The closing of the Venice Beach Freakshow on 30 April 2017 may have been one of the most emblematic moments in the gentrification of Venice Beach. After a decade of circus-like performances – featuring two-headed turtles, five-legged dogs, bearded ladies, sword swallowers and other cast members who glorified the weird and the outcast – the Venice Beach Freakshow was forced out of its location on the boardwalk. The culprit? Snapchat wanted to expand to yet another building on the boardwalk