EXCLUSIVE: It s become an outdoor psychiatric ward! How California s scenic Venice Beach has become a homeless hotspot with tent cities, violent crime and rampant drug use pushing families and tourists out
Venice Beach, California, is known as a tourist hotspot with an iconic boardwalk filled with tarot card readers, tattooists, wannabe rappers and the artists trying to make a buck by selling their work
But visitors numbers have decreased as they have to contend with an ever-growing army of homeless and the crime that accompanies them
The homeless have abandoned downtown LA s Skid Row for Venice Beach where a city of tents are set up along the boardwalk and on the sand
California s Venice Beach where Paul Hogan lives becomes a homeless hotspot with tents dailymail.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dailymail.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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The fire began at 3 a.m., quickly destroying the clapboard bungalow two blocks from Venice Beach. The tenant was away for the night, but her dog, Togo, succumbed after his howls of panic and pain left helpless neighbors with a memory they can’t forget.
While arson investigators have yet to determine a cause in the April 20 blaze, traumatized neighbors quickly linked it to a rash of fires in Venice’s growing homeless camps.
“We may never know for sure what happened,” next-door neighbor Francesca Padilla wrote in an impassioned email to dozens of city officials. “What we know for sure is that around my home and the school across the street from it there are people cooking on sidewalks and RV kitchenettes, burning fires to keep warm, using generators for electricity, living out of their cars, smoking and using drugs in makeshift shacks and tents.”
Angela McGregor, Venice Current / SMDP Staff Writer
Almost 100 community members stood in front of a photo of Togo Sunday and lit candles at sunset in honor the dog who lost his life in an early morning blaze believed to have been started by homeless individuals.
The vigil was held on Venice Beach by friends of Togo and his owner Dr. Courtney Gillenwater.
During the vigil – friends of Togo described the 80-pound, eight-month-old husky mix as, “the kind of dog who considered you a member of his pack the moment he met you.” Gillenwater described Togo as “a talker” smart, funny and a fantastic running companion.