Rocky Road: How an Ice Cream Shop Showdown Could Be a Tipping Point for Venice Beach

Venice Beach has had one hell of a roller coaster ride, but are the twists and turns about to give way to a dull cruise into blandness? The fate of Helmut's ice cream shop could be a watershed moment for the once proudly weird neighborhood.

In 1905 tabbacco tycoon Abbot Kinney created this beach resort in the style of its Italian namesake, complete with canals and gondolas. A few decades later it was covered with oil rigs. Next it transitioned from a beat generation hub, bodybuilding mecca, to a so called "slum by the sea" both edgy and dangerous. Recently a wave of tech has reimagined the neighborhood as "Silicon Beach", a sunny, gentrified office park. ​​

It's in the hands of new tech residents, the remaining old guard locals, and the stream of tourists to decide what kind of Venice they want to experience: the same options or something different? Hinano or the Habit? Groundworks or Starbucks?

The market is now testing this neighborhood for its interest in homogeneity. Is the next phase of Venice to resemble any given strip mall in the America? Where we spend our dollars will answer this question. Charly Temmel's fate may predict the verdict.