I was the tuesday and thursday night pujari there for about two years. Just to let every one know; as of mid 2007, the venice temple is or was being used as a late night, non alcholic, techno-dance club by the last temple president and some other devotees. This is the reason why I dont go to venice any more. Some of the reasons why the temple closed; insanity, neurosis, lack of standards, lack of cleanliness, lack of motivation, low quality of of people, the last temple president who didnt even have the proper trainning as a devotee or even as a brahmin, rampid dis-organization, lack of real leadership, very poor standards in pujari service...none of the male so-called brahmins that were living in the temple wanted to do pujari work, it was left to me and two women who didnt even know the proper procedures of Pancaratra/pujari seva...and, they were both put as "head" pujaris. The temple atmosphere and situation was very dysfunctional. There were alot of people who were mentally and emotionally imbalanced, and this lead to alot of problems. There was also alot of drug problems. The whole situation is indicitive of the quality of westerners in the movement. In one hand; you have absolute Thugs,criminals and flakes in the Watseka/ISKCON temple...and, then you have insane, neurotic people in the Venice/Gaudiya temple. And, both are/were havens of dysfunction. But, the devotee of the Venice temple really tired...we all tired in our own way. The sweat, time, money and dilligence that the devotee put into making that a beautiful temple...is heart-reanching. We tried. We gave it a shot. But, really, the devotees didnt want to do what it takes to keep and maintain that beautiful Temple. There was alot of laziness. There was no stability in the temple community, it was reflective of the management, the last president was barly a devotee and didnt even properly act like one either. Some of the various temple commanders; especially the last one, were very strange, parcular, escentric,egoistic and just plain weird. I really miss doing pujari seva at that temple. Even thought I tried to stay away from the drama there. I really feel that the REALLY reason why the temple community didnt last long...was because of low and some times lack of pujari standard, proper rituals and an enthusiasm for it. The offerings were spuratic, low quality and missed most times. Hardly any one knew the proper mantras and rituals, because they werent properly trainned or wanted to do any pujari service...they just wanted to bang on drums and shout really loud and dance. They didnt put their hearts into the pujari seva. The type of pujaris at the temple were low...they didnt know what they were doing. One abisheka, this brahmacharya at the temple was acting like he was in charge...and he was using unmelted, raw sugar. And, pouring waterless, granular sugar on the murtis. Instead of heating the water and the sugar. To a certain degree...it was a free-for-all. Alot of people were not doing their service...the place was a mess, and because of it, there was low sanitation and cleanliness. The male quarters was horrendously dirty. And, the goal of having an alterative Hare-Krishna temple and haven for people to come and excape the thug/criminal behavior of the watseka/ISKCON temple ended. The temple management and senior devotees; many of whom were former ISKCON-ites, brought that drama and politicing from the dysfunctional tendencies of ISKCON. All of these factors, untimately lead to the fall of our beautiful temple by the ocean...we tried. Govinda (Ramanuja)dasa.