Abbot Kinney

Abbot Kinney (1850 in New Brunswick, New Jersey – 1920 in Santa Monica, California) was a developer and conservationist. Kinney is best known for his "Venice of America" development in Los Angeles.

Kinney's family moved to Washington, D.C., and became known in politics. His aunt's husband was Senator James Dixon of Connecticut.

At the age of 16, the 6-foot-2-inch (1.88 m) Kinney went to Europe, where he studied in Heidelberg, Paris and Zürich and became fluent in six languages. A walking tour of Italy took him to Venice and the Italian Riviera. Returning to Washington in 1869 he joined the Maryland National Guard and in 1873 was able to join a U.S. Geological Survey team to map the Sioux reservations of the Dakotas. He traveled to Salt Lake City and Oregon and rejoined the survey team in the Yosemite Valley.

In 1874, Kinney joined the tobacco business run by his older brother, Francis S. Kinney, with offices in New York. The Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company did much of its purchasing in the Southern states and then took an interest in imported tobaccos. In 1876, Abbot traveled to Egypt and Ottoman Macedonia.

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