{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://veniceheritagemuseum.aviaryplatform.com/iiif/mg7fq9rx0b/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["Laddie John Dill, 2/21/23"]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/497/original/VHM_Aviary_banner.png?1768074560","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Description"]},"value":{"en":["Laddie John Dill is a Venice- associated artist and member of the California Light and Space Movement."]}},{"label":{"en":["Language"]},"value":{"en":["English"]}},{"label":{"en":["Preferred Citation"]},"value":{"en":["Name of interviewee, date; The Venice Heritage Museum Oral Histories Project; Venice Heritage Museum, Los Angeles, CA."]}},{"label":{"en":["Publisher"]},"value":{"en":["Venice Heritage Museum"]}},{"label":{"en":["Rights Statement"]},"value":{"en":["Copyright © 2024 Venice Heritage Museum"]}},{"label":{"en":["Format"]},"value":{"en":["MP4"]}},{"label":{"en":["Identifier"]},"value":{"en":["OH_008"]}},{"label":{"en":["Keyword"]},"value":{"en":["Venice Beach"]}},{"label":{"en":["Access Ss"]},"value":{"en":["access_public"]}}],"summary":{"en":["Laddie John Dill is a Venice- associated artist and member of the California Light and Space Movement."]},"requiredStatement":{"label":{"en":["Attribution"]},"value":{"en":["Copyright © 2024 Venice Heritage Museum"]}},"provider":[{"id":"https://veniceheritagemuseum.aviaryplatform.com/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["Venice Heritage Museum"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://veniceheritagemuseum.aviaryplatform.com/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["Venice Heritage Museum"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/497/original/VHM_Aviary_banner.png?1768074560","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/242/861/small/LaddieJohn_Dill.mp4_1718830387.jpg?1718830391","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://veniceheritagemuseum.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2416/collection_resources/129349/file/242861","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 1 - Laddie_John_Dill_.mp4"]},"duration":704.10667,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/242/861/small/LaddieJohn_Dill.mp4_1718830387.jpg?1718830391","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://veniceheritagemuseum.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2416/collection_resources/129349/file/242861/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://veniceheritagemuseum.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2416/collection_resources/129349/file/242861/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-veniceheritagemuseum.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/242/861/original/Laddie_John_Dill_.mp4?1718830379","type":"Video","format":"video/mp4","duration":704.10667,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://veniceheritagemuseum.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2416/collection_resources/129349/file/242861","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://veniceheritagemuseum.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2416/collection_resources/129349/file/242861/transcript/68047","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["Laddie John Dill Transcript [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://veniceheritagemuseum.