Venice Beach California Hotel

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Venice is a residential, commercial and recreational beachfront neighborhood within the California city of Los Angeles, located in its greater Westside.

Venice was founded in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, when it merged with Los Angeles. Today, Venice is known for its canals, beaches, and the circus-like Ocean Front Walk, a two-and-a-half-mile pedestrian-only promenade that features performers, mystics, artists and vendors.

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History

19th century

In 1839, a region called La Ballona that included the southern parts of Venice, was granted by the Mexican government to Machados and Talamantes, giving them title to Rancho La Ballona Later this became part of Port Ballona.

Founding

Venice, originally called "Venice of America," was founded by tobacco millionaire Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a beach resort town, 14 miles (23 km) west of Los Angeles. He and his partner Francis Ryan had bought two miles (3.24 km) of oceanfront property south of Santa Monica in 1891. They built a resort town on the north end of the property, called Ocean Park, which was soon annexed to Santa Monica. After Ryan died, Kinney and his new partners continued building south of Navy Street. After the partnership dissolved in 1904, Kinney, who had won the marshy land on the south end of the property in a coin flip with his former partners, began to build a seaside resort like the namesake Italian city took it.

When Venice of America opened on July 4, 1905, Kinney had dug several miles of canals to drain the marshes for his residential area, built a 1,200-foot (370 m)-long pleasure pier with an auditorium, ship restaurant, and dance hall, constructed a hot salt-water plunge, and built a block-long arcaded business street with Venetian architecture. Tourists, mostly arriving on the "Red Cars" of the Pacific Electric Railway from Los Angeles and Santa Monica, then rode the Venice Miniature Railway and gondolas to tour the town. But the biggest attraction was Venice's mile-long gently sloping beach. Cottages and housekeeping tents were available for rent.

The population (3,119 residents in 1910) soon exceeded 10,000; the town drew 50,000 to 150,000 tourists on weekends.

Amusement pier

Attractions on the Kinney Pier became more amusement-oriented by 1910, when a Venice Miniature Railway, Aquarium, Virginia Reel, Whip, Racing Derby, and other rides and game booths were added. Since the business district was allotted only three one-block-long streets, and the City Hall was more than a mile away, other competing business districts developed. Unfortunately, this created a fractious political climate. Kinney, however, governed with an iron hand and kept things in check. When he died in November 1920, Venice became harder to govern. With the amusement pier burning six weeks later in December 1920, and Prohibition (which had begun the previous January), the town's tax revenue was severely affected.

The Kinney family rebuilt their amusement pier quickly to compete with Ocean Park's Pickering Pleasure Pier and the new Sunset Pier. When it opened it had two roller coasters, a new Racing Derby, a Noah's Ark, a Mill Chutes, and many other rides. By 1925 with the addition of a third coaster, a tall Dragon Slide, Fun House, and Flying Circus aerial ride, it was the finest amusement pier on the West Coast. Several hundred thousand tourists visited on weekends. In 1923 Charles Lick built the Lick Pier at Navy Street in Venice, adjacent to the Ocean Park Pier at Pier Avenue in Ocean Park. Another pier was planned for Venice in 1925 at Leona Street (now Washington Street).

For the amusement of the public, Kinney hired aviators to do aerial stunts over the beach. One of them, movie aviator and Venice airport owner B. H. DeLay, implemented the first lighted airport in the United States on DeLay Field (previously known as Ince Field). He also initiated the first aerial police in the nation, after a marine rescue attempt was thwarted. DeLay also performed many of the world's first aerial stunts for motion pictures in Venice.

Politics

By 1925, Venice's politics had become unmanageable. Its roads, water and sewage systems badly needed repair and expansion to keep up with its growing population. When it was proposed that Venice be annexed to Los Angeles, the board of trustees voted to hold an election. Annexation was approved in the election in November 1925, and Venice was formally annexed to Los Angeles in 1926.

Los Angeles had annexed the Disneyland of its day and proceeded to remake Venice in its own image. It was felt that the town needed more streets--not canals--and most of them were paved in 1929 after a three-year court battle led by canal residents. They wanted to close Venice's three amusement piers but had to wait until the first of the tidelands leases expired in 1946.

Oil

In 1929, oil was discovered south of Washington Street on the Venice Peninsula. Within two years, 450 oil wells covered the area, and drilling waste clogged the remaining waterways. It was a short-lived boom that provided needed income to the community, which suffered during the Great Depression. The wells produced oil into the 1970s.

Neglect

Los Angeles had neglected Venice so long that, by the 1950s, it had become the "Slum by the Sea." With the exception of new police and fire stations in 1930, the city spent little on improvements after annexation. The city did not pave Trolleyway (Pacific Avenue) until 1954 when county and state funds became available. Low rents for run-down bungalows attracted predominantly European immigrants (including a substantial number of Holocaust survivors) and young counterculture artists, poets, and writers. The Beat Generation hung out at the Gas House on Ocean Front Walk and at Venice West Cafe on Dudley. Police raids were frequent during that era.

Gang activity

The Venice Shoreline Crips and the Latino Venice 13 (V-13) are the two main gangs active in Venice. V13 dates back to the 1950s, while the Shoreline Crips were founded in the early 1970s, making them one of the first Crip sets in Los Angeles. In the early 1990s V-13 and the Shoreline Crips were involved in a bloody, brutal war over crack cocaine sales territories.

While violence has decreased, gangs continue to remain active in Venice. By 2002, numbers of gang members in Venice were reduced due to gentrification and increased police presence. According to a Los Angeles City Beat article, by 2003, many Los Angeles Westside gang members resettled in the city of Inglewood. Author John Brodie challenges the idea of gentrification causing change and commented "... the gunplay of the Shoreline Crips and the V-13 is as much a part of life in Venice as pit bulls playing with blonde Labs at the local dog park."

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Geography

According to the Mapping L.A. project of the Los Angeles Times, Venice is adjoined on the northwest by Santa Monica, on the northeast by Mar Vista, on the southeast by Culver City, Del Rey and Marina Del Rey, on the south by Ballona Creek and on the west by the Pacific Ocean.

Venice is bounded on the northwest by the Santa Monica city line. The northern apex of the Venice neighborhood is at Walgrove Avenue and Rose Avenue abutting the Santa Monica Airport. On the east the boundary runs north-south on Walgrove Avenue to the neighborhood's eastern apex at Zanja Street, thus including the Penmar Golf Course but excluding Venice High School. The boundary runs on Lincoln Boulevard to Admiralty Way, excluding all of Marina del Rey, south to Ballona Creek.

The City of Los Angeles official zoning map ZIMAS shows Venice High School as included in Venice, as does Google Maps.

Cityscape

Venice Canal Historic District

Abbot Kinney Boulevard

Abbott Kinney Boulevard is a principal attraction, with stores, restaurants, bars and art galleries lining the street. The street was described as "a derelict strip of rundown beach cottages and empty brick industrial buildings called West Washington Boulevard," and in the late 1980s community groups and property owners pushed for renaming a portion of the street to honor Abbot Kinney. The renaming was widely considered as a marketing strategy to commercialize the area and bring new high-end businesses to the area.

Venice Farmers Market

Founded in 1987, the Farmers Market operates every Friday from 7 to 11 a.m. on Venice Boulevard at Venice Way.

72 Market Street Oyster Bar and Grill

72 Market Street Oyster Bar and Grill was one of several historical footnotes associated with Market Street in Venice, one of the first streets designated for commerce when the city was founded in 1905. During the depression era, Upton Sinclair had an office there when he was running for governor, and the same historic building where the restaurant was located was also the site of the first Ace/Venice Gallery in the early 1970s and, before that, the studio of American installation artist Robert Irwin.

