Blogging Social Difference in L.A.: Week 10

      Sadly my blog is coming to an end and the last location I visited was Venice Beach. As a child I had visited Venice and remember people rollerblading, selling bracelets, and being carefree. I still have a cute tie-dye shirt with a dolphin and Venice logo. When I visited Venice this time around I felt like it was a place I had never even seen before; Possibly because my memory isn't as clear or the city really has changed. In order to get to Venice I took the Big Blue Bus (# 1) featured on the right. The route had several stops and it took about an hour to get there. While on the bus, I noticed how close Venice is to Santa Monica. I always thought the two were a little more distance away. The two cities are drastically different.
      When my friend and I arrived at Venice there was a cool breeze and the beach was only a short walk away. The first thing I noticed was the long line of self-owned businesses that were eager to attract people in. The shops were small and placed in what seemed to be garage units. Clearly the vendors were earning individual profit and there was less of a concern for surplus value. While I walked down the boardwalk I saw more individual vendors selling their art work, performing, doing anything to gain a few dollars. I was shocked at how many marijuana advocates, and shops there were. There was a clear class difference between the vendors who had a garage and those who simply set up along the boardwalk. Many of the people could either be distinguished as homeless or tourists.

         

      I noticed that the majority of the homeless people were African American or White. This can imply Masson and Denton's argument that African Americans are till this day given limited opportunities in the housing market. In addition, in April of this year, the L.A. Times published an article "In Venice, a battle over the boardwalk". The article commented on the enforcement of curfew on the boardwalk. The homeless are no longer allowed to sleep on the boardwalk over night. Some argue that eliminating the homeless from Venice will not fix the issue, but rather make the homeless move to another area. The areas surrounding Venice are not the most appealing nature wise. People are attempting to make a living and there is a strong fear that Venice might be "corporatized" into a business run city like Santa Monica. This can pertain to the neo-liberal ideas that the government's role is not to help society but to flourish economically through the elites power and a free market. For the sake of the culture, performers, and individual vendors I hope that strong enough action isn't taken against Venice so the people who are attempting to make a living can continue doing so.