- City:
- Los Angeles, CA
- Site Type:
- Shelters, Parks and Recreation
- New Deal Agencies:
- Works Progress Administration (WPA), Work Relief Programs
- Quality of Information:
- Moderate
- Marked:
- Unknown
- Site Survival:
- Partially Extant
Description
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed six sets of pergolas—known as “pagodas”—along Ocean Front Walk on Venice Beach (Los Angeles, CA).
The pagodas were restored/reconstructed in 2000. The City of Los Angeles’ Venice Beach Ocean Front Walk Refurbishment Plan noted that they would “be restored in either wood or recycled wood plastic materials suitable to retain historic character and appearance of the pagodas could also allow for durability and easy, long-term maintenance [sic]. The five sets of pagodas that do exist will be fully restored. In reviewing the historic photos for Venice Beach, it is clear that the original design of the pagodas intended for them to be individually appointed. Thirty-two total umbrellas exist and would be replaced per the original plans. The design team recommends that the low walls around the pagodas also be replaced with the same historic vernacular, with individual treatments to each wall” (p. 20).
The five reconstructed sets of pagodas are located on Ocean Front Walk and Dudley Avenue, Sunset Avenue, Park Avenue, Breeze Avenue, and Clubhouse Avenue. A sixth original set, which was demolished, was located at Ocean Front Walk and Westminster Avenue.
Source notes
Pagodas on Ocean Front Walk by Marty Schatz, Venice Heritage Museum Board Member Emeritus
Carolyn Elayne Alexander & Venice Historical Society, Venice, Images of America (Mount Pleasant, SC: Arcadia, 2004), p. 79.
City of Los Angeles, Venice Beach Ocean Front Walk Refurbishment Plan (1996)
Site originally submitted by Natalie McDonald on January 24, 2023.
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