Horst Schmidt-Brümmer Venice, California: An Urban Fantasy, Grossman Publishers: NY, (English trans., Feelie Lee) 1973 (Original German Text Verlag Ernst Wasmuth: Tubingen, 1972), 108 pp., 1904
"In 1904 Abbot Kinney began to implement his vision of an American Renaissance. With his wealth he attempted to recreate an Italian Venice in an American setting . . . Kinney's dream to establish the new Venice as a cultural center failed. Venice deteriorated into an amusement park, an early Disneyland frequented by hordes of weekend pleasure-seekers."