Dancing Above the Boardwalk: The Story Behind Venice Beach’s CVS Clown Ballerina
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If you’ve ever walked down Main Street near Venice Beach, you might have looked up, done a double‑take, and thought: Wait… is that a clown ballerina on the side of a CVS?
It is.
She’s oversized, off‑kilter, and totally unforgettable—a giant clown in a tutu en pointe, painted across the façade of a very ordinary drugstore. In a neighborhood already famous for its murals and street performers, the CVS clown ballerina has quietly become one of Venice’s most delightfully strange landmarks.
For our Local Color community—people who notice, love, and live in color—she’s the perfect muse.
A Clown, a Tutu, and a Very Ordinary Building
Venice Beach has a long history of turning the everyday into something surreal. Bungalows become canvases. Alleyways become galleries. And in this case, a big, boxy pharmacy turns into a stage.
The mural version of the clown ballerina feels like a character caught mid‑performance:
- One leg lifted in a precarious ballet pose
- Arms flung out in a gesture that’s part drama, part slapstick
- A face painted with classic clown makeup—somewhere between tragic and hilarious
- All of it framed by the rigid geometry of a very practical building
It’s that contrast that makes her so compelling. She doesn’t belong there—and yet she absolutely does. That’s Venice.
Why Venice Loves the Absurd
There’s a reason this mural feels so at home in Venice Beach.
This neighborhood has always been a collision of opposites:
- Skaters and suits
- Old bungalows and sleek new builds
- Poets, punks, tech workers, travelers
- Quiet residential streets just steps away from wild, loud boardwalk energy
The CVS clown ballerina captures that mix in a single image. She’s:
- Graceful and ridiculous at the same time
- Polished and falling apart
- High art and lowbrow humor, literally painted on a chain‑store wall
In a world that’s always telling us to be serious, efficient, and put‑together, she’s a reminder that it’s okay to be strange, dramatic, and a little off‑balance.
The Emotional Pull of a Clown on Pointe
Clowns have always walked the line between comedy and sadness. Ballerinas, on the other hand, are all about control, discipline, and beauty. Put them together and you get something unexpectedly honest.
The CVS clown ballerina feels like:
- Every time you’ve tried to hold it together and still felt ridiculous
- Every day you’ve shown up and done your best, even when the stage was a strip mall
- Every moment you’ve tried something bold in a world that wasn’t quite built for it
There’s a kind of vulnerability in her pose: balanced on the edge, performing for whoever happens to look up from the parking lot.
And that vulnerability is exactly what makes her human.
From Mural to Coloring Page: Capturing Venice in Line Art
When we turned this Venice landmark into a coloring page, we wanted to keep that same tension:
- The strong vertical lines of the building
- The cracked base and scattered blocks at her feet
- The wide sky and distant clouds, soft against all those straight edges
- The clown ballerina herself, front and center, daring you to decide who she is
Coloring this page is a chance to tell your own version of her story.
Is she:
- A joyful street performer who finally got her dream stage?
- A symbol of how art squeezes itself into every corner of the city?
- A stand‑in for anyone trying to stay graceful while the world crumbles a little at the edges?
You get to decide—with your palette.
How to Color the CVS Clown Ballerina
Here are a few ideas for bringing her to life:
1. Lean into the Venice Sunset
Use warm, hazy colors: coral, dusty pinks, soft oranges, and ocean blues. Let the building stay mostly neutral while the sky and clown explode with color. Think golden hour over the boardwalk.
2. Go Full Circus
Bright primaries, bold contrasts, loud stripes and patterns. Make her tutu multi‑colored, her hat ridiculous, the building an exaggerated backdrop. Let the whole page feel like a traveling show parked in the middle of the city.
3. Urban Ghost
Desaturate everything: soft grays, washed‑out blues, pale mauves. Add just one or two bright accents (maybe her nose, maybe her shoes) to make her feel like a memory haunting the façade.
4. Color‑Therapy Mode
Use your palette to match your current mood.
- Feeling anxious? Blues, greens, and soft purples.
- Feeling bold? Neon pinks, reds, and oranges.
- Feeling reflective? Earth tones and muted pastels.
There’s no “right” version—only your version.
What the CVS Clown Says About Everyday Places
Maybe the best part of this mural is where it lives.
Venice doesn’t wait for museums or galleries to legitimize art. It lets murals sit on the sides of laundromats, on garage doors, on the walls of a CVS. It says:
- Beauty can live on a budget
- Whimsy can interrupt your errand run
- You can be on your way to pick up toothpaste and suddenly find yourself thinking about clowns, performance, identity, and what it means to be seen
That’s the magic of public art—and of Venice specifically. It sneaks meaning into the most practical corners of your day.
Next Time You’re in Venice…
If you’re local to LA (hi, neighbor) or ever find yourself in Venice Beach:
- Look up when you pass a nondescript building.
- Notice the murals, the small tags, the layered paint.
- Let the CVS clown ballerina remind you that you’re allowed to be both serious and silly, both composed and chaotic.
And when you sit down with the coloring page version, you’re not just filling in lines. You’re participating in that same Venice tradition: taking something ordinary and making it strange, beautiful, and deeply your own.
Because in a city of big billboards and glossy branding, sometimes the most honest thing is a clown in a tutu, dancing her heart out on the side of a drugstore.