Tom Moran and Tom Sewell Fantasy by the Sea Peace Press: Culver City, CA, 1980 (1979) (Originally published by Beyond Baroque Foundation with a grant from the Visual Arts Program of the National Endowment for the Arts), 1910s
"Venice politics became a stormy battleground for several diverse interests. The Abbot Kinney Company, Kinney's wholly-owned amusement and real estate firm, was a powerful local influence. Kinney, with the backing of the local Chamber of Commerce, sponsored his own slate of candidates for public office. They took the name of the Good Government League, a nationwide reform group, and usually advocated tolerance toward the amusement interests of Venice. They were strong supporters of women's suffrage and backed women candidates for the Board of Trustees as early as 1912 . . .
"Kinney's old partners from the earlier Ocean Park development, Fraser, Jones and Gage, were wealthy men, and they harbored a long-standing animosity toward Kinney. They held sway over the Board of Trustees during the developmental years of the city and took every available opportunity to thwart their former partner's plans.
" . . .
"Kinney's Good Government candidates forced the Ocean Park-supported trustees out of office in 1908 and controlled the Board of Trustees into the early 1920s. An opposition party, the Citizen's Protective League, formed by Thomas Aisbett, campaigned for prohibition of alcoholic beverages, a ban on bathing beauty and "yama yama" girl parades, an end to cafe dancing, a ban on boxing matches, and censorship of bathing attire on the local beaches. The League drew support from the local clergy and some of the year-round residential population but never won an elective seat.
"The Venice elections were hard and bitterly fought political exercises that divided the city into two warring camps. The amusement supporters were not above using bands and calliope music to drown out opposition speakers' words. The Venice Vanguard, a local newspaper, offered to start a collection to pay Aisbett's way out of town and the reform leader was hanged in effigy on Windward Avenue with a placard on his chest reading, "poor dumb toadstool-went out and lost his cool."
"Charges of fraud, forged signatures and miscounting were commonly leveled at election time . . .
"The most common practice was called "colonization." Prior to an election, each side would import and register to vote as many potential supporters as possible. Construction crews, waiters and itinerants were offered free lodging and work until the polls closed . . .
"The political intrigue of Venice went deeper than ordinary election-eve fever. Alleged corruption was regular newpaper fare, with stories of local officials accepting bribes, misappropriating public property and failing to enforce the law . . .
"The needs of an amusement town devoted to providing a good time for all who visited it often ran counter to both the law and the desires of a more staid growing residential population. Gambling dens and brothels existed as did such "lesser evils" as roll-down games, chuck-a-luck and "razzle-dazzle." Public officials and law enforcement officers often found it best for Venice's and their own personal interests to turn their heads from these activities."