The New Redline Venice Hotel Pays Homage to the Area’s Undertold Black History
Since childhood, Kamau Coleman found solace in spending his free days and weekends at a family friend’s duplex apartment near the Venice Beach strip. While the property had been around since 1964, it had never been upgraded outside of basic maintenance.
“You can imagine we were at the ocean, so everything rusted,” Coleman tells The Hollywood Reporter. “For example, the stairs, the legs went directly into the sand and there was literally nothing holding it.”
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Around the early stages of the pandemic lockdown, the building’s previous owner decided to retire, paying the tenants to vacate the property and also giving Coleman and his business partners an opportunity to get involved — hence The Redline Venice Hotel was born.
The building stands out as the only Black-owned apartment hotel on the strip, offering both short-term stays and reservations of a month or more. The name “Redline” carries a dual meaning. It symbolizes racial discrimination in housing, stemming from government redlining practices that restricted where Black residents could live. Additionally, it evokes the iconic “Red Cars,” trolley cars that transported people from downtown Los Angeles to Venice Beach in the mid-20th century.
According to Coleman — who opened the property along with co-founder Michael Clinton, director of guest experience Destinee Sales and creative director Sophea Samreth — the cost totaled a little more than a million dollars. The price included renovations from electrical systems to plumbing, alongside the addition of a 1,200-square-foot roof deck with sweeping ocean views. There are four individual guest accommodations, including a studio, a one-bedroom, a two-bedroom and a three-bedroom — all of which offer an individual story to tell.
“Coming from a fashion background with any design, you have to build a concept around a story,” explains Samreth. “We were out looking at different fixtures and finishes and realized it doesn’t mean anything if I don’t have a story to really hold this together. As I was doing my R&D, I dug into the history of Venice and came across this episode of KCET’s Lost LA about the role Blacks played in the area’s early beginnings.”
Each of the units features a specific theme that dives deep into everything from the relationship between Venice Beach founder Abbot Kinney and Black forefather Arthur Reese to Black skate culture in the area. To make sure each room told a distinctive narrative, The Redline Venice Hotel collaborated with storied historian Alison Rose Jefferson, the writer of Living the California Dream: African American Leisure Sites During the Jim Crow Era. She is known for her advocacy to give the descendants of Bruce’s Beach back their land that had been taken by the city of Manhattan Beach.
During research, The Redline Venice Hotel also worked alongside the descendants of Reese and his history-making cousin Irvin Tabor. Known as “The Wizard,” Reese migrated from New Orleans to Venice in 1908-1910 and became an esteemed inventor, designer and businessman known for his vibrant decorations around the area. Establishing the first Black family in the area, he would invite his cousins, the Tabors, to relocate where they founded several small Black-owned businesses in Venice. According to Sales, there are even more plans to inform visitors of the area’s rich history through QR codes placed around the walls of each unit.
“I think to celebrate Black history in a space where people aren’t looking for it is really special,” Sales said. “I grew up in California, and Black history was not something that I was taught in schools, especially not California Black history. To do it and to present it in a way that is insightful to people as guests and uncover the stories at your own pace also means we’re not shoving it in your face.”
Reservations for nightly stays are between $350-$750 a night, through theredlinevenice.com or booking.com.
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