Been in Venice 18 years, live a block off of the boardwalk.  Never been safer - seriously.  Remember the shootout at the B of A by Westminster Circle?  Those “wild west”gang days ware long gone - we still have problems, but not to the alarmist extent that you imply. 

Hmm.  I'm new to Venice — just moved here from West Hollywood area two months ago.  Before the shooting yesterday I would have said that I feel pretty safe in the Abbot Kinney area both day and night (a little less so around Windward circle at night).  I know random violence can happen pretty much anywhere but if this ends up being gang-related, I'll definitely be changing some habits when it comes to walking around after dark.

Thanks for starting this forum!  I just found the blog recently and I'm quite impressed so far.

Leila, thanks for the kind words! I wouldn't worry about AK - always seems to be safe to me.

Gregarious - I think Venice may have less crime than many parts of LA, but we are more aware of it as Venice is actually a place of community. Things get talked about here a lot more because locals do hang here and talk .. which is pretty cool. 

The “drug dealers are taking over” is a reference to an email a reader sent us that described a pretty bad scene on their block. Everyone knows there are a few streets in Venice where the delaers hang out … it is no secret.

Can you give more specifics on where to find the drug dealers?   Mine left town.

EmilGH said:

Try here:

http://tinyurl.com/47o5bm

Brilliant!

GREAT post.  And “Venice is as safe as your common sense allows.” sums it up perfectly!

EmilGH said:

Try here:

http://tinyurl.com/47o5bm

F YES!

Other than dying after reading that link…..

I moved to LA 5 years ago from Philly. Venice is the closest thing to home I have found. It reminds me of a little big city within a big city. I loved off Centinela by the 90 for awhile. I didn't realize that LA was so spread out and that the downtown area was such a ghost town.There is a suburban feeling going on in most places here. Mar Vista, Culver City and parts of Santa Monica all feel that way. There are tons of homes on dark streets with little foot traffic that go on for ever. I think aside from the Hollywood area Venice is the only place I've been out here that feels like a city. Partly because of the crime, partly because of the layout, and partly because of the urine smell.

I stayed at a friends house in Hermosa when I moved out here. It feels really detatched, from my point of view. I don't want people getting shot 75 feet from my house so I can feel like I live in a hip place but I also don't want to hang around adult frat kids holding on to their 30's for dear life. I like a mix  and Venice has that.

I've been here for five years and lived in five different neighborhoods, and I feel like I have seen it all. From seeing people getting their faces bashed in(deserving and not), to watching a lady hit a crack pipe while propped up against my stoop urinating. I mean don't get me wrong, sometimes confrontation finds you.  I'd also be liar if I said I've never taken a leak against a wall or smoked a J skating down the boardwalk. I just think people are getting away with a little too much in the neighborhoods. Sure we live in LA and some people expect a certain level of crime, but people can't just be hitting crack pipes in public, and especially can't be poppin' off guns at street fairs.

I am definately one of those kids who moved here for the culture, but I'm no rich kid. I can definately see what is going on in Venice, they are driving out all the families that have been here for decades.  I feel like this is creating a great amount of animosity between the locals, and the how you say, Kooks? =) But these “kooks” I'm sure most times, are on the recieving end of the crime. It seems like it's a few groups of people that are targeting the non locals and families, and even eachother. They are senseless acts of crime for self gain, or over confrontation. There are a lot of big ego's floating around Venice, on both sides of the spectrum. And just like any other tight knit town within a big city, there are going to be big city problems spilling out into communities.

I think there is a great balance here, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. I can definately oppose the million dollar homes being built in the place of the torn down “Drug Dealer” houses, that just doesn't make sense. If anything the community, if really that fed up, needs to get together and take back what is rightfully theirs.

Otherwise take a hint and realize it's not really that bad, people in Venice are trippin' like someone got shot on the third street promenade during a christian parade. If the crime rate is so low that the local news paper lists the crime report weekly, you really don't have much to worry about.

Just keep a good look over your shoulder, rescue a pitbull, and don't start “stuff” with people, period.

i am a twenty five year venice grass root  writer dancer poet and yoga teacher.. i moved from  topanga here not by choice… it used to be very bad here in the day the old brigg ..it was like the  mexican  wild west.

 this november will be four years  ago that i survived a rape   on cresent place in the day with two dogs a dobi and a little one.. my car  in the last two years was broken into twice..

 is venice safe no.. never was and now people are in a delusion  pink berry is here and the parking meters r coming.. go to the  ladera hights no bars no fences go to  slausan and 62  people know who lives next door here we have high fences bars buzzers it is fear because the homeless r all here coming from downtown.

 it is  drinking  that is evil  that makes people crazy.. 

 and the bars should not be open no  drinking!!!

 this is a wake upcall ..

rich people this is not the place for kids.. no no no not now worse than ever hidden by fancy stores and priviate schools..  NO WAY I WAS ALMOST KILLED AND RAPED  thank god i survived and can tell u  more is comming..

 shalom lola

I have lived in Venice since 95, it is much safer than it was back then. In the late 90's I robbed at the Windward BofA atm machine in the early evening with plenty of people around, could have happened anywhere in L.A. in my opinion. The LAPD caught the guy, a young crack addict. of course Venice is not like walking around in Beverly Hills , and that's why we live here. You have to use common sense , and watch you back at night ,especially if you are a lone female. I really do think the shooting  the other day was an isolated incident, I agree that Abbott Kinney is way safer than it was in the past. Any big metropolis has it's crime, that's just the way it is

Keep a level head, don't roll aorund solo at night as a chick, keep your eye on things and you should be ok. While I'm all for a little gentrification, I love Venice's overall feel and would be thoroughly dismayed if people had a reactionary police-state kind of response.

