((PKG))  VENICE BEACH MAGIC   
((TRT:  04:00)) 
((Topic Banner:  Parade of Lights))  
((Reporter/Camera:  Genia Dulot)) 
((Adapted by:  Philip Alexiou)) 
((Map:  Venice Beach, California)) 
((Main characters:  1 male))  
((Sub characters:  3 male)) 
((MUSIC/NATS)) 
((Marcus Gladney, Creator, Venice Electric Light Parade)) 
This bike has 5,000 LEDs on it and it has 36 inch [90 cm] tires.  
This is Big Red.  This is the parade bike and it is a beast. 
So in 2014, I moved to Los Angeles, had a girlfriend who was a 
makeup artist in Kansas City and she wanted to come out here 
and get into the movie industry, you know, doing like special 
effects makeup and she did.  
((NATS:  Marcus Gladney)) 
I will put these in and do a little, quick little check to see if we have 
power.  And we do.  We have power.  
((Marcus Gladney, Creator, Venice Electric Light Parade)) 
Like six months of being here in Los Angeles, she realized that 
she didn't want to be here anymore.  So, she went back to 
Kansas City, which is where we're from, Kansas City, Missouri.  
She moved back and I stayed.   
((NATS)) 
((Marcus Gladney, Creator, Venice Electric Light Parade)) 
I would hang out at the beach during the day, just trying to figure 
things out.  I was just like amazed at all the bicycles with the 
wheel lights.  And I asked somebody.  I stopped him and asked 
him.  I say, “What is this all about, you know, where do you get 
the light from?”  And he said, “It's a guy named Sebastian, 
Sebastian, the Light Man.” 
((Sebastian, The Light Man, Venice Electric Light Parade)) 
About 2014, Marcus come along.  He said, now he really, he 
overdid his bike.  He made it spectacular and then he said, “Man, 
let's get a ride.  I mean, let’s get a bicycle ride every Sunday.” 
((NATS:  Marcus Gladney)) 
I'm the Pied Piper of Venice, Sunday to Sunset.  World famous 
Venice Electric Light Parade.  
((Marcus Gladney, Creator, Venice Electric Light Parade)) 
I would ride around at sunset, pulling a speaker, playing music.  
And I was kind of like the Pied Piper.  People would just fall in 
behind me.  I needed a specific day and I said, “You know what? 
The best day is Sunday.”  So then, I coined it ‘Sundays at Sunset: 
Venice Electric Light Parade.’ 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Marcus Gladney, Creator, Venice Electric Light Parade)) 
Here we are now today, you know.  It started off with like two, 
three people, four people.  The largest ride that we've had so far 
was like close to almost 400 people.  
((Terry, Participant, Venice Electric Light Parade)) 
I wanted to do something big and better.  I drew it on paper.  All 
my friends thought I was crazy for two years.  I took it to my 
buddy I build Harley's with, because he knows the metal and 
welding and we did it in one weekend.  And it works, which is 
amazing, because every tire, it turns off the back tire and I wanted 
the illusion that it touches.  
((NATS/MUSIC))  
((Marcus Gladney, Creator, Venice Electric Light Parade)) 
Venice is like Bohemian capital of the United States.  Everybody 
is artistic.  There's no right and there's no wrong in Venice.  You 
can either be barefoot and homeless or you can be upper echelon 
and live in a six-million-dollar house as everybody coincides 
together and we all mesh and we all mix and it's magical. 
((NATS/MUSIC))  
((Austin, Participant, Venice Electric Light Parade)) 
Actually, I came here on a trip about two years ago and I stayed 
right in Venice basically and I saw it go by and I was like one day, 
I want to live here and I want to do that.  And now I do it.  It's 
crazy.  We've got shoes, pants, jacket, glasses, this thing and just 
some more light snow, some gloves.  We literally, my goal is to 
like to cover every inch of myself in LEDs.  
((NATS/MUSIC))