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., 1950s, 1930s
"The city [Los Angeles] put its stamp on Venice. The major part of the canal system was filled in and turned into roads. When the land itself became more profitable than the gambling halls and miniature trains, the city opened the land to the oil companies. The oil derricks scattered throughout now transfomed the entertainment area into an industrial park. Because of oil sewage, the Venice beach became quarantined for years. "