Windward Avenue Is Getting Its History Back One Parcel at a Time

The gondola at Grand Boulevard and Windward Avenue has a fresh restoration. Neighbors paid for it, a nonprofit leases the ground it sits on, and a boat craftsman who usually works in Marina del Rey did the repairs. A few doors away, one restaurant has filed plans to rebuild its own section of the covered arcade that once lined Windward Avenue. No city program is behind either one. In both cases, someone who cared about one particular piece of old Venice took on the cost and the paperwork. That seems to be the only way Venice of America has been coming back.

What $7,500 and a fenced plot bought

The Venice Stakeholders Association started asking for donations in late May 2026 to repair, repaint and restore the gondola at the Windward traffic circle. The boat is a replica, built to the same specifications as the gondolas that worked Venice's original canals between 1905 and 1929. It used to stand at the Chase Bank site on Lincoln Boulevard. It moved to Windward after the Venice Historical Society and the Stakeholders Association secured a lease on the fenced plot at the west end of the Post Office.

The boat had been restored before. Venice resident Stewart Oscars, a finish carpenter, and painter Randi Maki did that earlier work. Since then, time, salt air and constant sunlight had worn the structure down. The estimated cost of this round was $7,500. By the time of the May announcement, 20 Venetians had already contributed, and the association capped individual donations at $500.

The association said it had hired a craftsman who has repainted and restored hundreds of boats in Marina del Rey. In August, Yo! Venice reported the restoration was finished. It credited marine vessel specialist Terence Dougherty and said the work followed traditional methods for a gondola from Venice, Italy. Association president Mark Ryavec led the effort. The online record for the gondola's historical marker added a photo of the finished boat on September 17, 2026, captioned "Restored in 2026."

That makes two rounds of volunteer and donor work on the same boat on the same leased ground. The gondola has been on view at Windward since at least 2023. Each time salt air wears it down, someone in the neighborhood has to raise money to fix it.

The lagoon under the traffic circle

The location matters because Windward Circle was once the Grand Lagoon, the center of Abbot Kinney's canal network. According to the marker, Kinney imported gondolas from Venice, Italy, in 1905. He hired Arthur L. Reese, known as "The Wizard of Venice," to design and build versions of them for a gondola attraction on the lagoon. Reese later owned the boat and gondola concession, and some of his family members worked as gondoliers. The replica on display was built from Reese's design blueprints.

Then cars took over. Venice of America opened on July 4, 1905. In 1929 the original canals were filled and paved, and Lion Canal became Windward Avenue. The street you drive down to get to the beach follows the line of an old canal, and the circle you drive around was the basin where the gondolas turned.

The Venice Historical Society scheduled a celebration for Sunday, September 13, from 5 to 7 p.m. at Hama Sushi and the Gondola Garden, which the notice placed at 213 Windward Circle. The event marked both the restoration and the Society's 40th anniversary. Tickets were $125, with proceeds going to upkeep of the landmark. Councilmember Traci Park was listed as a special guest. Sonya Reese Greenland, Arthur Reese's granddaughter, was scheduled to speak about the history of the Grand Lagoon. Hama Sushi and Ōwa were listed as the food and beverage providers. I have not found a published account of the evening itself. The boat, though, is back on display.

The arcade has been a patchwork for decades

The gondola is a single object, so a few dozen donors could restore it. The arcade is a harder case, because it runs along the street and pieces of it belong to different property owners.

The Windward arcade was a covered walkway with repeating arches on detailed columns. It was modeled on Venice, Italy, and it was central to Kinney's resort in the early 20th century. Surviving sections still stand over the buildings that house Gran Blanco, Venice Beach Mart and Cafe Collage, along with parts of the boardwalk. Other frontages, including Belles Beach House, have no arcade at all.

According to the Venice Historical Society, Windward's ornate third stories and most of its columned arcades were removed in the 1960s. One arcade section was designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1991 and was demolished anyway. The Society says a Windward Historic Arcade preservation policy was later written into the Venice Local Coastal Program. The City's own Historic-Cultural Monument list still carries "Venice Arcades (including Columns)" at 67-71 Windward Avenue, with a designation date of April 23, 1991. Being designated a monument did not save that section. A policy in a planning document can encourage restoration, but it cannot rebuild an arch. Someone has to apply to build it.

In 1990 the Venice Historical Society wrote to the councilmember representing Venice. The letter described Ocean Front Walk as "scattered fragments" of its once "richly interwoven urban architecture," and it argued for the arcade in plain terms:

"The order and strength of the arcade as a unifying element within the center of the diverse fabric of Venice is both appropriate and pleasing. The arcade also provides climatic protection to pedestrians."

That letter is now attached to a 2026 planning application.

Belles Beach House filed for its piece

Belles Beach House is the retro tiki restaurant and bar at 22 E. Windward Avenue, steps from the boardwalk. Its owners have filed with City Planning to add two stories on top of the existing one-story restaurant. The new floors would extend over the Windward sidewalk and rebuild the arcade along that frontage. The plans also include a rooftop deck and would make the restaurant's outdoor dining area permanent. The City Planning case record lists the applicant as Mark and Erwin Sokol of Venice Windward LLC. A land use consultant on the project told Yo! Venice it was in the "very early stages."

The Venice Neighborhood Council's Land Use and Planning Committee had it on the August 11 agenda along with a larger project nearby, 601 Ocean Front Walk at Sunset Avenue. Neither got a vote. Here is where both stood as of the committee's October 1 status sheet:

The committee has both projects on its October 29 list. The City still shows the Belles case on hold, so the proposal could change in scope or timing. Its significance is the way it would happen. The gondola was restored because donors paid for it. If the arcade comes back on this block, it will be because one restaurant owner applied to build it, and then only for that one frontage. Each property along Windward would need its own application.

Hama Sushi, which hosts the Gondola Garden next door, has its own case in the same process. On August 11 the committee voted 8 to 0 on Hama Sushi's request that the City hold its beer-and-wine clearance until the related outdoor dining coastal permit could be considered at the same time. Both restaurants anchoring the historic end of Windward are working through permits for how they use their street frontage.

A short walk through the layers

All of this fits into a few blocks. Starting at the circle and heading toward the sand:

• The Gondola Garden at Grand Boulevard and Windward Avenue, the fenced plot at the west end of the Post Office. The restored boat and its Venice-of-America marker are here.
• Hama Sushi at 213 Windward Avenue, right next to the garden.
• Ace Market Place, where replicated pulleys recall the digging of the canals, and the Windward Circle Art Building, which partly reconstructs the old Antler's Hotel.
• The surviving arcade over Gran Blanco, Venice Beach Mart and Cafe Collage, where the columns and arches still cover the sidewalk.
• Belles Beach House at 22 E. Windward Avenue, the uncovered frontage where the rebuilt arcade would go.
• The Venice sign, hanging over the spot where Windward meets the boardwalk.

Walk it once with the history in mind and the gaps stand out. Covered sidewalk stops and starts. A traffic circle that was once a lagoon still has a boat beside it. Each surviving or restored piece traces back to a person or group who decided that one piece was worth the money and the filings.

Everyone who has lived near Windward Circle for a while knows the gondola is there. The Belles application will show whether that same neighbor-by-neighbor approach can bring back a structure that spans a sidewalk. If you'd like to know how a historic district, a coastal permit or a pending application nearby might affect a home you own or are considering in Venice, Dana Benyehuda can go through the public records with you, one address at a time. Work With Dana Benyehuda.