Dogtown

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This article covers the city / area of Dogtown ; for the film of the same name, see Dogtown (film) .

Dogtown is the area around the former Pacific Ocean Park Pier called by the residents of Venice ( Los Angeles , California ) . The “ghetto by the sea” is often referred to in connection with Dogtown because the crime rate is very high.

history

After Pacific Ocean Park , a well-known amusement park in Venice , had to close in the 1960s, remains of steel and concrete remained and opened up a meeting place for young surfers / surfers . Inland from the pier is Dogtown , a small neighborhood that marks the end of the well-known Route 66 and was particularly known for its high crime rate and impoverished residents. It was exactly the opposite of the upscale Santa Monica next door and was therefore generally avoided. Racial or cultural differences between Latinos , punks , surfers / surfers, artists , Afro-Americans and whites were the order of the day and thus also formed a mentality.

In Dogtown, today's skateboarding was decisively influenced by athletes such as Stacy Peralta , Tony Alva and Jay Adams . The sport, which was declared dead at the time, found a resurrection in the aesthetic as it can still be found and practiced today. Dogtown is therefore a central theme in the documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys from 2001 and the feature film Lords of Dogtown from 2005. Also famous is the unofficial logo of Dogtown, the cross, which is made up of the horizontally written word "DOG" and the vertically written word "TOWN".

Naming

Skip Engblom , former owner of the Zephyr Surf Shop, described the origin of the name as follows (quote & exact translation from the documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys ):

“It was August, the dog days, it was hot, I was drunk (.....), I went to Craig ( Stecyk ) 'Hey, this is really one of the dog days!' and he went 'Yeah, this is really a dog town!' and I went 'Yeah, this is really is a dog town!' and he said 'You know we live in dogtown!' (....) "

"It was August, the dog days, it was hot, I was drunk (.....), I went over to Craig ( Stecyk ) (and said) 'Hey Craig, this really is one of those dog days!' and he replied 'Yes, this really is a dog town!' whereupon I said 'Yes, this is really a dog town!' and he replied 'Do you know that we live in Dogtown?' (....) "

Dogtown is not an official one, but a nickname used by residents of the area, which is still in use today, but has never been mentioned in a document.

See also

• Venice Beach
• Zephyr team

Coordinates: 34 ° 0 ′ 26.5 "  N , 118 ° 29 ′ 21.3"  W.