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2416/collection_resources/129349/file/242861/transcript/68047/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"00:00:08:23 - 00:00:14:10\nDate of birth 9-14-1943.\n\n00:00:14:10 - 00:00:19:01\nI moved to Venice in 1969.\n\n00:00:19:01 - 00:00:21:05\nI remember the first day I moved here.\n\n00:00:21:05 - 00:00:26:18\nI rented a space above the\rTownhouse Bar on Windward Avenue.\n\n00:00:26:18 - 00:00:27:19\nTownhouse Bar\n\n00:00:27:19 - 00:00:30:04\nin those days, was just alchy bar.\n\n00:00:30:04 - 00:00:31:14\nOpened at 6 a.m..\n\n00:00:31:14 - 00:00:33:12\nThere was a line, you know.\n\n00:00:33:12 - 00:00:34:17\nVery quiet though.\n\n00:00:34:17 - 00:00:36:22\nThese guys just drank and passed out.\n\n00:00:36:22 - 00:00:38:09\nThat was really fun, too.\n\n00:00:38:09 - 00:00:40:01\nI mean, it was great.\n\n00:00:40:01 - 00:00:44:01\nSmall community oriented.\n\n00:00:44:01 - 00:00:48:11\nUhmmm...  The boardwalk is not\rwhat it is now, you know?\n\n00:00:48:11 - 00:00:51:13\nAnd, uh...there was a very, uh...\n\n00:00:51:13 - 00:00:56:07\nthere was a Jewish community here,\ryou know, of, of Auschwitz survivors.\n\n00:00:56:07 - 00:00:58:21\nYou know, the guy had a deli down here.\n\n00:00:58:21 - 00:01:01:18\nIt was just a smaller community and\n\n00:01:01:18 - 00:01:03:19\nit was kind of magical.\n\n00:01:03:19 - 00:01:07:10\nOut my back window, uhmmm... was a view\n\n00:01:07:10 - 00:01:11:16\nof what, well, now, is the Irwin Hotel.\n\n00:01:11:16 - 00:01:14:03\nI walked downstairs\n\n00:01:14:03 - 00:01:18:10\nand I ran into Roger Webster.\n\n00:01:18:10 - 00:01:20:03\nI never met him before.\n\n00:01:20:03 - 00:01:23:22\nAnd he really a great guy, actually.\rVery intelligent man.\n\n00:01:23:22 - 00:01:27:22\nAnd we're halfway\rthrough a 15 minute conversation.\n\n00:01:27:22 - 00:01:31:07\nHe goes, I'm going to have to\rleave you now because I'm really\n\n00:01:31:07 - 00:01:35:09\npeaking on acid\rand we can continue this later.\n\n00:01:35:09 - 00:01:38:08\nYou know, so we've known\reach other for 60 years.\n\n00:01:38:08 - 00:01:39:17\nYou know.\n\n00:01:39:17 - 00:01:44:00\nWe all know about Roger\rand his real estate.\n\n00:01:44:00 - 00:01:46:08\nI never really rented anything from Roger\n\n00:01:46:08 - 00:01:49:08\nuntil the last few years.\n\n00:01:49:08 - 00:01:53:19\nBut, uh, these guys would, you know,\rthey pick up a building for $25,000.\n\n00:01:53:19 - 00:01:59:04\nYou could buy a lot for $15,000\rwhen I first moved here.\n\n00:01:59:04 - 00:02:00:19\nThey wouldn't do a thing to it.\n\n00:02:00:19 - 00:02:02:10\nThey just buy a building.\n\n00:02:02:10 - 00:02:04:15\nAnd artists were the best thing.\n\n00:02:04:15 - 00:02:09:16\nBecause artists are intelligent people\n\n00:02:09:16 - 00:02:14:21\nand have no problem\rfixing it up on the interior, you know.\n\n00:02:14:21 - 00:02:16:13\nSo these guys had it made.\n\n00:02:16:13 - 00:02:19:06\nIt was cheap space...\n\n00:02:19:06 - 00:02:21:03\nThe, the ocean\n\n00:02:21:03 - 00:02:25:14\nwas a perk, but it was not the criteria.\n\n00:02:25:14 - 00:02:30:16\nWe were lucky enough to get, like,\rembraced into the community in a sense,\n\n00:02:30:16 - 00:02:31:09\nyou know.\n\n00:02:31:09 - 00:02:35:04\nUh...there was, uh, also an amusement park\n\n00:02:35:04 - 00:02:38:21\nuh, that uh, that came right off of,\ruh, right over here.\n\n00:02:38:21 - 00:02:44:00\nBlock over, I think\rand, uhmmm, Pacific Ocean Park.