At the corner of Rose Avenue and Main Street, the Ballerina Clown is still dancing in place above the intersection. The 30-foot figure has a tearful clown's head with five o'clock stubble, a blue dress, a white tutu and red ballet slippers. Underneath it, the storefront that held a CVS until this summer is empty. When Yo! Venice checked the corner in mid-September, the space was still vacant and no new tenant had been announced.
Walk east from that corner and you see the same thing all year. Rose Avenue's businesses have turned over quickly. The changes that will last are slower, and most of them aren't finished. One is a sidewalk project behind construction fencing. The other is a planning case about a church built in 1905. Between them, the street that locals will be using in 2028 is being decided right now, and not much of that work is visible from the curb.
The Clown Has Outlasted Its Pharmacy
The CVS told customers in May that it would close on July 1 and move prescription records to the store at 119 S. Lincoln Blvd. A store manager wouldn't say why the store was closing, but did tell the Santa Monica Mirror one thing:
The closure "has nothing to do with the statue."
The 119 S. Lincoln store is the only place CVS named for the transfer. CVS's own store locator lists the next-closest stores from there as 420 Broadway in Santa Monica, 1.6 miles away, and 1411 Lincoln Blvd., 1.7 miles away. For anyone who walked to Main and Rose to fill a prescription, the closest replacement is now on Lincoln.
The sculpture and the storefront both belong to the Venice Renaissance mixed-use property. Developer Harlan Lee commissioned Jonathan Borofsky's piece in 1989. According to the Mirror, Lee was inspired by the circus clowns he saw as a child growing up in Venice. Borofsky's studio says the figure is made of aluminum, steel and fiberglass, with an electric motor that drives its kicking leg. Tenants complained about the moving leg soon after it was installed, and the motor was shut off. In 2014, the Los Angeles Times reported that Lee had repaired it and gotten approval for the leg to move again.
So the clown has been on this corner for more than 35 years, and it has seen tenants come and go below it. As of early October, no tenant, signed lease or plan for the former CVS space has shown up in local reporting.
A Storefront That Changed Hands Twice in About a Year
Head a few blocks inland to 523 Rose Ave. for a second example of how fast things move.
This storefront's recent history begins with the January 2025 Palisades Fire. About five months later, restaurateurs Gianbattista "Gianba" Vinzoni and Marlo Vinzoni reopened Cinque Terre West here. They brought over the Ligurian menu and their deli, Deliziozo Cinque, in a 50-seat space that served brunch and dinner.
Cinque Terre West served its last meal on Rose Avenue on June 21. The Palisadian-Post reported that the Vinzonis were moving the restaurant to Austin. They already run three locations of Ciccio Bomba, an Italian bakery and cafe, in the Austin area in partnership with comedian Tom Segura, who used to eat at their Palisades restaurant. Their stay on Rose Avenue was a stop on the way to Texas. It's one more way the fire's effects have spread across the Westside, beyond the rebuild timeline in the Palisades itself.
Sticky Rice took over the space. The Thai restaurant began as a stall at Grand Central Market and spent 13 years on the Eastside. Rose Avenue is its first Westside location. The opening was set for Monday, Aug. 10. The plan was to start with takeout only and open the dining room a week or two later. Eater LA's openings roundup, updated Sept. 28, confirmed the restaurant was open with the same menu as its other locations, panang curry included, and still serving takeout only.
Across the street, Omelette Pan has been doing curbside breakfast outside Wabi on Rose at 512 Rose Ave. since April, Wednesday through Sunday mornings. It's one of the more pleasant additions to the block this year, and it's also one of the easiest to move. Venice has a long history of things that never stay put, which we wrote about in our piece on the Venice Heritage Museum's search for an address. Rose Avenue's food scene fits that history.
A 1905 Church and the Number 77
At 305 Rose Ave., the timeline is measured in planning hearings.
The building is the former First Christian Church of Ocean Park, built in 1905. The proposal would turn the empty church into a private social club with co-working space. The Venice Neighborhood Council's advisory vote was messy. In June, Yo! Venice reported that the council president had reinstated an approval vote, which set off a new round of controversy, shortly before the June 15 hearing at the West Los Angeles Area Planning Commission.
City Planning's staff report, dated Aug. 5, recommended approving most of what the applicant asked for. That included a conditional use permit for a private club in the RD1.5-1 zone, a project compliance review in the Oakwood Subarea of the Venice Coastal Zone Specific Plan, and a coastal development permit. Staff recommended denying one item. The applicant wanted an exception to provide zero parking spaces, and the specific plan otherwise requires 77.
That parking number will shape what happens to this building more than anything else in the file. Staff support the club. They don't support running it with no parking at all. The same report says no tenant or operator has been secured. The commission's Sept. 2 meeting document lists the June 15 hearing as completed, and the city's case page doesn't yet show a final action, an approval document or an appeal. Whatever the commission decides will determine what this 121-year-old building is used for next, and that decision will likely outlast several more tenants at 523 Rose.
Behind the Fencing, East of Frederick
The longest-lasting change on Rose Avenue this year is also the most physical one. In April, Councilwoman Traci Park's office and StreetsLA broke ground on the Revitalize Rose Avenue project, along the north side of the street from Frederick Street to Glenavon Avenue. According to the city's announcement, the plans include:
- About 14,000 square feet of new aggregate sidewalk
- About 10,000 square feet of drought-tolerant landscaping
- Nine new ADA-compliant access ramps
- Upgraded crosswalks at Courtland Street and Penmar Avenue
- Lighting at crossings, plus bumpouts to protect street trees
- Better pedestrian connections to Frederick Street Park
The driving and bike lanes stay as they are. The project is paid for by the Council District 11 office, and StreetsLA designed it and is building it. At groundbreaking, the city expected completion in winter 2026 or spring 2027. We couldn't find a public progress report since then, so that forecast is still the only date on record.
Penmar Avenue, one of the two crossings getting new crosswalks, has its own news this fall. Bodega and Palms, the neighborhood market at 1915 Penmar Ave., started selling pizza and a Bodega Sundae on Sept. 1.
Here's where each piece stood in early October:
- Former CVS at Rose and Main. Empty since the July 1 closure, with no tenant announced.
- 523 Rose Ave. Sticky Rice is open, after Cinque Terre West closed June 21 and moved to Austin.
- 512 Rose Ave. Omelette Pan serves curbside, Wednesday through Sunday mornings.
- 305 Rose Ave. The staff report favors the club but recommends denying the zero-parking request, and no final commission action is on record.
- Frederick Street to Glenavon Avenue. Sidewalk and landscaping work is underway, with completion forecast for winter 2026 or spring 2027.
The clown has stood over Main and Rose since 1989. The next long-lasting additions to Rose Avenue will be new concrete and drought-tolerant plantings along the north side between Frederick and Glenavon, scheduled to be done by spring 2027.
Questions about Rose Avenue usually come down to the slow-moving items: what a church restored under a private-club permit might mean for the blocks around it, or how a finished streetscape changes the way a stretch of Venice works day to day. Danielle's design and construction background and George's decades of reading Westside markets are useful here. If you'd like to talk through what these changes mean for a property you own or are watching near Rose Avenue, The Salazar | Bunnell Group is glad to help. Partner With Our Expert Team.
