Homeless Encampments Spread to venice beach new Skid row

welcome to venice beach california where thousands and thousands of people come every summer and suck up the sun lay on the beach and enjoy the craziness what's going on on venice beach venice used to be the number one visitor spot in southern california more people used to come to venice beach than going to disneyland did you know that but all that changed what happened to venice this is on the way to venice this is venice boulevard right here and these are the structures right underneath the overpass on venice boulevard look at all those bicycle tires here team do provide some toilets here this is the carver city side normally they used to give people tickets on this side because this is the border of los angeles county and there are people trying to help those people but this is kind of danger too what happened if a fire breaks out a couple weeks ago there was a fire right here this is venice boulevard one block from the beach this guy got his own little island with the front yard i can totally understand all the neighbors the real estate is so expensive in venice they're fed up with seeing all those homeless people being right in front of their house and last week the same setup was right over here but for some reason everything burned down you can see the trees still burned so all the neighbors planted all those little cactuses so nobody can set up here anymore they put this little fence up here and this is what's left over for the encampment just a couple days later after our film to the guy had the whole island everything burnt down nobody really knows what happened but i hope nobody got hurt doing this fire here this is where the venice sign is and one block from there this is the entrance to the beach can't even walk on the sidewalk anymore [Music] buildings are art galleries for thousands and thousands of dollars they're paying rent uh home i'm harassing the homeless you're the one harassing me dude you're not supposed to do this dude those are the handball courts right next to muscle beach this is right here by the skate park hundreds and hundreds of movies were filmed down here in venice and countless of celebrities i spotted right here on the venice boat walk vendors down here that pay thousands and thousands of dollars rent just to get a spot right here on the boardwalk and then we got all those homeless encampments right across from them it's not only the problem with the homeless people it's more those mentally ill people they need medication or the ones they're on heavy drugs they're like really aggressive and it's not really safe to be down here you know my channel german inventors i love venice beach the reason why i'm in the united states is because i saw venice beach on tv all the time the rollerblader all the movies and i thought i want to be in this place but it changed so much i've been here almost 30 years and it's not what it used to be anymore well i get it the home is coming down to venice because it's much better than being in new york or in chicago venice is always sunny something has to be done this is not good for the community or venice beach [Music] million dollar houses all graffitied up and most of those people they don't want to go to a shelter because they can't bring their dog or they have to be sober they cannot drink any alcohol they just want to stay out here i heard there's a lawsuit going on right now and that's why the police can enforce everything and can't tell the people to move from the beach even if you tell them to move where could they go more and more people just camping out right here on the beach actually setting up living rooms look at this setup right here the whole living room right on the beach so many europeans say they don't want to come to venice anymore because it's not nice and they don't feel safe they rather go to santa monica and many of the tour buses don't even stop in venice anymore venice beach is a place where people can come from all over the world and express themselves with the art music or whatever you want to do venice we love it each property even the rich people can be closer to the beach and you want to sit right there right across from the hipster restaurant you paid 12 for beer and you have to sit here and smell all this and see all this this is an old folks retirement home and right in front of the door you got all those homeless people hanging out i don't think it's really a safe place for the people to go or be around those people here and if you go a little bit towards the right that's santa monica and you will not see those homeless encampment in santa monica i don't really know what the difference is how come that they can't enforce it in venice but they can enforce it in santa monica before the pandemic people were living already paycheck to paycheck and now they lost their job i think it's going to be even a bigger problem soon i mean it's so easy to lose your job and end up on the street so something has to be done i mean one thing you can be homeless but you can be neat too you don't have to be like a hoarder and put all your stuff everywhere all the stuff you don't need why don't you just throw it away this looks terrible i mean going to the restroom is already an adventure sometimes you have to deal with those people that come to your store and they steal something or sometimes they're just hanging out in front of your door sleeping in front of your door if you call the cops they never would come for a little thing like this and if they do come arrest them the next day they're gonna be right out it's gonna be the same problem the next [Music] day every weekend i see good samaritans coming down here with like toothbrush some fruit some food some drinks and they give it to the homeless it feels like they don't really need to do anything it's not going to help if you give them all stuff for free it's not really helping them to better themselves but i really don't know the solution either so i can't really tell you what to do and this is all in america this is not a third world country this is the united states of america supposed to be one of the richest countries in the world and how is this happening it's unbelievable this video should not discourage you to come to venice beach venice beach is still beautiful we got beautiful sunset birds it's just such an amazing feeling to be in venice the vibe you get so just come down and hopefully this will change in the future well that was it from beautiful venice beach california wherever you put your focus on that's what you got to show and that's why i wanted to show you the different side of venice beach that you don't get to see when you don't live here it changed a lot over the years i hope it will get better i know it's not a video to like but give it a thumbs up push the notification bell and i see you in my next video just saying from venice beach california [Music]