Historic Post office

The Venice Post Office, a red-tile-roofed 1939 Works Progress Administration building designed by Louis A. Simon on Windward Circle, featured one of two remaining murals painted in 1941 by Modernist artist Edward Biberman. Developer Abbot Kinney is in the center surrounded by beachgoers in old-fashioned bathing suits, men in overalls, and a wooden roller coaster representing the Venice Pier on one side with contrasting industrial oil derricks that were once ubiquitous in the area on the other side. Senior curator of American Art at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Ilene Susan Fort, said this is one of the better New Deal murals both artistically and historically. Although it contains brightly colored elements with amusing details, the intrusion of the ominous oil rigs and wells was very relevant at the time. After the post office closed in 2012, movie producer Joel Silver unveiled plans for revamping the building as the new headquarters of his company, Silver Pictures. The sale included a stipulation that he, or any future owner, preserve the New Deal-era murals and allow public access. Restoration of the nearly pristine mural took over a year and cost about $100,000. LACMA highlighted the mural with an exhibit that displayed additional Biberman artworks, rare historical documents and Venice ephemera with the restored mural. Silver has a long-term lease on the mural that is still owned by the US Postal Service. As of June 2016, the building remains under halted construction, with completion subject to resolution of multiple property liens. The mural's whereabouts are unknown, putting the lessee in violation of the lease agreement's public access requirement.

Residences and streets

Many of Venice's houses have their principal entries from pedestrian-only streets and have house numbers on these footpaths. (Automobile access is by alleys in the rear.) The inland walk streets are made up primarily of around 620 single-family homes. Like much of the rest of Los Angeles, however, Venice is known for traffic congestion. It lies 2 miles (3.2 km) away from the nearest freeway, and its unusually dense network of narrow streets was not planned for modern traffic. Mindful of the tourist nature of much of the district's vehicle traffic, its residents have successfully fought numerous attempts to extend the Marina Freeway (SR 90) into southern Venice.

Venice Beach

Venice Beach, which receives millions of visitors a year, has been labeled as "a cultural hub known for its eccentricities" as well as a "global tourist destination." It includes the promenade that runs parallel to the beach (also the "Ocean Front Walk" or just "the boardwalk"), Muscle Beach, the handball courts, the paddle tennis courts, Skate Dancing plaza, the numerous beach volleyball courts, the bike trail and the businesses on Ocean Front Walk.

The basketball courts in Venice are renowned across the country for their high level of streetball; numerous professional basketball players developed their games or have been recruited on these courts.

Many Zapotec-speaking people from the town of Tlacolula de Matamoros, Mexico work in stalls along the boardwalk.

Fishing pier

Along the southern portion of the beach, at the end of Washington Boulevard, is the 'Venice Fishing Pier'. A 1,310-foot (400 m) concrete structure, it first opened in 1964, was closed in 1983 due to El Niño storm damage, and re-opened in the mid-1990s. On December 21, 2005, the pier again suffered damage when waves from a large northern swell caused part of it to fall into the ocean.The pier remained closed until May 25, 2006, when it was re-opened after an engineering study concluded that it was structurally sound.

Breakwater

The Venice Breakwater is an acclaimed local surf spot in Venice. It is located north of the Venice Pier and lifeguard headquarters and south of the Santa Monica Pier. This spot is sheltered on the north by an artificial barrier, the breakwater, consisting of an extending sand bar, piping, and large rocks at its end.

In late 2010, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors conducted a $1.6 million replacement of 30,000 cubic yards of sand at Venice Beach eroded by rainstorms in recent years. Although Venice Beach is located in the city of Los Angeles, the county is responsible for maintaining the beach under an agreement reached between the two governments in 1975.

Oakwood

The Oakwood portion of Venice, also known as "Ghost Town" and the "Oakwood Pentagon," lies inland from the tourist areas and is one of the few historically African American areas in West Los Angeles; Latinos now constitute the overwhelming majority of the residents. During the age of restrictive covenants that enforced racial segregation, Oakwood was set aside as a settlement area for Black-Americans, who came by the hundreds to Venice to work in the oil fields during the 1930s and 1940s. After the construction of the San Diego Freeway, which passed through predominantly Mexican American and immigrant communities, those groups moved further west and into Oakwood where black residents were already established. White-Americans moved into Oakwood during the 1980s and 1990s and Latinos moved out.

By the end of the 20th century, gentrification had altered Oakwood. Although still a primarily Latino and African-American neighborhood, the neighborhood is in flux. According to Los Angeles City Beat, "In Venice, the transformation is... obvious. Homes are fetching sometimes more than $1 million, and homies are being displaced every day." In 2012, an article in the Los Angeles Times predicted that the wine shops, cafes, restaurants and other businesses opening on Rose Avenue--adjacent to Oakwood--would soon lead to the other streets of Venice being transformed into upmarket areas. Xinachtli, a Latino student group from Venice High School and subset of MEChA, refers to Oakwood as one of the last beachside communities of color in California. Chicanos, Hispanics, and Latinos of any race or ethnicity make up over 50% of Venice High School's student body.

East Venice

East Venice is a racially and ethnically mixed residential neighborhood of Venice that is separated from Oakwood and Milwood (the area south of Oakwood) by Lincoln Boulevard, extending east to the border with the Mar Vista neighborhood, near Venice High School and Santa Monica Municipal Airport. Aside from the commercial strip on Lincoln (including the Venice Boys and Girls Club and the Venice United Methodist Church), the area almost entirely consists of small homes and apartments as well as Penmar Park and (bordering Santa Monica) Penmar Golf Course. The existing population (primarily composed of Caucasians, Hispanics/Latinos, and Asians, with small numbers of other groups) is being supplemented by new arrivals who have moved in with gentrification.

A housing project, Lincoln Place Apartment Homes, built by the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles is currently undergoing a $140 million renovation to add 99 new market-rate apartment homes and to update the remaining 696 existing homes. A new pool, two-story fitness center, resident park and sustainable landscaping are being added. Aimco, which acquired the property in 2003, had previously been in a legal battle to determine whether or not Lincoln Place could be demolished and rebuilt. In 2010, Aimco settled with tenants and agreed to reopen the project and return scores of evicted residents to their homes and add hundreds of units to the Venice area.

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Demographics

The 2000 U.S. census counted 37,705 residents in the 3.17-square-mile Venice neighborhood--an average of 11,891 people per square mile, about the norm for Los Angeles; in 2008, the city estimated that the population had increased to 40,885. The median age for residents was 35, considered the average for Los Angeles; the percentages of residents aged 19 through 49 were among the county's highest.

The ethnic breakdown was whites, 64.2%; Latinos, 21.7%; blacks, 5.4%; Asians, 4.1%, and others, 4.6%. Mexico (38.4%) and the United Kingdom (8.5%) were the most common places of birth for the 22.3% of the residents who were born abroad--considered a low figure for Los Angeles.

The median yearly household income in 2008 dollars was $67,647, a high figure for Los Angeles. The percentage of households earning $125,000 was considered high for the city. The average household size of 1.9 people was low for both the city and the county. Renters occupied 68.8% of the housing stock and house- or apartment owners held 31.2%. Property values have been increasing lately due to the presence of technology companies such as Google Inc. (which in 2011 began leasing 100,000 square feet of space in Venice) and Snap Inc. (which leases property on Market Street and Abbot Kinney).

The percentages of never-married men (51.3%), never-married women (40.6%), divorced men (11.3%) and divorced women (15.9%) were among the county's highest. The percentage of veterans who had served during the Vietnam War was among the county's highest.

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Arts and culture

Venice is known as a hangout for the creative and the artistic. In the 1950s and 1960s, Venice became a center for the Beat generation. There was an explosion of poetry and art. Major participants included Stuart Perkoff, John Thomas, Frank T. Rios, Tony Scibella, Lawrence Lipton, John Haag, Saul White, Robert Farrington, Philomene Long, and Tom Sewell.

Other notable Venice poets 20th and 21st Century: Millicent Borges Accardi, Linda Albertano, Richard Beban, Molly Bendall, Terry Blackhawk, Kate Braverman, Susie Bright, Derrick Brown, Charles Bukowski, Luis Campos, Exene Cervenka, Neeli Cherkovski, Jeanette Clough, Wanda Coleman, Catherine Daly, Fred Dewey, Robert Duncan, Bob Flanagan, Amy Gerstler, S.A. Griffin, Bob Kaufman, Gluefish Lou, Bill Margolis, Ellyn Maybe, Rod McKuen, Viggo Mortensen, Holly Prado, Jack Skelley, Patti Smith, Arnold Springer, David St. John, Amber Tamblyn, Elizabeth Treadwell, David Trinidad, Tom Waits.

Architecture

Designers Charles and Ray Eames had their offices at the Bay Cities Garage on Abbot Kinney Boulevard from 1943 on, when it was still part of Washington Boulevard; Eames products were also manufactured there until the 1950s. The brick building's interior was redesigned by Frank Israel in 1990 as a creative workspace, opening up the interior and creating sightlines all the way through the building.

Originally located at the Venice home of Pritzker Prize-winning architect and SCI-Arc founder Thom Mayne, the Architecture Gallery was in existence for just ten weeks in 1979 and featured new work by then-emerging architects Frank Gehry, Eric Owen Moss, and Morphosis. Constructed on a long, narrow lot in 1981, the Indiana Avenue Houses/Arnoldi Triplex was designed Frank Gehry in partnership with artists Laddie Dill and Charles Arnoldi. Frank Gehry has designed several well-known houses in Venice, including the Jane Spiller House (completed 1979) and the Norton House (completed 1984) on Venice Beach. In 1994, sculptor Robert Graham designed a fortress-like art studio and residence for himself and his wife, actress Anjelica Huston, on Windward Avenue.

Art

In the 1970s, prominent performance artist Chris Burden created some of his early, groundbreaking work in Venice, such as Trans-fixed. Other notable artists who maintained studios in the area include Charles Arnoldi, Jean-Michel Basquiat, John Baldessari, Larry Bell, Billy Al Bengston, James Georgopoulos, Dennis Hopper, and Ed Ruscha. Organized by the Hammer Museum over the course of one weekend in 2012, the open-air Venice Beach Biennial (in reference to the Venice Biennale in Italy) brought together 87 artists, including site-specific projects by established artists like Evan Holloway, Barbara Kruger as well as boardwalk veteran Arthure Moore. In the 1980s and 1990s Venice Beach became a mecca for street performing turning it into a tourist attraction that rivaled many of southern California's other destinations. Chainsaw jugglers, acrobats and comics like Michael Colyar could be seen on a daily basis. Many performers like the Jim Rose Circus got their start on the boardwalk.

Music

Venice was where legendary rock band The Doors were formed in 1965 by UCLA alums and Venice bohemians Ray Manzarek and Jim Morrison. The Doors would go on to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and are considered one of the greatest rock groups of all time, with Morrison being considered one of the greatest rock frontmen. Venice would also be the birthplace of another legendary rock band in the 1980s in Jane's Addiction. Perry Farrell, frontman and founder of Lollapalooza, was a longtime Venice resident until 2010.

Venice in the 1980s also had a large number of bands playing music known as crossover thrash, a hardcore punk/thrash metal musical hybrid. The most notable of these bands is Suicidal Tendencies. Other Venice bands such as Beowülf, No Mercy, and Excel were also featured on the rare compilation album Welcome to Venice.

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Parks and recreation

The Venice Beach Recreation Center comprises a number of facilities sprawling between Ocean Front Walk and the bike path, Horizon Ave to the north, and N.Venice Blvd to the south. The installation has basketball courts (unlighted/outdoor), several children play areas with a gymnastics apparatus, handball courts (unlighted), paddle tennis courts (unlighted), and volleyball courts (unlighted). At the south end of the area is the noted muscle beach outdoor gymnasium. In March 2009, the city opened a sophisticated $2,000,000 skate park on the sand towards the north. While not technically part of the park, the Graffiti Walls are on the beach side of the bike path in the same vicinity.

The Oakwood Recreation Center is located at 767 California Ave. The center, which also acts as a Los Angeles Police Department stop-in center, includes an auditorium, an unlighted baseball diamond, lighted indoor basketball courts, unlighted outdoor basketball courts, a children's play area, a community room, a lighted American football field, an indoor gymnasium without weights, picnic tables, and an unlighted soccer field.

The Westminster Off-Leash Dog Park is in Venice.

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Government

Venice is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles represented by District 11 on the Los Angeles City Council. City services are provided by the city of Los Angeles. There is a Venice Neighborhood Council that advises the LA City Council on local issues.

County, state and federal representation

The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services SPA 5 West Area Health Office serves Venice.

The United States Postal Service operates the Venice Post Office at 1601 Main Street and the Venice Carrier Annex at 313 Grand Boulevard.

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Education

Forty-nine percent of Venice residents aged 25 and older had earned a four-year degree by 2000, a high figure for both the city and the county. The percentages of residents of that age with a bachelor's degree or a master's degree was considered high for the county.

Schools

The schools within Venice are as follows:

• Broadway Elementary School, LAUSD, 1015 Lincoln Boulevard
• Animo Venice Charter High School, 820 Broadway Street, which opened in August 2002 with 145 students, adding a freshman class of 140 every year until 2006, when it reached its full capacity of approximately 525 students. The school moved in 2006 to the former Ninety-Eighth Street Elementary School campus, which had been occupied by the Renaissance Academy.
• Venice Skills Center, LAUSD, 611 Fifth Avenue
• First Lutheran School of Venice, private, 815 Venice Boulevard
• Westminster Avenue Elementary School, LAUSD, 1010 Abbot Kinney Boulevard
• St. Mark School, private elementary, 912 Coeur d'Alene Avenue
• Coeur d'Alene Avenue Elementary School, LAUSD, 810 Coeur d'Alene Avenue
• Westside Leadership Magnet School, LAUSD alternative, 104 Anchorage Street

Venice High School in Mar Vista serves the community.

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Infrastructure

Public libraries

The Los Angeles Public Library operates the Venice-Abbot Kinney Memorial Branch.

Fire department

The Los Angeles Fire Department operates Station 63, which serves Venice with two engines, a truck, and an ALS rescue ambulance.

Police

The Los Angeles Police Department serves the area through the Pacific Community Police Station as well as a beach sub-station.

Los Angeles County Lifeguards

Venice Beach is the headquarters of the Lifeguard Division of the Los Angeles County Fire Department. It is located at 2300 Ocean Front Walk. It is the nation's largest ocean lifeguard organization with over 200 full-time and 700 part-time or seasonal lifeguards. The headquarters building used to be the City of Los Angeles Lifeguard Headquarters until Los Angeles City and Santa Monica Lifeguards were merged into the County in 1975.

The Los Angeles County Lifeguards safeguard 31 miles (50 km) of beach and 70 miles (110 km) of coastline, from San Pedro in the south, to Malibu in the north. Lifeguards also provide Paramedic and rescue boat services to Catalina Island, with operations out of Avalon and the Isthmus.

Lifeguard Division employs 120 full-time and 600 seasonal lifeguards, operating out of three sectional headquarters, Hermosa, Santa Monica, and Zuma beach. Each of these headquarters staffs a 24-hour EMT-D response unit and are part of the 911 system. In addition to providing for beach safety, Los Angeles County Lifeguards have specialized training for Baywatch rescue boat operations, underwater rescue and recovery, swiftwater rescue, cliff rescue, marine mammal rescue and marine firefighting.

