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# Why Are LA Officials Ignoring Illegal RV Parking on Washington Blvd?
September 21 2026
Written by Nick Antonicello.
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WESTSIDE - Washington Blvd here in Venice is a main artery and corridor to the beach and pier.
It is in fact a gateway to this tourist destination held hostage by illegally parked vehicles in the dozens on any particular day. This week I counted 30 recreational vehicles permanently parked stretching from the beach to Lincoln Boulevard in front of residential homes, businesses and hotels, who are losing this battle for the streets as many of these vehicles are out-of-state, and some with no tags or license plates, but go without tickets or consequence!
The question remains why, and how bad will these conditions continue as Los Angeles braces for the 2028 Summer Olympics, a 17-day international extravaganza in which an estimated 2 million direct visitors are expected for a number of events within Los Angeles County with broader regional estimates reaching 2 to 5 million unique visitors!
Direct visitor spending is forecasted to generate between $1.6 billion and $4.3 billion in Los Angeles County alone.
A huge economic shot in the arm by any standard.
The vehicle pictured here displaying the American flag is not only illegally parked, oversized and carrying numerous items on the roof now has a trailer with two bikes for recreational purposes.
This particular vehicle has been seen on Washington on and off for at least two years.
This image was taken over the weekend.
The problem continues to rage out of control, and little is being done to fix the problem from a health or quality of life perspective while the hapless and ineffective Venice Neighborhood Council fiddles with the notion of an alleged RV Town Hall that has been delayed now for nearly a year, ignoring those residents and businesses that just want to be heard!
So, what is the attraction to illegally parking along Washington Blvd?
The answers are numerous:
There are several overlapping reasons why Washington Boulevard in Venice has become a magnet for illegally parked RVs and other oversized vehicles.
The important point is that this is not simply a case of people parking recreational vehicles for a night or two.
Washington Blvd. is an unusually attractive place to live in an RV.
It provides proximity to the beach, restaurants, stores, transit, and services, while the street itself has relatively large curb spaces. Local documentation says some RVs and oversized vehicles have remained essentially continuously on Washington, moving only for street sweeping.
And enforcement has remained random and inconsistent.
And this is the biggest reason why the problem persists.
Los Angeles already has laws addressing oversized vehicles.
Under LAMC §80.69.4, vehicles over 22 feet long or 84 inches high can be prohibited from parking between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. where appropriate signs are posted. There is also a separate 72-hour rule and other provisions governing the storage of vehicles on city streets.
Enforcement has never been consistent enough to prevent these vehicles from returning. A Venice Neighborhood Council document explicitly argued that regular ticketing could cause vehicles to move, and that towing could follow when necessary.
But Los Angeles has historically treated RV enforcement as a "complicated" issue.
But this isn't a new problem.
It has gone for nearly a decade.
The LA City Council has had an RV-parking regulatory file dating back to 2005, recognizing that RV owners increasingly use city streets because off-street storage can be expensive or inconvenient.
Another City Council file specifically addressed hazardous and illegal RV parking, oversized vehicles and resident complaints, demonstrating that the problem extends well beyond Venice.
So, Washington Boulevard is essentially a particularly visible local manifestation of a much broader Los Angeles problem.
Most vehicles are being used as illegal housing, and this is an important distinction. Recent reporting from Venice includes people who actually live in buses/RVs, rather than merely storing recreational vehicles.Spectrum News interviewed a woman who said she had lived in a decommissioned school bus in Venice for two years.
This makes enforcement politically and practically more complicated than towing an abandoned motorhome. Removing the vehicle can effectively mean removing someone's residence.
But being someone's home doesn't automatically make parking it legally permissible.
For Washington Blvd. has become a place where the problem regenerates again and again.
For this is the seemingly never ending and frustrating cycle regarding illegally parked recreational vehicles along this corridor:
RV arrives → enforcement complaint → ticket/removal → vehicle moves or disappears → enforcement eases → another RV occupies the space.
And this is precisely the endless pattern that recycles and repeats itself over and over again. A 2025 neighborhood petition similarly described RVs and oversized vehicles occupying both sides of Washington for extended periods.
And the City's rules are not clear or consistent and lack obvious clarity.
There's an important distinction between an RV being oversized, an RV being illegally parked, and an RV being used as a residence.
For example, the City's oversized vehicle ordinance doesn't simply say, "all RVs are prohibited everywhere." It establishes particular restrictions, including designated streets, signage, and permitting procedures.
That's one reason you can have a situation where residents see an RV sitting in exactly the same location for weeks and ask, "Why isn't the City towing it?" while enforcement agencies have to establish the specific violation and towing authority.
Washington Boulevard remains a commercial gateway to Venice, so the consequences are obvious and visible.
Local businesses have complained that long-term RV occupation reduces customer parking, visibility, and pedestrian/traffic safety. The Kinney Venice Beach, for example, has complained about oversized vehicles occupying spaces for extended periods with nothing done.
For the more consequential question is why Los Angeles has not consistently enforced the laws it already has on this particular corridor?
That is where the Washington Boulevard controversy becomes a question of LADOT enforcement, LAPD enforcement, towing authority, signage, the 72-hour rule, and coordination with Council District 11 rather than simply a question of whether RV parking is simply ignored in this circle of blame without solution.
Washington Boulevard residents and citizens are being treated as second class citizens, as their quality of life has been lost in any tangible or constructive action. For what does it take other than some will and courage to do what is right versus continuing to enable what is fundamentally wrong?
***(Nick Antonicello** is a thirty-three-resident of the Venice neighborhood who covers the issue of encampments and RV clusters here in the neighborhood. A regular contributor to City Watch LA, he can be reached via e-mail at [nantoni@mindspring.com)](mailto:nantoni@mindspring.com)*
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