Venice Beach, California, has always been a home for freaks. It was built for freakish reasons–to resemble Venice, Italy which it doesn’t at all–and was captured on film by freaky genius filmmakers; Orson Welles used it to sub for Tiajuana in ‘Touch of Evil’, Charlie Chaplin filmed ‘Kid Auto Races in Venice’ there in 1915, the Coen Brothers shot ‘The Big Lebowski’ in Venice etc –the list is long. My introduction to Venice as a young man was through a freaky friend of mine who played 1920s piano, listened exclusively to 1920s 78rpm recordings, wore funny 1920s hats etc. I briefly lived there in the early 1990s–I was there less than a year so don’t consider myself a true freak of Venice though God knows I have all the makings of one–and I must say I recall the neighborhood much more fondly than I do any of the other scattered neighborhoods I’ve resided in L.A. over the years. Above is a film clip reel of freaky things happening in Venice in the 1920s and 30s. If tightrope-walking goats are your idea of fun you’re in for a treat.