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Notable people

• Jay Adams, professional skateboarder, original member of the Z-Boys skateboard team
• J.C. Barthel, Venice postmaster and commissioner of supplies, 1920s, president of the Chamber of Commerce
• Charles Benefiel, outsider artist
• Brun Campbell, folk ragtime musician.
• John J. Coit, builder and operator of the Venice Miniature Railway
• Marton Csokas, actor
• Sky Ferreira, singer-songwriter, model, actress
• Hulk Hogan, professional wrestler
• Abbot Kinney, developer of Venice of America
• John Lovell, businessman, member of the Los Angeles Common Council
• Anna Paquin, actress
• James Edwin Richards, crime activist and citizen journalist, editor and publisher
• Ronda Rousey, mixed martial artist, judoka and actress
• Karl L. Rundberg, Los Angeles City Council member (1957-65), opposed Venice beatniks
• Joanie Sommers, singer
• Matt Sorum, drummer, formerly in Guns n' Roses, Velvet Revolver, and the Cult
• Charles Winchester Breedlove, Los Angeles City Council member, 1933-45, supported legalized tango games
• Emilia Clarke, actress.

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In popular culture

Dozens of movies and hundreds of television shows and even video games have used locations in Venice, including its beach, its pleasure piers, the canals and colonnades, the boardwalk, the high school, even a particular hamburger stand. Some of them are:

• 1914: Kid Auto Races at Venice (Charlie Chaplin--first appearance of the "Little Tramp" character.)
• 1920: Number, Please? (Harold Lloyd)
• 1921: The High Sign (Buster Keaton)
• 1923: The Balloonatic (Buster Keaton)
• 1927: Sugar Daddies (Laurel and Hardy)
• 1928: The Circus (Charlie Chaplin)
• 1928: The Cameraman (Buster Keaton)
• 1958: Touch of Evil (Orson Welles)--Shot entirely in Venice except for one indoor scene, selected by Welles as a stand-in for a fictional run-down Mexican border town.
• 1961: Night Tide (Dennis Hopper, Linda Lawson, written and directed by Curtis Harrington)--Shot entirely in Venice and shows the deteriorated nature of the area in the 1950s.
• 1972: One Pair of Eyes - Reyner Banham loved Los Angeles -- architectural critic Reyner Banham explores Los Angeles in 1972. See the movie on Vimeo
• 1976: The Witch Who Came from the Sea (Millie Perkins, directed by Matt Cimber)
• 1979: Roller Boogie (Linda Blair, directed by Mark L. Lester)
• 1988: Colors
• 1991: The Doors (Val Kilmer, directed by Oliver Stone)
• 1992: White Men Can't Jump
• 1993: Falling Down
• 1994: Speed (Keanu Reeves)
• 1998: The Big Lebowski
• 1998: American History X
• 2001: Dogtown and Z-Boys
• 2003: Thirteen (Holly Hunter)
• 2004: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as Verona Beach
• 2005: Lords of Dogtown
• 2006: Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny
• 2007: Californication
• 2011: Wilfred (U.S. TV series)
• 2013: Grand Theft Auto V as Vespucci Beach
• 2013: Sugar
• 2013-2014: Sam & Cat
• 2009-present: American Ninja Warrior
• 2014: Alex of Venice
• 2015: The Amazing Race
• 2016: Flaked

Source of the article : Wikipedia

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Gregg Appliances, Inc., branded as hhgregg, was an American publicly owned and operated retailer of consumer electronics and home appliances in the Midwest, Northeast, and Southeast United States, operating stores in 20 states including Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.

Founded in Princeton, Indiana in 1955, hhgregg was headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. Its retail products included video products comprising televisions as well as DVD recorders; home appliances, such as refrigerators, ranges, dishwashers, freezers, washers, and dryers; and other products and services, including audio hardware, mattresses, computers, and other selected consumer electronics and accessories. The company announced on November 24, 2008 that they would begin selling popular gaming systems such as Wii, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

hhgregg reported an annual revenue of US$ 1.96 billion in fiscal year 2016.

On March 6, 2017 hhgregg filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The filing followed the decision to close 88 unprofitable locations outside of its core markets. Troubles for hhgregg continued and it was announced on April 7, 2017 that it would also close all of its other stores (132 more than the 88 previously announced closings) in the coming months and would lay off about 5,000 people.

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History

In 1955, a small storefront was erected by Henry Harold and Fansy Gregg on the north side of Indianapolis. The new store featured home appliances such as washing machines, clothes dryers, refrigerators, and grills. Shortly thereafter, they began selling televisions and other electronics.

In 1975, Jerry W. Throgmartin began working in his grandfather's store while attending middle school. He eventually worked his way through many positions there over the next 24 years, and in 1999, took over his father's position as Chairman, CEO, and Director of hhgregg Appliances and Electronics.

Dennis L. May succeeded Throgmartin as hhgregg's President and Chief Executive Officer on February 17, 2009, and Throgmartin was named Executive Chairman of the Board. Throgmartin died in January 2012.

Despite market trends that have diminished profit margins on high-tech devices, Throgmartin and May expanded the business to 125 stores in 9 states as of October 2009. Throgmartin said, "We've been fortunate in that the areas of the [overall CE] business that have been strong are the areas in which we excel: high-end large-screen flat-panel TVs and home theater, and higher-end appliances."

On July 8, 2009, the company announced that it planned to open 22 stores in the following year, primarily in Richmond, Virginia, Tampa, Florida, and in Memphis, Tennessee, many of them being in buildings formerly occupied by defunct Circuit City, as part of an aggressive growth strategy to fill the gap created by Circuit City's bankruptcy. In December 2009, construction began on several stores in the central and eastern parts of Pennsylvania, the first in the state. March 2010 brought the openings of the first stores in the Norfolk-Virginia Beach metro area, in converted Circuit City and Linens 'n Things locations. In Spring 2011, the company expanded into the Youngstown, Ohio market with the opening of a store in the Youngstown suburb Boardman. Ten stores opened in July 2011 in South Florida along the east coast from Miami to West Palm Beach.

In the fall of 2010, hhgregg opened several stores in former Circuit City locations in Maryland and Virginia. Also, in late 2010, hhgregg partnered with The Cellular Connection, a cellular phone wholesaler based out of Indianapolis, to roll out kiosks to sell Verizon Wireless products

In March 2011, hhgregg announced it would open a new location in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, also in the location of a defunct Circuit City. In June 2011, hhgregg expanded into the Pittsburgh market with the opening of four stores in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. On September 15, 2011, 14 new stores opened in the Chicago area as well. In September 2012 hhgregg opened four stores in the St. Louis, Missouri metropolitan area.

In August 2012, hhgregg made its debut in Wisconsin by opening stores in Appleton, Brown Deer, Greenfield, Green Bay, and Racine. In November 2012, it entered Louisiana with stores in the New Orleans metropolitan area and in Baton Rouge.

The company's motto was "Gregg's Got It!"

In February 2016, May resigned as CEO, and Robert Riesbeck was named interim CEO. In August 2016, Riesbeck was named the permanent CEO.

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Bankruptcy

On March 6, 2017 hhgregg filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The filing followed the closure of 88 unprofitable locations outside of its core markets. However, after failing to find a buyer after entering Chapter 11, the company announced on April 7, 2017 that it would close all 220 of its locations (the 88 stores previously announced to be closing, plus the other 132 locations) and lay off about 5,000 people, liquidating the company. All stores were closed permanently on May 25, 2017.

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Fine Lines

Fine Lines was a division of hhgregg that was introduced November 1, 2004. Each of its ten stores offered over 18,000 square feet (1,700 m²) of premium lines of appliances. Products and brands vary by location. There were eleven Fine Lines locations.

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Stock

hhgregg had its initial public offering on July 20, 2007, at US$13.72 and is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol HGG.

On February 27, 2017 it was announced that the NYSE suspended trading of HGG in preparation for delisting.

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Sponsorships

On December 17, 2007, hhgregg signed as one of 14 founding corporate partners for the Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the NFL's Indianapolis Colts. hhgregg's deal earned them rights to advertise in the south gate and display many of their large, flat panel televisions.

