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The Venice Beach Skate Park - Teaching Kids a Sense of Responsibility
 
Photo by BMFS Photo by Wayne Ford
It´s been three months since the 16,000 square foot skate park opened to raves. Ger-I Lewis, leader of the Venice Surf and Skate Association (VSA) and one of the skate boarders who lobbied for decades to have a skate park built in Venice, reports that there have been over 6,000 visitors and it now averages 250 users on a weekend.
Have you been there recently? The skate park looks as pristine as it did immediately after the end of construction. Magic fairies don´t appear during the night nor do City of Los Angeles maintenance workers work there during the day. It´s the VSA volunteers who take their mission seriously to keep the area free of debris and graffiti. "We set an example by leadership for the kids," says Ger-I. "We show them what they are supposed to be doing - this is how we keep our park clean." The breakdown in teaching right from wrong is all too evident to him and the other volunteers. "This is a place that needs to be kept clean," he says. "We need to teach the kids - this is for you, you have to do it."
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Another (crazy) man from Venice by Paul Tanck
Why, just recently, my son Zack and I were casually sharing a pitcher at the Baja Cantina. We were getting to talkin´ and suddenly...
Well, I´ll let him describe it -
"As me and my dad were sitting in the comfortable couch section of the Baja Cantina bar enjoying margaritas, we suddenly were both caught off guard by this loud, and totally wasted guy, who looked like a grown up version of a frat guy. Boisterous and just plain noncoherent, he bumbled up to us and asked us "How we knew each other!!!" I told him that "this is my dad" and he says "WHAT! I thought you were brothers!! Man, you have no wrinkles!!"
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Venice Historical Society Lecture Series - February 9th
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Secretary of State Debra Bowen Fundraiser - February 14th
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Read 2006 interview
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