This is not just a documentary about the birth story of skateboarding and the Z-Boys of Dogtown. Made In Venice is about what comes next—when living legends fight to build—and maintain—a skatepark for generations to come. 

Today, the skatepark is one of Venice Beach's most cherished landmarks and no less iconic than the Venice sign that hangs at Windward Avenue, but like most projects of this magnitude, it was met with fierce opposition. 

Made in Venice, directed by local filmmaker Jonathan Penson and co-produced by Jesse Martinez, known as one of the best street riders of the Westside, takes you back to the earliest days of Venice, to its wildly imaginative developer Abbot Kinney, through the '70s and the dawn of skateboarding (captured in Super 8 film), and the controversial demolition of the Venice Pavilion in 2000. 

Affectionately known to skaters as "The Pit," the Venice Pavilion had fallen into such disrepair that officials decided it would be cheaper to tear it down and build a landscaped park and playground than to renovate it. 

By then, the Z-Boys name was already world famous and parlayed into other ventures, but many of the original group came together to fight for a dedicated skatepark on Venice Beach.

The film opened this week at Laemmle’s theater in Santa Monica. Check here for show times and here for more information.

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