The south gate is also home to a new 26,000-square-foot (2,400 m²) hhgregg showroom.

In late 2016 to when the company closed, hhgregg sponsored several drivers on the Andretti Autosport team. They sponsored Carlos Muñoz and Marco Andretti. They were slated to become the full time sponsor of Andretti in 2017 and sponsored them at St. Petersburg but when the company closed, the team removed their logos on their cars but remained on the firesuits. When Takuma Sato won the 2017 Indianapolis 500, the company logos were still seen on the left breast of his firesuit though hhgregg closed permanently three days prior to the race.

Source of the article : Wikipedia

Luxury Hotels Miami Beach

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The Fontainebleau Miami Beach (also known as Fontainebleau Hotel) is one of the most historically and architecturally significant hotels in Miami Beach, Florida. Opened in 1954 and designed by Morris Lapidus, it was arguably the most luxurious hotel in Miami Beach, and is thought to be the most significant building of Lapidus's career. In 2007, the Fontainebleau Hotel was ranked ninety-third in the American Institute of Architects list of "America's Favorite Architecture". On April 18, 2012, the AIA's Florida Chapter ranked the Fontainebleau first on its list of Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places.

The Fontainebleau Miami Beach is situated on oceanfront Collins Avenue in the heart of Millionaire's Row and is currently owned by Fontainebleau Resorts. Fronting the Atlantic Ocean, the 1,504-room resort features two new towers, 12 restaurants and bars. a 40,000-square-foot (3,700 m²) spa with mineral-rich water therapies and co-ed swimming pools, and oceanfront poolscape featuring a free-form pool shaped as a re-interpretation of Lapidus' signature bow-tie design.

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History

Lapidus once wrote, "If you create a stage and it is grand, everyone who enters will play their part." He conceived of the ideas for the hotel each morning as he took a subway from Flatbush to his office in Manhattan. The hotel was built by hotelier Ben Novack on the Harvey Firestone estate. Novack owned and operated the hotel until its bankruptcy in 1977.

The Fontainebleau is famous in judicial circles for its victory in the landmark 1959 Florida District Courts of Appeal decision, Fontainebleau Hotel Corp. v. Forty-Five Twenty-Five, Inc. 114 So. 2d 357, in which the Fontainebleau Hotel successfully appealed an injunction by the neighboring Eden Roc Hotel, to prevent construction of an expansion that blocked sunlight to the Eden Roc's swimming pool. The Court rejected the Eden Roc's claim to an easement allowing sunlight, in favor of affirming the Fontainebleau's vertical property rights to build on its land. It stated that the "ancient lights" doctrine has been unanimously repudiated in the United States.

In the 1970s a suite in the hotel was used by members of the Black Tuna Gang to run their operations. This is recounted in the 2011 documentary Square Grouper, which follows the burgeoning marijuana-smuggling trade of the mid-to-late 1970s. It was at this time that large amounts of the drug were being shipped to southeastern Florida; the film alleges that more than ninety percent of the United States's illicit demand was being met through such channels.

In 1978, Stephen Muss bought the Fontainebleau Hotel for $27 million rescuing it from bankruptcy. He injected an additional $100 million into the hotel for improvements and hired the Hilton company to manage it. In 2005, the Muss Organization sold the Fontainebleau to Turnberry Associates for $165 million.

The hotel closed a large part of its property in 2006, though one building remained open to hotel guests, and the furnishings were available for sale. The expanded hotel and its new condominium buildings re-opened in November 2008.

On December 22, 2008, the Fontainebleau was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

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Film, television and music history

The swimming pool is shown in the 1959 film A Hole in the Head. Tony Manetta (played by Frank Sinatra) attends a party there for businessman and friend Jerry Marks (Keenan Wynn). Miami Mayor Robert King High had a cameo during the gala. Sinatra videotaped a special on March 26, 1960, during his regular Timex-sponsored television series for ABC, to welcome back Elvis Presley from his two years of military service in Germany, which was broadcast on May 12, 1960.

The hotel was the setting for Jerry Lewis's 1960 comedy film, The Bellboy.

The Fontainebleau is depicted in the 1960-1962 television series, Surfside 6, about two detectives living and working aboard a houseboat moored directly across the street from the hotel. Supporting character Cha Cha O'Brien was an entertainer who worked at The Boom Boom Room in the hotel. Only establishing shots of the hotel were used; the series was filmed entirely at Warner Bros. studios in Burbank, California.

The Fontainebleau Miami Beach is featured in the 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger, most notably in the sweeping aerial shot that follows the opening credits and accompanies composer John Barry's big-band track "Into Miami". It is the hotel where Jill Masterton (played by Shirley Eaton) is murdered by the villainous Oddjob (Harold Sakata).

The Fontainebleau is one of the main settings for the 1988 comedy sequel Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach, with the film's characters staying there during the movie and many of the film's scenes filmed there.

The Fontainebleau was seen on The Sopranos in the season 4 (2002) episode "Calling All Cars".

The hotel is repeatedly mentioned by Allan Sherman in his 1962 comedy song, "The Streets of Miami". The Fontainebleau is the title subject of a song written by Neil Young and performed by the Stills-Young Band on their 1976 album Long May You Run, which was recorded at the hotel.

The Fontainebleau acts as the unmentioned location for a widely popular scene in 1983's Scarface where Steven Bauer, portraying Manolo, the movie's second role after Tony Montana, gets slapped in the face after trying to win over a girl through sticking out his tongue to her.

It was also featured in the 1992 film The Bodyguard starring Whitney Houston and the finale of the Sylvester Stallone Sharon Stone action film The Specialist.

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Renovations

Fontainebleau's grand re-opening on November 18, 2008 marked the end of a two-year, $1 billion transformation. Special care was taken to preserve many of the original design elements, including the "Staircase to Nowhere" (formally called the "floating staircase"). The hotel's elaborate re-opening celebrations included hosting the annual Victoria's Secret fashion show.

Restaurants and nightclubs in the complex include:

• Stripsteak by Michael Mina. (Priorly FB Steakhouse, and Originally named "Gotham Steak")
• Scarpetta (Italian)
• Hakkasan (Cantonese)
• La Côte (two-level poolside bar and grille)
• Blade Sushi
• Vida (Pan American)
• Fresh (Snacks & Gelato)
• LIV (Nightclub, a.k.a. '54 formerly Tropigala Lounge)
• Bleau Bar
• Glow Bar
• Michael Mina Pizza & Burger (formerly Arkadia)
• Chez Bon Bon (pastries and chocolates; Priorly Solo)

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Pronunciation

The local pronunciation of the hotel's name is the Anglicized "fountain blue" rather than the normal French pronunciation of the word.

Source of the article : Wikipedia

Breakers Hotel (Long Beach, California)

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Breakers Hotel is a landmark 14-story building on East Ocean Avenue in downtown Long Beach, California. The building opened in 1926 as a luxury oceanfront resort hotel. The building has gone through multiple changes of ownership and has been renamed at various times the Hilton, the Wilton, and the Breakers International Hotel. It has had a history of financial problems and closures and operated for many years as a retirement home. The building has been designated as a Long Beach Historic Landmark.

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Development and opening (1925-1927)

The Breakers Hotel was developed by a local Long Beach banker and capitalist, Fred B. Dunn. Construction began in the fall of 1925 with a projected cost of $2,250,000.

The original structure consisted of a single-story base that spanned an entire city block with a central tower rising thirteen stories above the main body of the building. The complex also included arcade and basement floors beneath the Ocean Boulevard level.

The development, with architecture described at the time as "ultra Spanish," opened in September 1926. At the time, the total cost of the luxurious building was said to be $3,000,000. The building opened with a banquet and dinner at which Long Beach's Mayor Condit and Fred Dunn spoke of an era of success. The banquet also included a program of entertainment by vaudeville artists.

When the hotel opened in 1926 (three years before the opening of the Villa Riviera), the building's imposing tower, rising 15 stories from the beach, gave it "a prominence greater than that of any other in the city." On its opening, the Breakers was promoted as one of Southern California's finest luxury resort hotels. The hotel had 330 guest rooms and 232 ft (71 m) of prime ocean frontage in downtown Long Beach. Other features of the hotel included an elaborate 500-seat dining room known as the "Hall of Galleons," roof garden, coffee shop, beauty shop, barber shop, Turkish bath, and "smart shops." The hotel catered to "surf bathers" with a special elevator that transported the bathers, after they had "donned their bathing suits in their rooms," to the Arcade level, from which there was an entrance to the beach.

One of the hotel's unusual features was the availability of radio broadcasts in each guest room. An October 1926 article in the Los Angeles Times described the "outstanding" in-room entertainment feature as follows:

Each room in the new hostelry has four radio jets, each connecting with the radio-receiving room in the tower. By plugging in on any of these four jets, programs from broadcasting stations are heard ... If there is a particular program on the air which a guest particularly desires to hear, it is only necessary to phone the receiving room and the operator will tune it in.

At its opening, the Breakers was available for both temporary guests and others who made it their permanent residence. The hotel was expected to "be the means of attracting thousands of people to Long Beach."

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Years of decline (1929-1935)

Less than a year after its opening, the hotel was sold by Fred Dunn to an unnamed group of investors from Pasadena, Los Angeles and New York. The sale price in 1927 was reported to be $1,750,000. The new owners announced plans for extensive remodeling, including the closure of several dining rooms and conversion of the ballroom into a summer garden.

The onset of the Great Depression and the 1933 Long Beach earthquake pushed the Breakers into bankruptcy. The 1933 earthquake, which resulted in over 100 deaths, caused only minor damage to the Breakers, but the widespread destruction in Long Beach caused major damage to the city's tourist trade. The hotel served as the headquarters for the Red Cross relief efforts following the earthquake. In August 1934, the Los Angeles Times reported that the hotel had sustained a significant operating loss in 1933 and was delinquent on its real estate and personal properties taxes for the past three years.

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Hilton years and Sky Room (1938-1947)

In 1938, the hotel was purchased by Conrad Hilton at a reported cost of $150,000 and $35,000 in back taxes. Hilton turned the Breakers into the eighth hotel in the Hilton chain. Hilton spent at least $200,000 on renovations and converted the penthouse into the Sky Room.

In 1938, Hilton opened the Sky Room atop the hotel, and it became one of the most popular restaurants gathering spots in Southern California. Movie stars such as Clark Gable, Errol Flynn, Rita Hayworth, Cary Grant and John Wayne were said to have been customers at the Sky Room during the Hilton years. One customer recalled the Sky Room as follows: "It was a dating place, like the Brown Derby and Coconut Grove. It was the place to go."

During World War II, two pillboxes with gun-mountings were installed on the rooftop for harbor defense, and the Sky Room became the official Airwatch headquarters for Long Beach harbor. One of the pillboxes and gun mountings remained intact on the roof as late as 1991.

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Wilton (1947-1961)

In 1947, Hilton sold the hotel to Frank Fishman, who renamed it the Wilton Hotel. The hotel remained the "Wilton" for 14 years. During the 1950s, the hotel changed ownership several times, and promises to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to remodel the aging hotel were not kept.

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Breakers International and closure (1961-1964)

In 1961, the hotel was purchased by Fred Miller. Miller was one of the founders of Flying Tigers Airlines and purchased US Airlines in 1951. After buying the Breakers in 1961, Miller renamed the hotel the Breakers International and spent $1.25 million refurbishing the property from top to bottom. Miller reportedly hoped to "recapture, for Long Beach, the beauty, dignity and service of the city's greatest hotel." However, even with Miller's efforts, he was not able to turn around the fortunes of the Breakers. In 24 months as owner of the hotel, Miller reported that he lost half of his net worth. In November 1963, Miller gave up and closed the hotel.

The Long Beach Press-Telegram pronounced the hotel "a dead behemoth on the beach." Others noted the hotel's over-reliance on convention business: "This hotel had to try to make 80 percent of its revenues from convention business. There is no rail service or air service to Long Beach, and the 20-minute run on the freeway to Los Angeles where the industry is hurts all the hotels." One commentator opined, "God and Conrad Hilton couldn't have saved this hotel." The hotel's head bellman, Paul Grantham, who had been employed at the hotel since 1928, blamed the "coming of the motels."

In January 1964, the hotel was sold at auction to pay off the hotel's creditors. Despite an appraised value of $4.3 million for the land and improvements, the property sold for $1.75 million. The high bidder, Long Beach realtor Harvey Miller, announced plans to convert the structure into a retirement hotel.

The hotel remained shuttered for nearly three years and was referred to as "the West Coast's largest pigeon roost."

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Retirement hotel (1967-1982)

The hotel remained closed for three years as plans to convert it into a retirement hotel stalled. In September 1966, the hotel re-opened as a combination permanent retirement hotel and transient hotel for overnight guests. By January 1967, the property was occupied 70% by permanent residents who had the option of an American plan at $175 per month including hotel conveniences and three meals a day, or a European plan at $115 a month without meals.

In 1975, the residential retirement hotel was refurbished again. The renovations included all new carpets, drapes, furnishings, automated elevators, and an updated phone system. The owners stated their intention to create the ultimate in retirement living for the senior citizens of Long Beach.

In 1978, New Breakers Hotel Company sold the property to Stoneridge Management Company for less than $3 million.

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Re-conversion to hotel use (1986-1987)

In 1986, the hotel was re-converted into a tourist hotel and placed under the management of the same company responsible for management of the city's major tourist destinations, the Spruce Goose and the Queen Mary. Before its re-opening in 1986, the hotel had undergone a three-year $15 million renovation and restoration.

The new version of the Breakers opened with 242 guest rooms, including 20 suites, a restaurant and night club on the top floor, and a ballroom restored to its original 1920s decor. The Sky Room, which had been given a Polynesian theme by prior owners, was renovated in an Art Deco style. At the time of the re-opening, the Los Angeles Times wrote: "Its 60 years have been a roller-coaster ride of ups and downs, prosperity and penury, bright lights and gloomy emptiness. Just now, its direction is up."

The excitement about the Breakers' restoration was short-lived as the hotel failed to draw a sufficient number of guests to turn a profit. The hotel closed its doors again in January 1987.

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Designation as Historic Landmark (1989)

In 1989, the Breakers, still vacant after its closure in 1987, was designated as a Long Beach Historical Landmark, requiring approval from the Cultural Heritage Commission before making any major changes in the building's appearance.

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Senior citizen housing (1990-2015)

The property was purchased following its 1988 closure by Ocean Boulevard Associates, which spent $23 million on earthquake retrofitting and restoring its 1920s-style Romanesque architecture. The building re-opened in November 1990 as an "Assisted Living" Residence for senior citizens. As of October 1991, the Breakers had 38 residents with an average age of 84, paying rents starting at $1,000 a month, including three meals a day, housekeeping and local transportation. An in house Medical Staff provided medication administration and routine activities for those in need of leadership. The facility closed in March 2015 after state authorities revoked its license. It is now set to be renovated as a Boutique Hotel under the name Breakers Hotel, Long Beach, CA.

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Renovated Sky Room (1997-present)

In 1997, the Sky Room, originally developed by Conrad Hilton in 1938, was restored and re-opened by the property's new owner Bernard Rosenson. Rosenson restored the Art Deco look of the Sky Room and redesigned it to focus on its 360-degree view. The new Sky Room offered an "ultra-retro menu" and music by a swing and jazz band called the Sky Room Orchestra.

