The scene on the westside of the Venice Beach boardwalk has been an ever-changing landscape of merchants hawking clothes and incense, artists selling original artwork and street performers who dance, leap and even stomp on razor-sharp glass.

Some of this will change Jan. 20 when the latest Ocean Front Walk ordinance (see attached) goes into effect. The new ordinance, which was approved Dec. 13 by the Los Angeles City Council, revises and defines the exact items that will be prohibited and allowed to be sold on 205 spaces on the western side of the boardwalk.

The ordinance would ban the sale of common items with a "non-expressive purpose," such as clothes, sunglasses, incense, candy, crystals, oils, jewelry and toys. It also would prohibit massages and skin ink.

Vendors will still be able to sell books, paintings, recordings, sculptures or other works they have created.

Signs will be posted Jan. 20, the day the city and the Los Angeles Police Department can start enforcing the new law.

Authorities are starting to educate vendors to let them know of permissible items and copies of the ordinance are available at the Venice Beach police substation, said Lt. Paola Kreefft of the LAPD's Pacific Division.

Kreefft emphasized that vendors will be warned Jan. 20, before they are cited.

"It's not like the signs will go up and we're going to sweep the boardwalk," Kreefft said. "We'll issue warnings if they return, and then cite. And then if we have to, we'll make arrests."

Dennis "from Venice" Swift, an artist who runs both a natural henna tattoo stand and sells his original broken skateboard art on the boardwalk, has taken issue with the new law.

Under the new ordinance, Swift's henna stand would not be permitted, even though he uses all-natural skin ink and considers his henna work a form of self-expression.

Swift said he doesn't charge for his henna art, but only asks for donations. It would be better to allow henna art on the boardwalk, as long as the ink used was regulated, Swift said.

"I'm an artist. I'll always be an artist. This is what I do," he said. He also added that his sales on the boardwalk support his children.

City officials pushed for the ordinance because unregulated vending has created a "flea-market atmosphere" that had been hampering the performances, visual arts and free speech activity that has made the Venice Beach boardwalk the city's top tourist attraction with 16 million visitors a year.

Susan Fair, a Venice tourist from Wales, recently came back to Venice Beach after 20 years to show her husband the famed boardwalk.

"I was very taken by the markets and their different-ness [20 years ago]," Fair said. "I don't find it offensive, and there are plenty of places we can see art. I'd keep it as it is. Why change it?"

The city has been grappling with Ocean Front Walk regulation since 2004 and the ordinance has gone through a series of revisions and legal challenges. In 2008, a version of the ordinance was passed to allow regulation and permitting through a lottery system. In 2010, however, a federal judge ruled the lottery system unconstitutional.

The unregulated vending has contributed to a rise in crime and youth transients, Capt. Jon Peters of the LAPD told the City Council last month. Aggravated assaults have risen by 16 percent in the past year and vendors have been paying transients to hold spots overnight, Peters said.

Under the new law, vendors will no longer be allowed to set up before 9 a.m. or be permitted to operate after sunset. Vending equipment must also be of nominal size and height, so they won't block ocean views or restrict emergency vehicle access.