Venice Canal Historic District

Six canals in the Venice area of Los Angeles form this district, which covers the public rights of way rather than the private houses beside them. Laid out in 1905 as the Short Line Beach Venice Canal Subdivision Number 1, the system includes four parallel canals about 1,100 feet long, a bordering Grand Canal and Eastern Canal. The channels have a trapezoidal cross section lined with clay, with concrete banks and walks, four concrete vehicular bridges and nine wooden pedestrian bridges. Railway executives Moses Sherman and Eli Clark sponsored the development, which was patterned after Venice, Italy and tied to the Venice Short Line railway. The canals to the north were filled and paved starting in 1929, which leaves this group as the major surviving portion of the system. The canals have kept their basic design since 1905, though silt, pollution and aging bridges have taken a toll. Adjacent housing is a mix of eras and was excluded from the boundary.