Source of the article : Wikipedia

Disney's Vero Beach Resort

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Disney's Vero Beach Resort is a Disney Vacation Club resort located in Vero Beach, Florida. The resort was the first Disney Vacation Club resort to be constructed outside the Walt Disney World Resort area in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

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Accommodations

Room availability includes Deluxe Inn Rooms with ocean and garden views, Studios, One-Bedroom Vacation Homes, Two-Bedroom Vacation Homes and free-standing Three-Bedroom Beach Cottages with oceanside views of the Atlantic. Wireless internet is available across the property.

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Recreation

Disney's Vero Beach Resort offers a Mickey Mouse-shaped swimming pool, one of two pools built by Disney with shaped like this, following Shades of Green's Millpond, Mickey Mouse-shaped pool. The pool is flanked by Pirate's Plunge pool slide.

The pool is surrounded by Port Holes Miniature Golf (a nine-hole Peter Pan-themed miniature golf course), Community Hall (an air-conditioned room with board games, table tennis, and arts and crafts), Anchors' A-Weigh fitness center, Eb and Flo's rentals, and Rub Dubs massage. The Blinker's Arcade was previously offered with a variety of classic and updated arcade games, but has since been removed as of April 2016.

A complete resort activities program targeted at families is offered daily. Beach equipment rentals are provided by an on-site partner. A volleyball court, soccer field, fishing pier, lighted tennis courts, and a basketball hoop are located on the western half of the property, which can be accessed through a passage under highway A1A.

The Spa at Disney's Vero Beach is available, and, in season, Turtle Nesting Grounds are nearby.

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Dining

Wind and Waves replaced Shutters and Sonya's as of December 2016.

Wind and Waves Grill is a full-service casual family dining restaurant that serves breakfast and dinner daily. Menu features fresh Florida seafood and flatbreads from a wood-burning pizza oven.

Wind and Waves Market is the poolside quick-service food and beverage market with grab & go items as well as hot & cold foods made to order. Menu includes deli style sandwiches, fresh salads, soups, burgers and seafood.

Wind and Waves Bar has a walk-up counter that offers frozen specialty drinks and adult beverages.

The Green Cabin Room is located above the lobby and serves drinks and light fare in an Old Florida bar atmosphere, with additional seating on a deck overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Live music is often featured during the evening.

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Reviews

The travel web site Tripadvisor ranked this resort as one of the top five resorts in Vero Beach as of September 2016. The Family Vacation Critic site gave the resort 5 out of 5 stars, finding it to have a plethora of activities for children and to be much calmer than the Disney Theme Parks.

Source of the article : Wikipedia

Used Cars Palm Beach

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Allard Motor Company Limited was a London-based low volume car manufacturer founded in 1945 by Sydney Allard which commenced from small premises in south west London. Car manufacture almost ceased within a decade. It produced approximately 1900 cars before it became insolvent and ceased trading in 1958. Before the war, Allard supplied some replicas of a Bugatti-tailed special of his own design from Adlards Motors in Putney.

Allards featured large American V8 engines in a light British chassis and body, giving a high power-to-weight ratio and foreshadowing the Sunbeam Tiger and AC Cobra of the early 1960s. Cobra designer Carroll Shelby and Chevrolet Corvette chief engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov both drove Allards in the early 1950s.

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Pre-war Allard Specials

The first Allard cars were built specifically to compete in "trials" events - timed rally-like events on terrain almost impassable by wheeled vehicles. The first Allard was powered by a Ford flathead V8 in a body mostly sourced from a Bugatti racer. It used the American engine's high torque to great effect in slow-speed competition.

Further Allards were soon built to order with a variety of large, Ford-sourced engines, including Lincoln-Zephyr V12 powerplants. By the outbreak of war in 1939 twelve Allard Specials had been built. Sydney Allard's planned volume production was pre-empted by work on Ford-based trucks during the conflict. By its end, Allard had built up a substantial inventory of Ford parts.

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Post-war models

Using its inventory of easy-to-service Ford mechanicals built up during World War II and bodywork of Allard's own design, three post-war models were introduced: the J, a competition sports car; the K, a slightly larger car intended for road use, and the four seater L. Sales were fairly brisk for a low-volume car, and demand was high for cars in general, which led to the introduction of several larger models, the drophead coupe M and P.

K1

Built from 1946-1949, the K1 was Allard's first postwar car and was largely a carryover from the limited production prewar J1. The frame was made up from stamped-steel channel sections by Thomsons of Wolverton specially for Allard. Side rails and cross members were designed to fit the Ford suspension

L

The L is a 4-seater sports which was produced from 1946 to 1950. It was available with a choice of 3,622cc Ford V8 or 4,375cc Mercury engines. 191 examples were produced.

J2

Sydney Allard soon saw the potential of the economically more vibrant - but sports car starved - US market and developed a special competition model to tap it, the J2. The new roadster was a potent combination of a lightweight, hand-formed aluminium body fitted with independent front suspension and de Dion type rear axle, inboard rear brakes, and designed for a Ford "flathead" V8. Allard's distinctive front suspension was produced by splitting the I-beam front axle in two to make swing axles, with long radius rods and a new feature, for their day, of inclined telescopic shock absorbers. Importing American engines just to ship them back across the Atlantic proved problematic, so US-bound Allards were soon shipped engineless and fitted out in the States variously with newer overhead valve engines by Cadillac, Chrysler, Buick, and Oldsmobile. In that form, the J2 proved a highly competitive international race car for 1950, most frequently powered by 331-cubic-inch Cadillac engines. Domestic versions for England came equipped with Ford or Mercury flatheads. Russian-American engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov, formerly of Ardun (named after founders Yura and Zora ARkus-DUNtov) where he designed and developed aluminium overhead valve hemi heads for flathead Fords, worked for Allard from 1950 to 1952 and raced for the factory Allard team at Le Mans in 1952 and 1953.

Available both in street trim and stripped down for racing, the J2 proved successful in competition on both sides of the Atlantic, including a third place overall at Le Mans in 1950 (driven by Sydney Allard himself, who also placed first in the Monte Carlo Rally in 1952 driving an Allard P1 saloon car). Of 313 documented starts in major races in the 9 years between 1949 and 1957, J2's compiled a list of 40 first-place finishes; 32 seconds; 30 thirds; 25 fourths; and 10 fifth-place finishes. Both Zora Arkus-Duntov (the first chief engineer for the Chevrolet Corvette) and Carroll Shelby (the creator of the AC Cobra) raced J2s in the early 1950s. Ninety J2s were produced between 1950 and 1952.

In an effort to extend a line growing obsolete in the face of advances in sports car design, Allard introduced an 'improved' model in late 1951, the J2X (extended). The chassis remained unchanged from the previous J2 (Tom Lush, Allard the inside story) but in an attempt to improve handling, the front suspension's rear attaching radius rods were redesigned with forward ones, which required a forward cross member and extending the nose out past the front wheels. This, in turn, allowed the engine to be moved forward, yielding more cockpit room. There is often confusion when it comes to identification of J2 and J2X types because they are seemingly very similar. However, the most obvious differences are that the J2 nose does not extend past the front tyres and has two vents below the grille, while the J2X nose has a more protruding chin with a single vent below the grille, which, as explained extends out past the front tyres. Allard historian Tom Lush, who was Sydney Allard's Personal Assistant and Allard employee from the beginning, said in his definitive book "Allard: The Inside Story" that the chin was the most obvious difference between the two models. In standard form the spare wheel was carried hidden on top of the rear-mounted fuel tank, but either version could carry one or two side mounted optional spares. This allowed the use of a 40 gallon long distance fuel tank.

Arriving later, during a time when sports racing car design was developing rapidly, the J2X was not as successful in international racing as the J2, as it was not as competitive when compared to more advanced C and later D type Jaguars, alongside Mercedes, Ferrari, and Maserati works entries. Thus, it headlined less often in major international races and of 199 documented major race starts in the 9 years between 1952 and 1960, J2X's garnered 12 first-place finishes; 11 seconds; 17 thirds; 14 fourths; and 10 fifth places.

