below.

 On November 2, 2022, at approximately 2:43 PM, Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD) Officers were dispatched to the Lot 1 North Parking Lot at 1550 Pacific Coast Highway to check the status of a male inside a vehicle that appeared to be deceased. When officers arrived on scene, they confirmed the subject to be deceased with stab wounds to his upper body.

SMPD Robbery & Homicide Detectives were assigned the case. Further investigation revealed the suspect to be Mohamed Abou-Arabi, a 22-year-old male from Michigan, who is known to the victim. After the homicide, Abou-Arabi fled back to his home in Dearborn, MI. SMPD Detectives worked in conjunction with the Dearborn Police Department to obtain additional evidence connecting Abou-Arabi as the suspect in this homicide. The evidence was presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office – Airport Court and a felony complaint for extradition arrest warrant was filed for Abou-Arabi.

SMPD Detectives responded to Dearborn, MI, and worked with the Dearborn Police Department and the FBI Violent Crimes Task Force to arrest Abou-Arabi. A search warrant was served at his home where additional evidence was collected. Abou-Arabi was extradited from Michigan to California on January 18, 2023, and he was booked at the SMPD Jail for 187(a) PC - Murder.

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Back in August 2021, a mother and her baby where hit by a car that fled on Speedway in Venice Beach. The 15 year old driver of the car was stopped by another driver right after. ⁠

It was later revealed that teen hit-&-run driver was on drugs when he ran over the mother and her baby.. And when he pleaded guilty to the hit and run, he was only given 5 months of diversionary camp as punishment. Which pissed off a lot of people, especially since he was already on felony probation for poisoning a high school girl's drink at the time of the hit-and-run. ⁠

"Someone with a criminal record tried to kill me and my son, and George Gascon thinks that five months of camp is a sufficient punishment," the mother who he hit said. The mother eventually moved her family out of Los Angeles to get away from what she has described as "soft-on-crime policies." ⁠

Flash forward to this week, authorities have identified a teenager who was fatally shot in Palmdale Wednesday night as 17-year-old Kristopher Baca of Palmdale, the driver of the hit-&-run in Venice Beach. ⁠

Witness stated Kristopher had been at a fast food restaurant earlier trying to "get with a girl." ⁠

"As he walked home alone, a car pulled up next to him and an argument broke out. Someone in the vehicle opened fire, then sped off."

"The universe delivered the justice we weren’t given in court, but a much harsher punishment than he’d have been dealt in a court of law," the mother, who asked only to be identified as Rachel told news reporters.

From Santa Monica Close Up:

"City of Los Angeles Department of Public Works sanitation workers in white hazardous materials suits, with Clean Harbors Hazardous Waste Management team, clean-up homeless encampments at Venice Beach on Friday, January 20, 2023. LAHSA (Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority) provided homeless outreach. Park Rangers were onsite during the cleanup. The Venice Beach clean-ups are conducted every Friday."

Santa Monica Close Up is a photo blog by Santa Monica based Photojournalist/Press photographer Fabian Lewkowicz. Fabian is the former staff photographer for the Santa Monica Daily Observer Press, Santa Monica Mirror, Santa Monica and the Santa Monica Corsair.

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Pictorial History of Venice, California, Coastal Beach community and suburb of Los Angeles. A documentary by Tom Sewell, a long term resident of Venice, Ca.

Daily Venice Pier Surf Reporter Glenice Venice was guest on KCRW this week. He talked about the recent swell, the poor regional water quality after the heavy storms, and more.

Listen to the podcast below:



Glen photographed by Darya Alexandra for T2TR Clothing