Huffstutter's original 1960 photo of Venice West Cafe, Calif
Originally uploaded by roberthuffstutter
Let me simply say that when I got off the bus and walked down to Venice West more than 50 years ago, it was a different scene. I will never forget the thrill of smelling the variety of different foods drifting out of the small delis and cafes.
I was fascinated by the elderly, bundled up on the benchs, speaking the language of Eastern Europe. I was fascinated by the women and men in their mid-20s who smiled at me as though they had secrets I knew nothing about but would discover if I remained. They were artists, lovers, musicians, poets, writers, employees of the City, unemployed men and women, fry-cooks, donut bakers, street sweepers, alcoholics who had been hiding out since the Korean War, people with clothing that looked like it was from the 40s, youth like myself who had come to Venice to be cool and get drunk and party all night at the St Marks Hotel and then write poetry about being beat and send post cards back to our friends and tell them to come out and get drunk with us, sun and fun lovers, chicks with bodies that slipped out of the covers of the latest Playboy, guys showing off their abs at Muscle Beach, old people who smiled at everyone and called everyone by name.
That was the Venice I arrived in or at fifty years ago--before they tore the cool buildings down, before they poured concrete where bungalows had been, International VIllage with all the cool but closed restauraunts. Oh, the liquor stores, there were lots of liquor stores and they were always running out of muscatel and paper bags. But that is all history now, right?
Right, it is gone now. And nobody had a lot of time back then for painting names on stuff because people were writing poetry and trying to write the great American novel all over again. There were lots of writers who were writers and lots of people who talked about writing. And there was the old Venice West Cafe where there were really poetry readings by candlelight every night that was so cool we could hardly wait to read our own stuff. The old chairs and tables, the espresso machine, that strong, magic smell of espresso that I have never come across again in fifty years.
Yes, that was Venice West. I lived on Paloma Street and I am glad I caught a corner of the beat scene before it was gone forever.
By Robert L. Huffstutter
There are times when my memory fails me when it comes to the name of the hotel mentioned, but I do believe it was the St. Marks Hotel. It was the old hotel in the south end of Venice.
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Huffstutter's original 1960 photo of Venice West Cafe, Calif
Uploaded by roberthuffstutter on 11 Mar 09, 8.02AM PST.
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