Venice Boulevard was once a jumble of different names. In Venice itself (see Abbot Kinney Blvd. for some history) it was originally called Center Street at the beach and Saint Marks Boulevard – inspired by Venice, Italy’s Piazza San Marco – a couple blocks inland. East of Penmar it was variously known as Electric Boulevard and Electric Avenue because the Pacific Electric Railway chugged along it. In Palms it was called Front Street. And between present-day La Cienega and DTLA it was plain old West 16th Street. The road’s western stretch was renamed “Pico Boulevard” in 1912. Three years later, when the Pico Boulevard you know and love today was being extended out to Santa Monica, this one obviously needed a new name. The “Venice Boulevard” idea was hatched back in 1912 by Venetians to consolidate Saint Marks with part of Electric. The full 13-mile-long rebranding, which wasn’t completed until 1938, was championed by Culver City founder Harry H. Culver, who obviously saw benefits in a Venice-themed thoroughfare abutting his town. Ironically, Venice’s Center Street was one of the last bits to adopt the Venice Boulevard name.
Find it on the map:
