Waiting for the late baby, I had time to notice the streets of Venice. It isn’t really surprising that a city that was originally a pleasure park, with canals crafted after the developer had been to Venice, has it’s wacky aspects. The slideshow provides a few:
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I also had time to head over to MOCA, and see a rather disappointing show of Weegee, the pseudonym for Arthur Fellig, a photographer who became famous for his raw, artistic crime photography in NY in the 30’s and 40’s. He came to LA in the 50’s and as the show demonstrates, became rather a caricature of himself, doing lots of trick photography, hobnobbing with the stars, and appearing as a bit player in several films. There were only a few images from this show that I liked–this tricky one of himself (he was a shameless self-promoter):
This one of Marlene Dietrich as literally all legs:
And this shot of the entrance to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s Studio.
But if you really want to get a feel for his best work, just look for him in Google (or Goodsearch) images.
I have only been to Venice once and it was for a very short time. I didn’t know about the canals. Thanks for taking me on a tour!
Another reader emailed me to ask if there are gondolas in these canals. Actually, yes! I saw one gondola, a big red and yellow one. Another day, I saw two people in the gondola, trying to paddle with a skateboard! They were having a hard time, and I commented on how odd that seemed, and the woman said that someone had stolen the oars.