A 1911 beach house built for a newspaper founder’s family, later a boarding house for Venice’s early crowd, is now on the market for $13.9 million.
The sprawling property at 15 30th Avenue, at the corner of Speedway and 30th Avenue, sits a few steps from the sand. Carolinne Wittlin of Nourmand & Associates, based in Beverly Hills, holds the listing.
Warren Wilson, founder of the Los Angeles Daily Journal, had the house built so his wife and their eight children could spend every summer by the ocean.
He was also a close friend of Abbot Kinney, who founded Venice of America in 1905. The two families grew even closer, as two of Kinney’s sons married two of Wilson’s daughters.
Where Charlie Chaplin fits in
The house later became a boarding house, and the local story says it drew both Kinney and Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin never owned the property. He is described as a guest who used it as a retreat in the 1910s.
The date most often cited is 1914, when Kid Auto Races at Venice, the film that marks the first screen appearance of the Tramp, was shot nearby.
Keep in mind that this part rests on oral accounts and local tradition, and no hotel registers from that period have been found. Still, one room carries the legend forward.
It is named The Tramp’s Quarters, in honor of Chaplin’s famous character.
What comes with the price
The two-story home has nine bedrooms, seven bathrooms and 4,390 square feet of living space. Hardwood floors and wood-beam ceilings run through the interior, and decorative tile and brick fireplaces add to the period charm.
The property covers three contiguous lots totaling about 7,931 square feet and includes parking for seven cars, a rare luxury so close to the boardwalk.
The house has operated as the Venice Beach House inn since 1983. Its current owner and seller is Philip Boesch, whose family took over the building in the 1970s and restored it.
The National Register of Historic Places added the house on July 17, 1986, under reference number 86001666, because of its local significance. The archives list it as the Warren Wilson Beach House.
The listing went live in early September 2026 under MLS number 26983615. The reasons for the sale have not been disclosed.
The next owner will inherit a landmark address, a Venice founding story and a room still named for the Tramp.
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