By Laura Medina
Before Coachella morphed into very much commercialized, Spring Ritual behemoth, that other music festivals are trying or dying to live up to, there was the Venice Art Crawl. The hippy granddad to Coachella's pseudo-hippies or Bourgeois Bohemians, hippies who know how to make money.
Let's get back to basic.
Before Coachella the Bobo/Spring Ritual Bacchanal (this scribe isn't complaining), there were pure artists using the Spring Equinox, the Vernal Equinox (not the gym chain) to raise funds to further their authentic alternative living on what used to be cheap Venice.
Uh, not anymore.
Coachella isn't about struggling artists, unless they're grateful for the corporate sponsorship and the promotions. Well, Venice Art Crawl isn't in Venice anymore due to raising rent and cramped space and no parking.
They may have moved to the more spacious, roomier, newer Runway event venue at Playa Vista, yes "Silicon Beach," but their heart is still in Venice.
Abbot Kinney ex-stalwart, Hal's Bar & Grill followed it's former locals to Playa Vista and taken root there.
These ex-Venetians haven't forgotten those rich enough to be left behind in Venice. It threw a fundraising dinner with an one-night-only menu for artists struggling with the rent.
For those who can only afford the fundraising art sale, there are hors d'oeuvres that fulfill all taste spectrum, from vegan mushroom toast to bacon-wrapped figs to collagen-enriched shrimp cocktails.
It's still rock n' roll with iconography of rock n' roll and blues legends, being used to raise huge funds. See, it's a precursor to Coachella.
Music sculpture...
The chill tent lounge, any shade is welcoming after Coachella...
Yes, it's the more localized version to the huge concert-turned-season signaler but it still remembers its roots; and it never forget where it came from.
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