It’s actually really strange to visit Los Angeles and Venice because in most places, people are excited to see RVs. RVs mean big tourist dollars in most places, but the culture and lack of RV parks in LA/Venice guarantees that the rich RVers skip the city entirely, so all that remains are the folks with no money and ugly old rigs. It’d be simple to solve the problem, I think, by letting extended stay RV parks exist outside of the normal hotel tax requirements. I’ve noticed some cities do that, and I’ve also noticed that LA has much higher than average occupancy taxes, so I think there’s some unintended consequences happening there. But, real estate prices may also be a contributing factor, though San Diego has some great parks with fair prices in reasonably good locations within the city, and the real estate there isn’t dramatically cheaper than LA, so I don’t think that’s a complete explanation.

You mentioned in the article that you spoke to Kenn. He was the guy with long blond hair and a beard. Lived with his wife in a little Dodge Rally. I heard he was killed recently. Venice is nice, but if you stay here long enough you’ll discover it has an ugly underbelly.

Some communities (notably, Laguna Beach and Santa Barbara, CA; Eugene, OR) are addressing these issues head-on. Venice is trying to figure it out, with L.A. in tow. Our current times call for equal doses of patience, persistence and positive focus on common goals. I’m grateful for blogs such as this, as they shine the light from an angle we might otherwise miss.

We need to get our priorities straight here.

I don’t understand. I do pay taxes. I pay California income tax, federal income tax, and I paid several thousand dollars in state sales tax on my RV, plus more than $500 in registration fees and tags. When I was staying in the Los Angeles area, I was paying sales tax on all of the goods I purchased, and I paid several hundred dollars to city and state parks for parking (Venice Beach city beach park, Dockweiler State Beach, Huntingon Beach, etc.). Every time I fill my tank, I’m paying a significant portion in taxes. I’m not in a particularly high tax bracket at the moment, since my startup is still getting ramped up and so I don’t make a huge amount of money, but I definitely pay taxes on all of it.

What, specifically, do you have a problem with about my post? What do you believe I’ve suggested that would bother you, as a (presumed) resident of Venice? Have you actually read it, or did you just read the title and look at the picture and think you already know what it was going to say?

Also, I will point out that the RVers I met seemed more true to the historic culture of Venice than the more gentrified folks I met living in the fancy new condos and townhomes. It seems to me that if you want to live that sort of lifestyle, you should live in a place where that lifestyle is the culture of the place. There are many such places all around Los Angeles. Santa Barbara, Long Beach, and others had very few hippies and RVers and very little drug culture, etc. Those folks aren’t there to spite you, they’re there because it’s their kind of place. If you have a problem with the culture of Venice, maybe you’re in the wrong place.

Soon the laws will be changed and enforced, rendering this blog post useless. Thank god.