Marty Liboff All Aboard the Tram Free Venice Beachhead, 394, August 2014, p. 7
When Abbot Kinney opened his Venice of America in 1905, he had a small steam train running around the canals. On the Venice Ocean Front there were wicker basket trams that were pushed from behind by people power. (A good idea for today?)
By 1920 the trams were electric battery powered. They ran from Windward Ave. and the Venice Pier, to the Ocean Park Pier, and then to the Santa Monica Pier, and back. Believe it or not, when I was a kid, the Ocean Front Walk continued straight to the Santa Monica Pier with the shops, homes and hotels just like in Venice.
(Continued 1950s, 1960s)
Marty Liboff uses four postcards to illustrate this article:
Roller Chairs on the Boardwalk, Venice, California
One of the Tram Cars on Cement Walk, Venice—Ocean Park—Santa Monica, Calif.
V.28 Daily Crowds in front of Bath House, Venice, California
Ocean Park Pier—Dome Theatre