Venice
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
Venice, CALIFORNIA that is. Sunny and hip, this Venice is a part of the City of Los Angeles.
The Canals.
Not too easy to find. Only a few blocks wide by a few less blocks long. They are located in the southwest corner of Venice. Specifically, they are south of Venice Blvd., north of Washington Blvd. east of Pacific Ave. and west of Ocean Ave. The sidewalks and canals themselves are city property and open to the public but the standard rules apply. In addition, The Venice Canals Association asks you to observe a few more. To take a walk on the canals, you can park your car on any of the surrounding streets and enjoy.
The canals are a beautiful place to take a stroll but if you do decide to take a walk on the canals, remember that people live there. The boats you will see parked in the canals are the property of the residents. The lots are small and the easement is microscopic. As a result, you are the sidewalk and someone's backyard is a few inches away. Be respectful of their privacy.
If you walk your dogs (as I do), it is important that you pick up after them. In addition to common courtesy, it is the law. The Venice Canals Association has posted signs to remind you of this and in several spots provided you with green mailboxes filled with plastic bags for this purpose.
Don't litter. There are trash cans every block or so. Never toss any trash in to the water and remember that trash thrown on the ground may easily blow into the water. The canals are not only home to wildlife themselves, they are linked to the ocean a few blocks away.
Don't feed the ducks. Make no mistake, they love their ducks. The problem is that ducks will eat what tourists throw at them and they should not. Wild birds should not eat bread, popcorn, or rice cakes. The canals have plenty of fish and bugs and other natural things for them to live off of. The residents of the canals don't want the ducks to be malnourished and susceptible to disease. They were extremely upset some years back when a disease swept through the duck population there and more than 500 ducks and geese had to be put down. Please don't add to anything that will harm this new healthy duck population.
Eating and Shopping
Founded on July 4th 1905 by real estate entrepreneur Abbot Kinney, the street that now bares his name is chock full of antique shops, art galleries, and restaurants. The Abbot Kinney Boulevard area is a diverse, mixed-use community which includes Abbot Kinney Boulevard between Venice Boulevard and Main Street, and adjacent streets. The area is comprised of small shops, restaurants, single family homes, apartment buildings and artists lofts.There is something for everyone here. There is even a cafe that welcomes your dog!
The Beach
Ah the ocean. Too bad the whole length of Venice beach is under construction along the boardwalk. Though it looks like the facelift will be a huge improvement, right now the whole area is full of heavy machinery, dirt, and plywood. I used to love rollerblading along the bike path here I wouldn't suggest it again until after the construction is done. Shopping along the boardwalk is likewise something I will put off till then.
A Nice Place to Visit but...
I live here. I started looking for an apartment in October and found one I liked (and could kinda afford) in May of the next year. I wanted to live near the beach until I found out that there is nowhere to park. There are great walk streets and I was tempted to rent there. For those of you who don't know what a "walk street" is, it is a street without a street. The houses are reached by alleys that run behind them and a sidewalk where the street should be. If you do the math you will come to the conclusion that lack of a street quickly cuts down on the places to put your car. Parking is precious here. If you do choose to rent one of these great places, make sure parking is included (very often it is not). I have had to park several blocks away from my destination on winter nights, and summers days are notorious among locals for lack of parking. I pity the person who signs a lease in March without having seen the fight for parking in July first. If you do rent a place with "street parking" you can rent a parking spot from one of the merchants along the boardwalk. It will be a few blocks from home but at least you will be guaranteed a spot.
Okay. The farther you are from the beach, the less parking is a problem, unless you live just off of Abbot Kinney (where I live). The downside of being walking distance from the great shops and eateries is that other people park in front of your house to walk to the great shops and eateries. I can't complain too much because I squeeze my car onto a spot on the alley (the occasional arguments with neighbors are small price to pay). I love this neighborhood and highly recommend it.
If you do drive around Venice much you will eventually come across the rough part of town, Oakwood. This is roughly the area east of Electric Ave., west of Lincoln Blvd, north of California, and south of Rose. There you will often spot nice folk standing on street corners. I understand that they are salesmen of some sort. If there is gang activity in Venice, you can bet it is here. That being said, I know a couple of location scouts for The X-files lived there. The facade of one guy's apartment was nondescript to the point of being dowdy, the inner courtyard gave you the first clue of the income bracket these folk occupied. He pointed to a building down the alley and said his boss lived there. You had to look past the teeny-tiny house with the barred windows and the two gentlemen drinking beer on the porch to see it. So don't judge all these books by their covers. You'd be surprised to know what lies beneath.
The rest of Venice is pretty much a hodge-podge of every kind of housing. Tiny homes that were originally beach cottages dominate the area west of Abbot Kinney. The area east of Abbott Kinney to West L.A. is standard Southern California, graceful old homes tucked in between 1950's stucco houses. The farther you get from the ocean, the less funky the hood.
Artists
The place is crawling with them. My next-door neighbor makes soap. The stuff is beautiful, and believe me, it's art. When she isn't surfing or soaping she he works for the film industry as a set painter of some sort. The other neighbors are dancers, internet talent coordinators, freelance web designers, sitcom writers, painters, sculptors, all live here. There is an "Art walk" every year in May where in exchange for a charitable donation, you are given a map of artist's homes, studios, and lofts open for viewing. I highly reccomend it.
Amazing Gardens
The place is crawling with them. They are not always easy to spot because of high walls. I am fortunate to live in the midst of some great ones and the homes they surrond are not bad either. As a matter of fact, as I walked through the home of some neighbors, I said I remembered seeing a bathroom like theirs in the "Los Angeles Times Magazine" a few years back. My host was behind me and whispered in my ear "That was our place. They did a piece on it two years ago." These nice folk also open their home and gardens to the "Secret Gardens of Venice" tour. As with the Art Walk, the fee goes to charity and everyone gets a map of the places participating. You get to stroll through one amazing garden after another and meet the uncomnon people who produce those labors of love.
