I couldn’t think of a better way to spend my time thn going to Venice Beach. Named after the canals of Venice, Italy, Venice Beach boasts their own canals. A few blocks from the beach is a small neighborhood that has canals instead of roads going past their houses. Sidewalks are built alongside of the canals so that anyone can stroll down this beautiful area.

Venice Beach is set up to encourage activity. Bike paths are built running down the shore for bikers, joggers, or anyone on wheels. Other side walks are built closer to the houses so that anyone walking can enjoy the unusual architecture of the houses built here. It seems that homeowners try to out-do each other by not only building their dream house, but the more unusual the better. Several are all glass but my two favorites were done in a Buddhist/Asian style and the other was a tree house.

If you continue to walk south on the path, you’ll end up in Marina Del Ray (our beaches are on top of one another), but if you head north, towards Santa Monica, you’ll hit the shops. Past the houses is a series of shops that sell the usual souvenirs including sarongs, sunglasses, and incense. Bring cash because most of these shops don’t take credit cards. Street acts are also abundant here. Around this area, the famous Muscle Beach can be found. Stop for a few moments to watch oversized men bench press your body weight several times over.

On a section of the beach is a skate park that is covered in graffiti. Usually the graffiti in LA detracts from the area, but some how it adds to the natural beauty of the area. Walls, trash cans, rock, and even palm trees are covered in color.

Near the skate park there is a breaker. During low tide you can walk out to it and take beautiful picture of the ocean and the water breaking on the rocks without getting wet.

The ocean itself is wonderful. Lifeguard stands are everywhere. The coast guard is also patrolling the water and security driving up and down the beach.

Venice Beach is way more than just a beach. Sure you can go there and sit in the sun or frolic in the ocean. The water was reasonably warm when we went there in March—not too warm, but comfortable enough that you could stick toes in without it being freezing and you have to run away. The beach itself and the sand is nice and not rocky or anything and you can sit and watch the waves and the people and enjoy the surf.

But Venice Beach is so much more than just a beach. You can walk the length of the beach and see great shopping and art galleries and entertainment and restaurants. The restaurants all seemed fairly reasonably priced, and we ate at a cute little place with delicious french fries that wasn't expensive at all and was right off the boardwalk. There are a lot of unique shops with stuff to buy that doesn't look like it came from a department store—more artsy and cool and not that expensive. You can buy boutique type shirts—I bought a green shirt with ties and sequins and it only cost me about $25 which was a very good price I thought. It's nice because it is stuff you won't find everywhere. There are also little art galleries and things that you can go into and browse local art—a great experience and great way to kill an afternoon.

It's fun to people watch there as well—there are lots of artsy young kids on the boardwalk and you can watch the surfers in the water doing their fancy tricks and be impressed.

Overall, I'd highly recommend that you visit—even if you are not a beach person there is so much more to it with the shopping and the art and the people watching and the surfers. It's a true Los Angeles experience and no trip to LA is complete without a visit. Best of all, if you just walk around and don't buy anything, it doesn't cost you any money (although if you want to park close and you get there a little later in the day you might have a hard time finding a parking spot, or you might have to pay to park.)

Well I kinda ran out of room on my last review and I had some more pictures I really wanted to share on Venice Beach.

Venice Beach really was a neat place and you can be there all day and not even realize it. Times flies so fast when you are out here and you don't even realize it.

Also, I mentioned in the other review that the end of Venice Beach runs into Santa Monica Beach. If you get done or bored with Venice, you walk or ride right on over to Santa Monica Beach and enjoy the activities it has to offer.

We did not make it all the way to the activities so I do not know much about what it has to offer, but I do know they ave a theme park right on the beach, and from a distance it is pretty cool to see.

Well I hope that I did not overwhelm you with too much information, its just that Venice Beach has so much to offer and I could not tell you about with out hitting on the things that I did.

Have a great time and enjoy and variety of exerince and entertainment. 

I think this beach is a true example of what Southern California is all about.

Venice Beach is one of the most popual beaches in Southern California,known for its liberality, muscles, and beauty. This beach strand is the most eclectic and unique, with its own style.

Let me just start with saying that when My husband and I went on this vacation I was 6 months pregant. I walked around this place for close to 2 hours and could not believe how great I felt. Do, however, make sure you use sun screen because you will get the sun.

Venice Beach is similar to many beaches in that it had a boardwalk and then the beach was on the other side, what makes this beach just a bit diffrent is its style. It is very liberal and you can expect to see many things. There are people walking around with matresses and clothes and all their belongings, living right there on the beach, several starving artists, whether musical, drawing, or painting. So many of then have stands or just there work laying on the ground that you can buy, of course the musicans just play and have a case opened for you to drop money in. There are many shops, mostly souvenir and gift shops with stuff that has Venice Beach on it (which I could not help but to buy), but there are also your typical swim and surf shops and other just casual shopping. Pretty much anything you could imagine, they had. There are also many places to eat, from the nice and fancy to just a hotdog and fries on a dirty table. But once again, there is so much to choose from. They have Mexcian, seafood, pizza, burgers, and many other things I have never even heard of.

Venice Beach is also well know for its muscles and working out, with two major gyms right on the the beach. It's the home of the first Gold's Gym, and also home of the famous Muscle Beach. You can see many tanned men and women working out right before your eyes.

Venice beach has a huge skate park decorated with graffiti and lots of skaters. Being from a small conservative town in Texas this was very unique and interseting to see. Of course there are other things to do like volleyball, swim, and stroll the beach, the beach almost looks vacant when you see the people walking up and down the strand, but there are people out there, and they do have life gaurds.

The beach also has places along it where you can rent bikes, rollerblades, surf boards, boogie boards, and many other things.

At the end of Venice beach is the begining of Santa Monica Beach, which is the home of a theme park right on the beach. (You have probably see this on many movies and shows.)

Next time you are in Los Angeles come to Venice Beach. You are sure to find something that fits your taste, and be prepared for a long day.

Venice Beach is a great place to get a suntan, not mention a henna tattoo, get a workout, go shopping and generally watch the freaks go by. The boardwalk stretches all the way along to Santa Monica and is for the most part edged by alternative shops, tattoo parlours, artists and street performers. It's fun to just wander along and check out the sights - mostly human. And you can hire rollerblades, bikes or surfboards at either end if you fancy being a bit more active.

The beach itself is great, miles of golden sand and crashing waves. Don't necessarily expect to be left in peace though. When I was there, we were entertained by this big black guy balancing little rocks on big rocks. He took exception to people watching him though and demanded money. He was even more insulting to a random tv crew that happened to be there - this is LA after all. People watching is the best sport at Venice Beach - it's a genuinely alternative area, with its share of old hippies and free thinkers rejecting the usual LA ideology. Look out for the poster man who's clearly aching for an argument, a few examples of his posters read 'Jesus was Gay' and 'Hitler was right.' Most of the shops are of the alternative kind - candles, ethnic knick knacks. There are a few cheap clothes shops and it's a good place to get cheap sunglasses.

Another great spot for people or rather body watching is Muscle Beach. Here you can watch guys pumping iron in the midday sun, mad but impressive. There's also a basketball court if you fancy a game.

Venice Beach is a definite experience and you don't need to take a book along to be entertained. One thing though, it is a safe area - during the day, but if you're a lone female, be prepared for all the comments especially down Muscle Beach end.