Tripoli beach trip, Sept. 6, 2011

Mannequin parts, seen at the beach in Tripoli, Libya, on September 6, 2011. Photo: Anis Mili/Reuters.

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Venice Beach Freak Show

When I was at Venice Beach with my family, we came across a freak show. The barker in front had a couple of two-headed turtles in a plastic tub filled with water. He said admission was $5. The barker also told me that we could take photos of everything inside. What an enlightened attitude! Many of the other businesses at Venice Beach had signs forbidden photography, bu not the Venice Beach Freak show. My wife, my 8-year-old, and I got our tickets and headed inside.

Here is a lizard with two tails.

The interior is small, but packed with fun things to look at.

Adorable miniature pinscher with 5 legs.

A two-headed-lizard. Many of the things on display here were animals with more that the usual number of body parts. They even had a push-me-pull-you turtle that tried to swim in opposite directions. Both sides seemed to be evenly matched as it made no progress in either direction.

If you don't want to see what is in the hole, close your eyes for the following picture.

Scary!

It's Joseph Merrick, one of the patron saints of Boing Boing! When I was in college I was in a band called the Elephant Boys, which was named after Mr. Merrick.

The two-headed baby chicken was just one of many pickled punks on display.

The cyclops chihuahua was never as famous as the cyclops kitten, which was one of Boing Boing's most popular posts of all time.

A grinning chimpanzee proffers the establishment's handsome business cards.

Take a good gander at these examples of Alien Evolution. Not to be confused with the sea devil skates that unscrupulous dealers sell on eBay as cryptozoological oddities.

The other side of the room had a stage show running every seven minutes. This woman is sitting in an electric chair while the man illuminates a fluorescent light tube with the current emanating from her body.

The man was an accomplished sword swallower, but his 7-foot-long balloon swallowing routine was even more impressive!

We left the Venice Beach Freak Show feeling like this fellow!

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Partially completed octopus sand sculpture on Venice Beach promenade

It was very hot in Studio City on Sunday, so I went to Venice Beach with my wife and kids to cool off. It wasn't much cooler, but we had fun.

The highlight of my day was this cartoony octopus sand sculpture. The artist was sleeping under an umbrella, otherwise I would have interviewed him. I am envious of his talent.

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