\n\n00:02:44:00 - 00:02:47:23\nAnd there were spaces in there\rthat this guy was renting\n\n00:02:47:23 - 00:02:51:12\nalong what they called International Land.\n\n00:02:51:12 - 00:02:55:17\nSo, uh, for a while there,\rwe just used them temporarily.\n\n00:02:55:17 - 00:02:57:19\nI remember Ron Cooper was in there.\n\n00:02:57:19 - 00:03:00:19\nMy brother, Guy was in there.\n\n00:03:00:19 - 00:03:04:00\nHe had a Chinese restaurant\n\n00:03:04:00 - 00:03:04:22\n(laughs)\n\n00:03:04:23 - 00:03:06:11\nwith nothing in it\n\n00:03:06:11 - 00:03:12:09\nyou know, and a bathroom with 14 toilets,\ryou know, that kind of thing.\n\n00:03:12:09 - 00:03:15:09\nAnd you could go out the\rback and it was like,\n\n00:03:15:09 - 00:03:18:07\nit was a totally abandoned amusement park.\n\n00:03:18:07 - 00:03:21:10\nWhat happened was POP went  bankrupt\n\n00:03:21:10 - 00:03:24:22\nand neither the city of Santa Monica\n\n00:03:24:22 - 00:03:29:17\nor the city of Los Angeles wanted\rto claim it.  It was right on the border.\n\n00:03:29:17 - 00:03:34:04\nAnd because if they claimed it,\rthey'd have to renovate it\n\n00:03:34:04 - 00:03:38:19\nor tear it down or just millions,\ryou know, just to do it.\n\n00:03:38:19 - 00:03:41:15\nUh, so it was catch 22.\n\n00:03:41:15 - 00:03:44:01\nSo it was there for quite a while.\n\n00:03:44:01 - 00:03:49:09\nThen one night it caught fire\rand they had this big\n\n00:03:49:09 - 00:03:51:07\nfiberglass\n\n00:03:51:07 - 00:03:55:06\nvolcano at the end\rwith fake smoke coming out of it.\n\n00:03:55:06 - 00:03:58:09\nReal smoke coming out of it I suppose...\n\n00:03:58:09 - 00:04:03:04\nAnd, uh...there were people like, uh...\n\n00:04:03:04 - 00:04:07:15\npeople living in the\rMission to Mars ride, like a family,\n\n00:04:07:15 - 00:04:12:09\nyou know.  Can you imagine,\ryou know, and an octopus ride.\n\n00:04:12:09 - 00:04:15:03\nAnd it was wild. I mean...\n\n00:04:15:03 - 00:04:18:05\nIt...there are some photographs\rof it taken by Jim Ganzer\n\n00:04:18:05 - 00:04:22:18\nbut there's very little of it, you know.\rAnd it was, it was quite phenomenal.\n\n00:04:22:18 - 00:04:28:00\nThen I found a studio on\rWavecrest and Speedway\n\n00:04:28:00 - 00:04:35:13\nafter that, in 1973 and moved\n\n00:04:35:13 - 00:04:39:11\nfrom Windward to Wavecrest.\n\n00:04:39:11 - 00:04:45:08\nAnd that was a big studio\rand that was, uh, $149 a month.\n\n00:04:45:08 - 00:04:47:16\nI had 5000 square feet.\n\n00:04:47:16 - 00:04:51:07\nLight and space.\rWho the hell talks about light and space?\n\n00:04:51:07 - 00:04:52:01\nWho is light?\n\n00:04:52:01 - 00:04:54:02\nWho is the first light and space artist?\n\n00:04:54:02 - 00:04:57:00\nVermeer?  Or maybe Giotto?\n\n00:04:57:00 - 00:05:00:13\nYou know, light and space,how can you\rmake art without light and space?\n\n00:05:00:13 - 00:05:06:13\nI used the sand out there to experiment\rwith, with sand and light pieces\n\n00:05:06:13 - 00:05:08:12\nthat I'm kind of well known for.\n\n00:05:10:04 - 00:05:13:18\nIn fact, I just did one in Paris\rand one in New York.\n\n00:05:13:18 - 00:05:16:18\nAnd it just back from it.\n\n00:05:16:18 - 00:05:19:19\nBut I used to use the sand down in front.\n\n00:05:19:19 - 00:05:21:17\nAnd you're also a surfer, right?\n\n00:05:21:17 - 00:05:22:05\nYeah.\n\n00:05:22:05 - 00:05:26:17\nI was one of the founding members\rof Malibu Surfing Association.\n\n00:05:26:17 - 00:05:27:14\nI didn’t know that.\n\n00:05:27:14 - 00:05:29:15\nIn 1961.\n\n00:05:29:15 - 00:05:30:09\n(laughs)\n\n00:05:30:09 - 00:05:32:12\nHas surfing, um...had any affect \n\n00:05:32:12 - 00:05:33:16\non your life and arts?