P1

Known more often than not simply as the Allard 3.6-litre Saloon, the P1 was a five-seat, two-door sports saloon produced between 1949 and 1952. The cars used Ford engines and transmissions, and included a "Sports" model. In 1952 an Allard P1, driven by Sydney Allard himself, along with Guy Warburton, won the Monte Carlo Rally. Tom Lush was the navigator.

The P1 was the choice of professionals who wanted something different and was quite popular with doctors and solicitors in its day. Some 559 were produced during the models run. Today it is believed than less than 45 remain worldwide. Sir Greg Knight MP, the current chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Historic Vehicles Group owns a late 1952 P1.

M-Type

The M-Type was offered in 1948 and 1949 as a Drophead Coupé.

K2

The K2 is a 2-seater sports car produced from 1950 to 1952. It was offered with Ford and Mercury V8 engines in the home market and with Chrysler and Cadillac V8 engines in the USA. 119 were built.

Clipper

The 1953 Clipper was an attempt to cash in on the era's burgeoning microcar market. A tiny glass-fibre-bodied car powered by a rear-mounted 346 cc Villiers twin-cylinder motorcycle engine, it claimed to seat three people abreast with room for two children in an optional Dicky seat. About 20 were made.

Palm Beach

Allard introduced the 4- and 6-cylinder Palm Beach roadster in 1952. Built until 1958, the MkI was only available with four- or six- cylinder engines. A Mark II was introduced in 1956, it could be had with a six-cylinder 3.4-litre (3442 cc) Jaguar engine.

K3

Also in 1952, Allard adapted the Palm Beach in a K3, an attempt to offer a more civilized variant of the J2 and J2X models seen at the track. Exported to America as a potential "Corvette slayer" Dodge dealers had been clamoring for, it featured one of the most powerful engines of its era, the 331 cu. in. Chrysler hemi engine, fitted with a pair of 4-barrel carburetors. Essentially a rebodied Palm Beach, it failed to find a niche in either market in spite of its performance. Today the exceptionally rare automobile can fetch the better part of a quarter million dollars (US) at auction.

P2 Monte Carlo

The P2 Monte Carlo was a 2-door saloon variant of the K3, produced from 1952 to 1955. It utilised a wood frame with aluminium panels on a 112-inch wheelbase and was offered with 3.6-litre Ford Pilot V8 and 4.4-litre Mercury V8 engines. 11 were built.

P2 Safari

In an attempt to further extend its line, Allard adapted its P1 saloon to produce the 8-seater, wood-sided, V8-engined, P2 Safari Estate. It too found weak sales.

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Decline and attempted revival

Insufficient research and development meant that Allard failed to keep up with cheaper and more technically advanced cars. The Palm Beach was essentially a year behind its competitors, the K3 failed to live up to expectations, and the Safari Estate could not find a market.

By the mid-1950s Allard was struggling to remain solvent. The market was weak due to a late-1950s US recession.

Sydney Allard's son, Alan Allard, marketed the Allardette 105, 109, and 116, using the straight-four-cylinder engine from the Ford Anglia and other Ford models.

In 1966 Sydney Allard died on the same night that an arsonist destroyed the Clapham factory and some of the Allard Motor Company factory records. The Allard factory site in Clapham is now a housing co-operative association, but the showroom and workshop in Putney remains as a car dealership.

In 2011, a new joint venture company was formed by Alan & Lloyd Allard, the son and grandson of Sydney Allard, with Chartered Surveyor, Jason Wharton, called Allard Motor Cars Limited. Its aim was to revive the long defunct marque, by building a series of Allard continuation cars to historic period motor racing specification. This was to be followed by the production of a new Allard Speedster sports car. This venture was aborted by the parties after a dispute arose over the ownership of the trademark, which had been bought by Allard Motor Cars Limited as Bona Vacantia. At a formal hearing of the Intellectual Property Office, Cardiff, it was ruled that the trademark owned by Allard Motor Cars Limited be revoked on grounds of its non-use.

Source of the article : Wikipedia

Tires In West Palm Beach

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TBC Corporation (TBC) is an American corporation, it is one of North America's largest marketers of automotive replacement tires through a multi-channel strategy. The current President and Chief Executive Officer is Erik Olsen. Olsen also serves as Chairman of the Board.

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History

In 1956, a purchasing group of tire retailers formed Cordovan Associates. The Company changed its name to Tire & Battery Corporation in 1972. Only eleven years later, after much success, Tire & Battery Corporation went public (NASDAQ: TBCC). In 2005, the Company was purchased by Sumitomo Corporation of America (SCOA). SCOA is the largest subsidiary of Sumitomo Corporation, one of Japan's major integrated trading and investment business enterprises. TBC Corporation functions as an independent company of SCOA.

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Company Operations

TBC Corporation is one of the nation's largest vertically integrated marketers of tires for the automotive replacement market with more than 10,500 employees throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. The Company's retail operations include franchised and Company-operated tire and automotive service centers under the brands: Tire Kingdom Service Centers®, Merchant's Tire & Auto Centers®, NTB Tire and Service Centers®, Big O Tires®, Midas®, and SpeeDee Oil Change and Auto Service®.

TBC markets on a wholesale basis to regional tire chains and distributors serving independent tire dealers throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Through its Carroll Tire wholesale distribution centers, the Company also markets directly to independent tire dealers across the United States. Carroll Tire Company sells a wide variety of proprietary and national brands from 50 distribution centers.

The TBC Brands division represents 15 proprietary brands of tires throughout North America, including Multi-Mile, Sigma, Cordovan, Vanderbilt, Jetzon, Telstar, Eldorado, Sumitomo, Power King, Harvest King, Sailun, Akuret, Sentinel, National and Delta and specializes in passenger, commercial, farm, and specialty tires. All are distributed to independent retailers and wholesalers throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

The company also owns RO Writer, a fully customizable shop management software system used by independently owned automotive repair, oil change and tire shops to streamline operations. Brands controlled by the corporation include:

• TBC Brands which produces and distributes tires for sale in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
• Carroll Tire Company, a tire warehouse operation purchased in 1998.
• Midas, a franchised automotive service chain, is one of the world's largest providers of automotive service at more than 2,000 shops in 13 countries, including nearly 1,200 in the United States and Canada. Midas was purchased by TBC Corporation in 2012.
• Big O Tires, North America's largest franchise operation for automobile tires, with nearly 400 stores primarily located in the Western and Midwestern United States. Big O Tires was purchased by TBC Corporation in 1996.
• Tire Kingdom was purchased by TBC Corporation in 2000. It provides a broad range of automotive maintenance and tire services in more than 180 retail locations throughout Florida.
• Merchant's Tire and Auto was purchased by TBC Corporation in 2003. Merchant's Tire and Auto Service Centers provides a broad range of automotive maintenance and tire services in more than 120 retail locations.
• National Tire and Battery, was acquired by TBC Corporation in 2003 from Sears, Roebuck & Company. NTB Tire and Service Centers provides a broad range of automotive maintenance and tire services in more than 400 retail locations.
• R.O. Writer, is a customizable shop management software system currently used by more than 5,000 independently owned automotive repair, oil change and tire shops.
• SpeeDee Oil Change & Auto Service is a franchise-based full-service automotive care company with more than 160 shops across the United States in the Gulf Coast, Texas, Mid-Atlantic, California, and New England regions.

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Competition

• Discount Tire & America's Tire
• Driven Brands (Meineke Car Care Center & MAACO)
• AAMCO Transmissions
• Jiffy Lube International Inc
• Grease Monkey International, Inc
• Pep Boys
• Safelite Group, Inc

Source of the article : Wikipedia