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Old Posted Apr 8, 2010, 8:31 AM
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sopas ej sopas ej is offline
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Welcome, Tony! Funny that Mickey Cohen's Caddy would end up in New Zealand.


A few weeks ago I rented Orson Welles' "Touch of Evil," which was released in 1958. I love that film because of Marlene Dietrich's wave after wave of sassy one-liners, like "You're a mess, honey." "I didn't recognize you; you should lay off the candy bars." "Your future is all used up." And of course she says them the only way she can say them, with her husky German accent.

But anyway, the film is set in a fictional Mexican border town; Orson Welles chose to shoot it in Venice. Venice started out as a beachside resort in the early 1900s, complete with canals and even Italian gondoliers; there was also an amusement park. Most of the canals were filled in in 1929. But by the 1950s, Venice had become a run-down place with oil wells dotting the landscape, perfect for "Touch of Evil." The low rents attracted the artsy crowd and by the 1960s the hippies started hanging out and moving in. Of course now, Venice has been gentrifying but it's still known as an artists' area; a few canals still exist and have been cleaned up. I haven't been to Venice in a while; watching "Touch of Evil" makes me wanna go there soon.

Windward Avenue, Venice, 1920s

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Windward Avenue 1929

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1953 (?)
This building used to be the railroad station; this photo shows that it was turned into a bank.

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Bridge over a canal in 1966

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1960

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1960

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1953

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1953, debris in a canal, oil derricks in the background

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Windward Avenue, 1953

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1953

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1930

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1934-- this image made me think of the Little Rascals theme.

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1928

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1927

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1922

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Camel-riding, 1906

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Windward Avenue, 1906

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Venice Oceanfront, 1905

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1905

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Gondoliers on the Venice canals, 1909

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Windward Avenue, 1906

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Making way for the wrecking crew, 1946

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Venice Pier closed, 1946

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Venice Pier, 1920s

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1946: A heavy truck loaded with steel plates crashes through the deck of the condemned Venice pier.

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Ship Cafe, 1946

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Ship Cafe and Venice Pier, 1902

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Ship Cafe, undated photo

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