\n\n00:05:33:16 - 00:05:34:16\n\rAbsolutely. \n\n00:05:34:16 - 00:05:35:06\n\rYeah.\n\n00:05:35:06 - 00:05:38:12\nWater.  Water movement.\n\n00:05:38:12 - 00:05:40:11\nI actually use water in the process\n\n00:05:40:11 - 00:05:43:11\nin some of my paintings, of moving.\n\n00:05:43:11 - 00:05:46:09\nIt's actually cement, but with a polymer.\n\n00:05:46:09 - 00:05:49:17\nBut, but then the water I use quite a bit.\n\n00:05:49:17 - 00:05:55:03\nSo I always have a studio\rwhere I can have a wet floor.\n\n00:05:55:03 - 00:05:57:22\nSo yeah, water is a big deal.\n\n00:05:57:22 - 00:06:00:13\nI started out doing the sand pieces.\n\n00:06:00:13 - 00:06:02:04\nUhmmm...\n\n00:06:02:04 - 00:06:03:11\nIt was a studio.\n\n00:06:03:11 - 00:06:09:07\nIt wasn't because of the, uh,\rnature of it.  It was more\n\n00:06:09:07 - 00:06:12:20\nbecause sand, silica sand especially\n\n00:06:12:20 - 00:06:15:12\nuh... is like a movie screen.\n\n00:06:15:12 - 00:06:18:15\nImagine a malleable\rmovie screen, you know?\n\n00:06:18:15 - 00:06:22:13\nIn other words, every little microscopic\n\n00:06:22:13 - 00:06:25:11\npebble is picking up that light.\n\n00:06:25:11 - 00:06:29:01\nAnd so it operates like that.\n\n00:06:29:01 - 00:06:32:07\nAnd I found that\rwhen I was using the neon,\n\n00:06:32:07 - 00:06:34:18\nit would throw light against it\n\n00:06:34:18 - 00:06:38:21\nso I could paint with the light,\ryou know, make it...\n\n00:06:38:21 - 00:06:42:14\nI started out doing it with a \rslide projector at first, for the light.\n\n00:06:42:14 - 00:06:48:03\nYou know.  And I just take inane photographs,\ryou know, and it looked, wow!\n\n00:06:48:03 - 00:06:50:13\nYou just went, whoa.\rThat's exotic looking, you know?\n\n00:06:50:13 - 00:06:55:03\nAnd so then I got started thinking,\rwonder if I, wonder if I,\n\n00:06:55:03 - 00:06:56:21\nuh...buried the tubes\n\n00:06:56:21 - 00:07:00:05\nand then dug them out\rand throw the light out that way.\n\n00:07:00:05 - 00:07:02:22\nYou know, so that,\rone thing leads to the next.\n\n00:07:02:22 - 00:07:06:14\nYou know,\rI like to do things, make things.\n\n00:07:06:14 - 00:07:12:03\nAnd also the artists\rthat I really admired and still do\n\n00:07:12:03 - 00:07:13:09\nwere living here.\n\n00:07:13:09 - 00:07:14:17\nBob Irwin,\n\n00:07:14:17 - 00:07:18:19\nBilly Al Bengston,\rLarry Bell, you know, on and on.\n\n00:07:18:19 - 00:07:25:13\nAnd, uh...there were like,\rmaybe, maybe a dozen... uh...\n\n00:07:25:13 - 00:07:28:10\npeople that are pretty\rwell known now, today.\n\n00:07:28:10 - 00:07:30:06\nAnd we were like a community here.\n\n00:07:30:06 - 00:07:32:11\nWhen did you start\rto see the cultural shift\n\n00:07:32:11 - 00:07:33:17\nwhere things\rstarted to change?\n\n00:07:33:17 - 00:07:36:09\nRoller skates.\n\n00:07:36:09 - 00:07:39:02\nI absolutely blame roller skates\n\n00:07:39:02 - 00:07:42:15\nbecause roller skates for some reason\n\n00:07:42:15 - 00:07:46:04\ngave people...\n\n00:07:46:04 - 00:07:48:06\nthe illusion that they were,\n\n00:07:48:06 - 00:07:52:05\nthey were moving, they were set,\rthey were faster, you know, safe.\n\n00:07:52:05 - 00:07:56:10\nSo you start to see guys,\rthese guys made a fortune.\n\n00:07:56:10 - 00:07:58:14\nThey were renting them out their window.\n\n00:07:58:14 - 00:08:01:07\nYou know, this little box,\n\n00:08:01:07 - 00:08:02:21\nuhh...\n\n00:08:02:21 - 00:08:04:05\nbut, uh, you know,\n\n00:08:04:05 - 00:08:08:00\nyou'd see people coming down\rfrom Santa Monica, and stuff like that.