Was there puppy killer in our midst in 2016? Photo: Thinkstock.
9:56am
Taking a look back at the year that was in Venice Beach 2016…
A dead dog found chained to a shovel wedged into the sand at Mother’s Beach in Marina del Rey sent shockwaves through the neighborhood in March this year.
Many feared a puppy murderer was in our midst. Both the LA County Board of Supervisors and PETA offered rewards, for information leading to the arrest of the dogs’ killer.
In the end, there was a bizarre twist to the tale when a homeless man walked into the Sheriff’s Department looking for his dead dog. He said he had left attached to a shovel to in the Marina overnight. His reason? The dog had been hit by a car and died. Mourning the loss of his canine companion, he’d decided to wash the dog in the overnight high tide and had planned to test out his taxidermist skills in the hope of keeping his fur buddy around for, well, fur-ever.
Also in March, surfers discovered the decomposing human remains of missing 22-year-old Bakersfield man, Anibar Guana, floating in the waters off Venice Beach.
Shortly after he finished up his morning surf, Ethan Lovell received a text from fellow surfer Doug Michaels which read, “…right after you guys got out a body came floating around the Breakwater near the lineup, gnarly…”
On Ocean Ave., neighbors had the blues. Big bus blues. Route changes within Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus network saw Route 1 buses traveling down one of Venice’s favorite cut-throughs, linking Venice and Washington boulevards. Decreased safety, increased noise were some of the concerns. However, neighbors made the most noise, and the Big Blue Bus decided to take a new route.
A more welcome sight in Venice was The Wall That Heals, that stretched across Windward Plaza. The monument was a half-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. designed to travel to communities throughout the United States.
George Francisco, President of the Venice Chamber of Commerce, said the Wall was an opportunity to reflect on the sacrifices made by our Veterans. While also allowing “an opportunity to consider the effects that war has had on our veterans and how we can help those who are most in need.”
Here’s what happened in April.
