January 4, 2026
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Venice Sign Revisited:

Perhaps you saw the picture celebrating Venice Fest, the return of the Venice sign, in last week’s Mirror. You might think the story is over, nice sign, lots of people. Well, the story is not exactly over. It’s Venice after all. With Venice being Venice, things aren’t always as they seem.

After the event, Philomene Long, Poet Laureate of Venice and great friend of the Mirror, gave us a call. “I have written something about the event,” she said, “Would you be interested?” Hmmm!? The Poet Laureate of Venice wants to give us something she wrote about Venice. Like, yes, Philomene, we want it. She was on the stage during the lighting ceremony, and had a unique perspective of the less-than-perfect original switch that lit up the new sign.

And there is even more news. At the last minute of producing last week’s Mirror, the picture of Venice (the band) performing at the event was dropped, much to the disappointment of more than one Mirror employee. Though the photo was online all week, it is with utter glee and pleasure that we have the opportunity to print it here.

Can it get much better than this? Poet Laureate Philomene Long and Venice in the same issue of the Santa Monica Mirror. Somewhere Jim Morrison is smiling. Enjoy.

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