By Greta Cobar

The very last two historic houses on OFW are about to be torn down.
According to the Notice of Public Hearing posted on the Speedway side of the 811-815 Ocean Front Walk properties:
“Permit for the demolition of two existing residential buildings containing a total of nine dwelling units, and the construction of a new 35-foot tall, 2,691 square-foot restaurant on the ground-floor with two residential units above totaling 8,456 square feet.”
“Conditional use to permit the dispensing of a full line of alcoholic beverages for on-site consumption in conjunction with 100 seats having operating hours between 8am to 1am Friday and Saturday and 8am to 12 midnight Sunday through Thursday.”
The Notice does not mention where the patrons or the employees will park. It also fails to take into consideration the illegal, selectively enforced curfew now in effect on OFW between midnight and 5am. How are the customers and employees going to exit the restaurant after midnight? Speedway is not pedestrian-friendly and is overall less safe than OFW.
Furthermore, Venice already has the highest concentration of liquor licenses in the L.A. County – 33 per square mile, compared to an average of four in the rest of the county. A year ago there were 108 alcohol licenses in Venice, and there are probably more now. That equates to one license per 370 people. The Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) regulation is one per 2000 people at the most. The public has been supportive of a ban on new liquor licenses in Venice, with our elected representative ignoring us. To sign a petition advocating for a moratorium on alcohol licenses in Venice, go to: http://chn.ge/1ALHgdn.
The trend in Venice over-development has been to maximize square footage of all projects by building to the edge of the property line and by maximizing height. The market value stands at $1250 per square foot of new development. That raises the property value and therefore the amount of tax paid on the properties. And all that tax money goes to the city of Los Angeles to do whatever it wants with, such as cover the salaries of our City Council representatives, who happen to be the highest-paid city reps in the country. Do you now see why our City Council representative Mike Bonin has been supporting over-development in Venice although the people he represents, and who elected him, bitterly oppose it? He’s working for the greedy city of Los Angeles, not for Venice. The more over-development is built here in Venice, the more tax money Los Angeles collects. Do you agree that we need cityhood?
The proposed project for 811-815 OFW lists John Reed as the Representative. The public hearing will take place on Thursday, June 11 at 10:30am at the Hearing Office of Zoning Administration, West L.A. Municipal Building, second floor, hearing room. The address is: 1645 Corinth Ave., L.A., CA 90025.
The hideous wave of over-development not coincidentally started in Oakwood, targeting the less-affluent, minority residents of Venice. However, in no time it moved further and further West, now beginning to hit OFW itself – the last line in the sand.

Above: 811 and 815 OFW, built in 1905

Photo: Greta Cobar