Money and freedom collide on Westside
VENICE BOARDWALK While he technically doesn’t own the patch of paint-speckled concrete he works atop, artist Arthur Moore considers it his spot since he has been setting up shop on this small piece of the world-famous Venice Boardwalk for the past 30 years.
While relatively new regulations passed by the Los Angeles City Council have made it increasingly difficult for artists and performers like Moore to stake claim to a particular spot, Moore said he will continue to sell his “Funky Mohammed” paintings on planks of wood along the boardwalk because the other options available to him are just not very appealing, particularly the Third Street Promenade, which he and others feel is too heavily regulated and overrun with “yuppies” who have no stomach for the outrageous.
“I couldn’t get away with some of my paintings at the promenade,” said Moore, a short bohemian man with long dirty blonde hair and a friendly smile who is fond of painting naked women and kitty cats holding up the middle finger. “There’d be families in little Gap clothing covering their children’s faces, saying, ‘Oh my God!’”
Moore is not alone. Other performers on the famed boardwalk prefer to stay in Venice, even though they could earn considerably more money along the affluent promenade, where people go to shop, dine or see movies.
Much of it has to do with the people each location attracts, as well as the way in which each location is policed.
“There are too many rules on the promenade,” said Ivan Tilkov, a breakdancer/acrobat with a traveling dance troupe that frequently performs at both locations.
“On the promenade, you have to be a certain distance from other performers,” said Tilkov, referring to the comprehensive street performers ordinance that regulates the time of day and the locations where creative minds can sing standards, strum guitars or sketch faces.“You have to move every two hours and you can’t be too loud or you’ll get fined and lose your permit. In Venice, it’s easier to build crowds because there are a lot of tourists and not many distractions like restaurants or big stores.
“It’s pretty much you and the beach.” A boardwalk permit is only $25 and is valid for life, while promenade performers have to pay $37 annually.
“That may not seem like much, but many of these people, including myself, are just barely getting by,”said Moore, who often sets up as early as 7 a.m. seven days a week and doesn’t leave until 7 p.m. “Right now, I have a nickel in my pocket. It’s a rough life, but that just comes with the territory.”
Performers and artisans who frequent Venice said the boardwalk, despite new regulations that include a lottery system, is still fairly open to those looking to make a few bucks selling their art. Competition is tough, but there is always a steady stream of tourists and art lovers looking for a souvenir or something kitsch.
Those who call the promenade home complain of the rules they must follow, but most feel they are in place to protect one another.By requiring performers to move every two hours, no one can claim the best post and set up shop all day, performers said. That equalizes things, as does the rule against performers setting up close to one another. Performers need to have at least 120 feet of separation.
“It’s not a hard process at all to get a permit,” said Wendy Peterson, a former resident of Venice who just started singing on the promenade.
Greg Moll, an artist who used to draw on the boardwalk before moving to the promenade 10 years ago, said he prefers Santa Monica because of the seedy element that has moved into Venice during the past 20 years.
“It’s not a safe place for artists anymore,” Moll said of the boardwalk.“Venice was insane in the ’80s and early ’90s. They made up the rules as they went along. The cops could shut you down and then you had to get a lawyer.”
At least in Santa Monica, Moll said he knows were he stands.
Santa Monica Police Department’s Lt. Al Venegas, the commanding officer for downtown and the promenade, said police and community service officers do their best to enforce the laws fairly and have established good relationships with many of the performers, which has in many cases led to warnings instead of citations being issued.
“I believe the rules are balanced,”
Venegas said. “You will never be able to fully satisfy everyone in implementing something like this... But we are being as fair as we can to everyone and understand that for many this is their livelihood.”
While many complaints come from businesses along the promenade about musicians playing too loudly, Venegas said there are a fair share of calls from performers complaining about other performers.
At the heart of it all is money and that’s where promenade performers and artists have a distinct advantage over their Venice counterparts.
“In Santa Monica, people have bank,”said Syko Sid, a breakdancer at the boardwalk. “You can make double what you make here [in Venice] because people are looking to spend money. Here, the beach is free, so if you’re broke you can still come down here and have fun. There’s a big difference.”
That said, Syko Sid hates all the rules on the promenade.
“You’ll get a big crowd and start making some real money and then you’re told by the cops to move,” he said.“Then you find yourself in a dead zone.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 16, 2007. Read the original PDF.