Greetings family, friends and neighbors. Venice of America may have been one of the oldest, and perhaps the grandest, roadside (oceanside) attraction of all times! Today's Historic Snippet is about an entire themed city that began with a make-belive Ship Cafe...........Bill
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Historic Snippet
VENICE OF AMERICA SHIP CAFE
Southern California was awash with novelty architecture in the 1920’s and 30’s. With the growing reliance on the automobile, creative entrepreneurs constructed dozens of silly and frivolous roadside structures designed to attract the attention of passing motorists.
Hoot Hoot I Scream was sold from a giant cement owl, and the Toed Inn dispensed burgers and malts inside a huge mortar frog. Eager customers waited in line for lemonade served from a wire and plaster Lemon, and for dime grab a hot dog from Tail of the Pup. Larger businesses like Shell Oil, Coca Cola, Samson Tire Works, and Grauman’s Chinese Theater also got into the act with novelty themed architecture, all traceable back to one man’s grand plan in the late 1900’s.
Abbot Kinney had a vision for Venice of America, a unique all- year-round beach resort and city of seaside homes, with old world Venice serving as namesake and model, he began his project in 1891 with the purchase of two miles of ocean front property south of Santa Monica and fourteen miles from bustling Los Angeles.
By 1905 his workforce had dug several miles of canals, drained the marshes for his residential area, built a block long Venetian themed business district, and constructed a twelve hundred foot long pier featuring an auditorium, dance hall, hot salt-water plunge, and what appeared to be an authentic ship moored to the dock. Designed to look like a Spanish Galleon, Kenney’s nautical restaurant was actually built on pilings, decorated with relics and furnishings, and staffed by costumed employees and entertainers. The effect was enhanced with the keeping of time with the striking of the ship bell as up to four hundred and seventy five guests, seated on two decks, were served fresh seafood held in a giant tank under the pier. The original Ship Cafe burned in a 1920 pier fire and was rebuilt with a few enhancements the following year, however Kinney lost control of the enterprise with the staggering reconstruction costs, changing community dynamics and the looming depression. The Ship Cafe, one of the first examples of novelty architecture in Southern California, managed to survive until 1946 when the Venice pier complex was sold off and demolished.
-Bill 7/25
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