Just remember, if you carry knives they will carry guns. If you carry guns they will carry bazookas. If they carry bazookas run towards them, not away.

Why is alcohol the worst drug exactly?

Yep, indeedy… venice is a mixed-bag of goodies… skaters, gangbangers, artists, yuppies, surfers, graffiti artists, writers, transients, celebrities & crackheads all come here for a reason. I've lived in Venice for 3 years and i've been provoked by some delusional crazies looking for a fight… i've been woken up by gunfire (once)… and I've been “followed” down the boardwalk at night by a pack of creepy homeless stalkers… but you learn how to deal with these situations after a while… how to avoid them.  All that being said, Venice is the most beautifully interesting mix of people I've yet to ever experience outside of NYC.  And like Manhattan, you meet REAL people on the streets… so it's probably not the safest zipcode to live in… but it sure beats the hell out of living in a mcMansion-lined snoresville like beverly (stepford) hills… and it beats the dirty smoggy unbearibly-hot neighborhoods of silverlake/echo park/mt. washington.  So, you have to watch your back… and stay off the boardwalk at night… but the quality of life (and the quality of air) is so worth it.  We live here for the local color, the eclectic personalities, the ocean breeze, the sunset bleeding into the sea at the end of the day, and the vitality of a neighborhood alive with ideas, individuality & unpredictability.

Woh - it's very cool here at Yo.  Nice teardown, Paul.  Lobo's got a brain.  Bret gets it.  Keri, too.  Tourists with smarts.  Speaking of refreshing, I like very, very cold Pabst. 

Born in NYC, trying to escape the east coast stress-set since 1972, in Venice since 1997, I find that old NY and Hwd have finally discovered Abbot Kinney's dream, while the new New York has - for whatever reason - become a much, much friendlier place than ever before.  IMHO, many Venice newbies (including me) can learn from their wisdom.

Tragedies, anecdotes and diatribes: Sunday's Abbot Kinney murder; the Crescent Place rape (I remember reading about that shameful assault - and about the recent, weird Crescent Place car contents thefts); the meds-deprived vet who thought he owned my house; the quiet on most nights; the helicopter on (increasingly-rare) other nights; the kids who took my CDs (hidden from view by my fence); the mansionization; no place to park; the homeless immigration; grvnc's new name; un-affordable housing; big development and slow progress.

What's progress anyway?  One issue or another?  The fact that Venice continues to enjoy, even with exceptional areas, one of the lowest crime rates in the city (and something like the second lowest in the Pacific Division)?  We can't get more cops because they're busier elsewhere.  I agree that the increase in the last six weeks will raise the average - that's because the daily rate is so low.  If we care enough about more safety, we'll swallow our coolness pride and get with our neighbors, make more Neighborhood Watches, hold each other accountable - and acceptable, not wait for someone else to fix our paradise.  In Venice, we can be hip and together at the same time.  I'm just saying.

Thanks for the rant space!

Boardwalk Betty said:

Beaver said:

Boardwalk Betty said:

Why is alcohol the worst drug exactly?

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Because of Busch Light?  The humor is lost.

Have you ever had it? I'd rather ferment bum piss.

Three bikes stolen, one car broken into, my house broken into and threatened once.   I love Venice.  I can't get enough of the crime.  I moved out here from NYC because I couldn't take all the safety, peace of mind and happiness NYC had to offer.  I see cops around every corner here.  Do they ever do anything?  My alley behind my house must be a toilet for the homeless.  I have seen more people piss out there than halftime at a football game.  One guy even took a hot steamy dump!  My girlfriend moved out because she got freaked out by the guy that followed her home masturbating.  Talk about skills.  My absolute favorite is the nightly garage symphony that occurs when the homeless people start looking through the garbage cans.  With the thin walls, I feel like I am right there, out there, with them.  Ahhh, Venice!  Only been here three years too.

I have lived in Venice since I was 7…went to Walgrove Elementary, Mark Twain, then Venice High…..It not that crimes have increased its the

severity of them.   Walking up and shooting someone point blank at a busy festival is both cowardly and insane.   I new the victim and his family very well.  I unfortunately have known a lot of victims living in Venice.   The main concern here is a society that produces 17/18 year old children that can do such a violent act with no remorse.  How do we stop it?  When will it end?  I have been asking myself these questions for over 25 years.  At this point the sadness and feeling of a senseless loss is overwhelming…….My you be resting in a better place Adam.

Totally and completely concur with you jetpower. COuldn't have said it better.