\n\n00:08:08:00 - 00:08:12:05\nLarry Bell, who's world,\rworld famous, you know.\n\n00:08:12:05 - 00:08:16:11\nHe’s probably famous on Mars,\reven, you know, he, sweetest guy\n\n00:08:16:11 - 00:08:17:18\nin the world...\n\n00:08:17:18 - 00:08:20:06\nuhmmm...\n\n00:08:20:21 - 00:08:23:21\nWas one of the first to show at,\n\n00:08:23:21 - 00:08:27:05\nat a really good gallery in New York.\n\n00:08:27:05 - 00:08:30:17\nYou know, that I can remember.\rThere were, there were, a couple of galleries\n\n00:08:30:17 - 00:08:32:21\nthat showed L.A. artists\n\n00:08:32:21 - 00:08:35:00\nbut they weren't like,\rreally powerful galleries.\n\n00:08:35:00 - 00:08:39:18\nAnd then, of course, then you\rhad Ed Ruscha after that and\n\n00:08:39:18 - 00:08:41:00\nIrwin and...\n\n00:08:41:00 - 00:08:45:08\nThat, that generation,\rthose guys are, they\n\n00:08:45:08 - 00:08:49:10\nthey're good, ten years older than I am.\n\n00:08:51:01 - 00:08:52:20\nSo they're getting old.\n\n00:08:52:20 - 00:08:54:00\n(laughs)\n\n00:08:54:00 - 00:08:55:16\nBilly was one of the reasons\n\n00:08:55:16 - 00:08:59:23\nI moved out on this side too.\rBilly Bengston.  Billy Al Bengston.\n\n00:08:59:23 - 00:09:02:08\nThe guy...\n\n00:09:02:08 - 00:09:05:12\njust was an amazing character.\n\n00:09:05:12 - 00:09:07:09\nUhmmm...\n\n00:09:07:09 - 00:09:10:11\nI, he was a hell of a painter.\n\n00:09:10:11 - 00:09:16:17\nArt and surf and, and sort of\rthe surf world where his life.\n\n00:09:16:17 - 00:09:21:22\nAnd...uh...he drove this\n\n00:09:21:22 - 00:09:24:01\nbrand new Cadillac\n\n00:09:24:01 - 00:09:29:08\nwith red leather interior, with\rgreen grapes on the dashboard, you know.\n\n00:09:29:08 - 00:09:31:09\nIt's really funny.\n\n00:09:31:09 - 00:09:33:19\nAnd he, the way he dressed,\n\n00:09:33:19 - 00:09:37:21\neverything was like, about color\n\n00:09:37:21 - 00:09:43:22\nand excitement, and, uh...\n\n00:09:43:23 - 00:09:45:23\nBilly was like,\n\n00:09:45:23 - 00:09:49:21\nI, I, we're working on naming\ra street after him, actually.\n\n00:09:49:21 - 00:09:52:09\n\rThat’s how much impact\rhe had on, on people.\n\n00:09:52:09 - 00:09:54:20\nWe were going to call it, uh...\ryou know, Mildred right over there.\n\n00:09:54:20 - 00:09:57:06\nWe were going to call it Billy Alley.\n\n00:09:57:06 - 00:10:02:03\nUh... One of the longest trails of, uh...\n\n00:10:02:03 - 00:10:05:08\ninteraction with the, with the community\n\n00:10:05:08 - 00:10:09:06\nis the Venice Family Clinic,\rwhich I'm really attached to.\n\n00:10:09:06 - 00:10:12:07\nAnd I've give them thousands of dollars\n\n00:10:12:07 - 00:10:16:04\nworth of art over the years, you know,\rwhich they've made money on, you know.\n\n00:10:16:04 - 00:10:19:14\nAnd they were, uh... \rbecause of the artist community\n\n00:10:19:14 - 00:10:21:02\nin Venice\n\n00:10:21:02 - 00:10:26:18\nwith the Venice Art Walk, they were able\rto buy that building on Rose.\n\n00:10:27:02 - 00:10:32:15\nAnd, uh, that they're in their 40th year\ror something like that.\n\n00:10:32:15 - 00:10:34:02\nStill doing it.\n\n00:10:34:02 - 00:10:37:02\nI have a good feeling about\rVenice, too, you know.\n\n00:10:37:02 - 00:10:40:03\nAnd Venice will prevail.\n\n00:10:40:03 - 00:10:43:07\nYou know, Appalachia by the sea.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://veniceheritagemuseum.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2416/collection_resources/129349/file/242861#t=0.0,704.10667"}]}]}]}