Channel: German in Venice

Views: 1,780,227

Rating: 4.8637915 out of 5

Keywords: german in venice, homeless, homeless encampments, skid row, santa monica, muscle beach, los angeles, california, boardwalk, tents, pandemic, residents furious over homelessness, streets of shame, clean up la project, venice residents outraged, quarantine, venice beach skid row, downtown, cracking down on homeless population, blog, vlog, what happened to venice beach, dogtown, shelter, pier, skatepark, homeless problem, sleeping on the streets, fire, homeless camp, public health issue, ktla

Id: yzWSowCz_Ow

Length: 11min 17sec (677 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 15 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Mechalamb]

Serious question, did something major change a few years ago? I remember going to dtla one night maybe 3 years ago and feeling like the homeless situation had gotten markedly worse from the years before. I've been in LA almost 20 yrs and have never seen it like this.

[u/gigitee]

I grew up in Venice and live in West LA now. I used to feel sad that I couldn't afford to buy a place where I grew up. Every time I ride through on my bike or visit friends in Venice, I am disgusted by what I see. I am empathetic on one hand, but this shit is out of control. I wouldn't move back to Venice now at this point.

[u/dynamobb]

1. How is it that the city law that allows these encampments hasn’t been sued for ADA compliance? If you use a chair or are blind some sidewalks are totally inaccessible to you. This is the same beef I had with the scooters, totally messed up.

2. Why does he emphasize how much people in Venice pay in rent or their property values? It’s like the suggestion is it’s okay if ppl in South and East LA have to deal with encampments by their homes. In a sense, I’m glad they’re in Venice because it would get a fraction of the attention if this stuff was contained to Crenshaw and Slauson.

[u/of-the-ash]

It's not just the beach, this is all over Electric/Hampton too. My gf refuses to walk anywhere alone after I got chased on my bike. Feels like every hour we're getting a Citizen notification of some wild shit going on in the area.

[u/donutgut]

To anyone mad at residents complaining, you should realize sympathy has waned the past few years now. Blocking sidewalks, doing drugs in broad daylight, throwing trash everywhere, starting fires etc is going to piss people off. You don't have the right to burn shit because you're homeless.

[u/davidroseirl]

"That's the old passage to Ravenholm Venice Beach. We don't go there anymore."

[u/Bright_Hope_7451]

Things will change they always do. I myself was homeless and Venice is where I was a few years back. Thanks to outreach I'm in interim housing and hopefully in permanent housing soon now that I have my voucher. I am and always will be so thankful to Los Angeles for assisting me in my survival and betterment. I never created this kind of mess. My things were neat and tidy and no tent up in the day. Cops enforced the wake up time and tent up time at night as well as three foot rule for sidewalk use. I can't express how grateful I was to anyone offering me a water or some food even a joint. I'll always love Venice and hopefully remain on the westside I love it. Santa Monica has even become more tolerable of tents lately. I have compassion and hope the homeless will take the help that is out there. It's no way to live. I'm taking care of my mental health and drug free. I started going to methadone clinic in Venice when I was homeless and am still in recovery. I have no desire to use or be on the streets. Methamphetamine is a huge problem and pushers live in tents and motorhomes as well so they can provide the drug. It keeps everyone awake, agitated and paranoid and leads to violence. Bike drug. Hope to see better days soon for all of us.

[u/beastson1]

I actually haven't been to Venice in quite a while. Did the homeless people completely take over the little vendor spaces they had there?

[u/joncornelius]

I have lived in LA for 10 years now and in the time I have lived all over; Hollywood, West LA, Mid-City, Echo Park. I am very sympathetic to the homeless problem. I don’t know what the right solution is. But, I took a walk around Echo Park Lake for the first time in a while today and it has gotten exceptionally bad. What was once a cluster of tents on the north side of the lake pre pandemic has spiraled into a full on dust bowl era shanty town with semi permanent structures and a community garden.

Like I said, I don’t know what the answer is and quite frankly as a 30 year old male I don’t feel terribly unsafe in the park during the day. But idk how any reasonable person can expect the families in this community to just be ok with that being the state of the park their children are supposed to play in.

EDIT: I just wanted to clarify that this guys video of Venice Beach and my account of the state of EPL are just snapshots of what is happening literally ALL OVER LA county.