In the mid-1970s, Oscar-winning director/producer Tony Bill purchased 73 Market in Venice Beach, where he created a haven for artists, writers, filmmakers, and creators to come together, collaborate, and collide. Bill’s hub, which lasted well into the ‘80s, was actually just the latest chapter in a decades-long lineage of creative innovation born on Market, a historic two-block stretch just off the boardwalk. This colorful tradition is the inspiration for NeueHouse Venice Beach, the new home for Venice’s creative community to come together under (and on) one roof. Join us for a brief foray into the rich creative legacy of our newest house, and we’ll see you later in September at NeueHouse Venice Beach.
THE LIGHT AND SPACE ARTISTS
In the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, a homegrown movement sprang up in the Market Street studios of the artists Robert Irwin and Larry Bell, one that used just the two natural elements for which Venice is famous to create groundbreaking new works of art.
MICHAEL HEIZER
One of the inventors and foremost practitioners of the movement known as Land Art, Heizer made his debut at the original ACE/Gallery on Market Street with a show of boulders nested in the concrete floor.
“MARKET STREET, THEY ALL SAY, IS SPECIAL.”
– Barbara Isenberg,
Los Angeles Times, 1977
GAGOSIAN GALLERY
In the late 70s, before he went on to take over the Art World, native Angeleno Larry Gagosian built his first LA Gallery (and living quarters) on Market Street, contained within the mind-bending architecture of visionary local architect Robert Mangurian.
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT
In 1983, the 21-year-old phenom decamped from New York and took up residence in his gallerist’s below ground living quarters on Market. Painting prolifically from sunset to morning, Basquiat produced iconic pieces, including works that encorporated materials scavenged from Market Street.
RANDY NEWMAN & THE NATURAL
During post-production for The Natural, LA icon Randy Newman holed up at 73 Market Street to compose the iconic score for the 1984 smash hit.
72 MARKET STREET OYSTER BAR & GRILL
Opened by Tony Bill and actor Dudley Moore in 1983, 72 Market Street was an early destination for visiting Hollywood royalty in Venice, beloved for its laid back atmosphere and feel good food, not to mention an in-house radio show and lecture series with pre-eminent literary figures of the day.
DOGTOWN
Smack dab at the end of Market Street, the legendary Venice Beach Skate Park is widely acknowledged as the birthplace of American skate culture—home turf for the innovators who gave birth to the now global sport and style.
