Venice of America: Plan, Construction, and Abandonment

In 1905, a tobacco heir named Abbot Kinney dug canals into a salt marsh south of Santa Monica and opened "Venice of America" — gondolas, Italian arcades and a lagoon. It worked because an electric railway already ran there: the Los Angeles Pacific line, later the Pacific Electric's Venice Short Line, carried crowds from downtown Los Angeles straight to the town's front door on Windward Avenue. Cottages filled the canal lots. A second set of canals to the south was even named after the trolley: the Short Line canals. The workers who kept the resort running — among them Arthur Reese, the company's chief decorator — built the community of Oakwood inland. Then came the automobile. Venice joined Los Angeles in 1926, and on July 1, 1929, dump trucks began filling the canals. Coral Canal became Main Street. The lagoon became a traffic circle. Oil derricks rose on the peninsula. On December 28, 1950, the last Red Car ran on the Venice Short Line. Today Venice Boulevard's wide median follows the old rail route, and the only canals left are the ones named after the train. This is the story of how a single electric line built a seaside town — and what happened when the cars took over. 00:00 A Marsh South of Santa Monica 02:56 The Rails Came First 06:05 Digging a Venice 09:08 The Station at the Front Door 11:55 From Visitors to Residents 15:08 The Workers Behind the Resort 18:03 Red Cars to the Sea 21:15 A Town Run on a Few Short Streets 24:08 Joining Los Angeles 27:00 The Summer the Canals Were Filled 30:18 The Last Red Car 33:23 Following the Rails Today Have you walked the Venice canals or driven Venice Boulevard without knowing a railway ran there? Tell me in the comments. #VeniceCalifornia #PacificElectric #StreetcarHistory