Marty Liboff P.O.P. by the Sea Free Venice Beachhead, September 2014, p. 7
Let us go back before Venice even existed. Abbot Kinney and a few of his business partners as early as 1895 had developed parts of the northern borders of what is now Venice and south Santa Monica. This area was called Ocean Park, and they built houses, gambling casinos and a pier. Kinney had a falling out with his partners and they flipped a coin to see who would stay and who would go. Abbot Kinney lost the toss and he moved his dreams a little ways south. His dreams later transformed into a fantastic Venice of America with his own pier and a complete recreation of Venice Italy with canals and classical Italian style buildings. It opened in 1905.