Hollywood Reporter: When Joel Silver purchased the iconic Venice Post Office building in 2012, the producer of The Matrix and Lethal Weapon films told elected officials that converting the 1939 building into the headquarters of Silver Pictures would result in jobs, free arts-related programs and the preservation of historical features — including the famous Story of Venice mural that adorned … Read More
Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court stumbles over the Venice Post Office
Judge Merrick Garland, President Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court, was one of the judges on the D.C. Circuit that reviewed an appeal over the closing of the historic post office in Venice, California. In July 2014, the Court dismissed the appeal, with Judge Garland writing the opinion explaining why. As reported in an article by the Free Venice Beachhead, the lawyer who filed … Read More
Joel Silver’s Dream Venice Post Office Project Is Stalled and In Debt
Nearly two and a half years after an elaborate rollout, Joel Silver's repurposing of the historic Venice post office as his film production headquarters has stalled. The project has been beset by multiple design changes, unpaid bills and taxes that are past due, interviews and public filings show. The future headquarters of Silver Pictures— covered in scaffolding and scarred by graffiti — appears … Read More
Film producer may buy historic Santa Monica post office
Looks like owning a historic post office is becoming a Hollywood fad. First producer Joel Silver (The Matrix, Die Hard) bought the Venice post office and turned it into a production studio and office. Now producer David Ellison (Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, World War Z) is in talks to buy the Santa Monica post office. Ellison is at work on … Read More
The Selling of the Venice Post Office: More than a touch of evil
BY GRETA COBAR Venice Beach, California, is an idyllic, bohemian, beach-side community that was once home to The Doors, Jimmy Hendrix, Janice Joplin, and Beat generation poets Stuart Perkoff and John Haag. Today it still embraces alternative lifestyles and artists and performers who don’t seem to fit in anywhere else. The town's romantic archiecture, beaches, and piers have also … Read More
Philistines at the Gate: The Venice Post Office on the Chopping Block
On Monday of this week, Ruth Goldway, chairman of the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC), will be speaking in Venice, California, at a meeting of the Venice Post Office Task Force. The subject of the meeting: the fate of the Venice Main Post Office, a beautiful example of New Deal architecture, which the Postal Service has decided to close and sell, … Read More
Historic post office in Venice, California: For Sale
Another historic post office, this one in Venice, California, is set to close. Like the one we posted about a few days ago, it's from the New Deal, built in 1939 by the Works Projects Administration. The full story is here, and a blog on "save the Venice post office" is here. Like many New Deal public buildings, the Venice post … Read More
