Commerce as the Structure and Symbol of Neighborhood Life: Reshaping the Meaning of Community in Venice, California Andrew Deener ∗ UCLA Abbot Kinney Boulevard is a central commercial artery that serves as the structure and symbol of neighborhood life in Venice, a coastal community in Los Angeles. In recent years, the street has become an upscale commercial scene made up of inde- pendently owned, small-scale shops and restaurants. New residents and merchants work to preserve this new “anticorporate” commercial culture as an authentic ver- sion of community life, labeling its distinct identity as “Brand Venice.” Commerce generates community vitality, but this article raises the question, whose definition of community? The construction of a neighborhood brand has consequences. Build- ing on over 3 years of ethnographic and historical research, this article shows how local actors set Abbot Kinney Boulevard on a course of economic transformation by reshaping the meaning of community in such a way that now excludes long-time, lower-income residents who define the new neighborhood identity as an inauthentic version of Venice community life. Venice, a coastal neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, is best known as the city’s original bohemian quarter. The neighborhood nurtured Southern California’s beatnik culture in the 1950s, became an active hippy and political community in the 1960s, and emerged as an artist enclave in the 1970s. Venice was a working-class neighborhood, but during this period it acquired a newfound reputation as “bohemian” (Cunningham, 1976; Lipton, 1957; Maynard, 1991). Located four blocks from the famous Venice Beach Boardwalk attraction, Abbot Kinney Boulevard—called West Washington Boulevard prior to 1989—is a commercial artery that runs diagonally through the center of the Venice neighborhood. In recent years, the street has gained national and international popularity as a site of innovative design, dining, and commerce due to its array of home design shops, restaurants, cafes, and trendy boutiques. Still, new local residents and merchants boast of its authentic community feel. Abbot Kinney Boulevard contains independently owned stores, continues to be free of big box stores—what local activists call “formula retail chains”—and is the site of two popular and well-attended art festivals. ∗ Correspondence should be addressed to Andrew Deener, Department of Sociology, 264 Haines Hall, 375 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095; adeener@ucla.edu. City & Community 6:4 December 2007 C  American Sociological Association, 1307 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20005-4701 291