Santa Monica and Venice Beach California Visitor's Guide

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The Venice Boardwalk
Santa Monica Pier
Third St Promenade
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Learn to Surf
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VENICE BEACH AND SANTA MONICA

The VeniceBoardWalker is your guide to everything you want to know about Santa Monica and Venice Beach. Where it stay, where to eat, and even where to shop. The beach area from the Santa Monica Pier south to Marina Del Rey has more things to do than anywhere else in Los Angeles! The beaches and boardwalk of Venice Beach and Santa Monica are two of the top FREE attractions in Southern California for both locals and out of town visitors. People drive from all over Southern Caifornial to spend the day on the Venice Beach Boardwalk, enjoying the street performers and grabbing a tan. For those on extended visits there are plenty of other attractions and entertainment nearby. There are a million thing to do near the beaches of Santa Monica and Venice Beach.

When you stay in Santa Monica or Venice all the top attractions are at your fingertips. Disneyland, The Getty Center and Villa, Hollywood, Universal Studios, Malibu, all are less than an hour away. If this is your first time to Los Angeles your biggest problem will probably be what sights to leave out!

If you are visiting from outside the area and want to see as many of the attractions as possible for as little money as possible I would suggest you invest in a Go Los Angeles Card . With it you will enjoy a substantial discount on over 40 attractions, tours, and Museums. The Go LA Card is great because it gives you the choice and flexibility to visit any 3 or 5 included attractions over the course of 30 calendar days. Go Cards are available in single & multiple day increments, and are accompanied by a full-color pocket guidebook and provides exclusive discounts at top restaurants and souvenir shops. Just another money saving piece of advice from the VeniceBoardWalker.

SANTA MONICA BEACHES

Santa Monica has literally miles and miles of broad sandy beaches. Gladstone's seafood restaurant marks the north end of the Santa Monica beaches and also happens to be where the bike path ends and Sunset Blvd meets the Pacific Ocean. When you ride your bike up here you can enjoy stretches of sand with nobody on them. There are several spots up here where you can actually enjoy a secluded beach, spending the day just relaxing and watching pods of dolphins play near the surf. In the winter you may even be lucky enough to spot a grey whale.

Heading south from Gladstone's, as you approach the Santa Monica pier you will pass the more exclusive part of Santa Monica's beaches. An area of private beach clubs and the partial remains of William Randolph Hearst's former beach house, built for his movie star mistress Marion Davies. This area has always been a movie star playground and it is still a great spot for catching a view of a celebrity jogging, biking or even lounging on the beach. Your chances of spotting a Lindsey Lohan or Paris or another celebrity is 1000% greater here then in Hollywood or anywhere else in Los Angeles short of an award ceremony

If you are following the bike path your next beach is just north of the Santa Monica pier. This is the beach for the people who want to park close to the sand. The usual reason they want to do this because they have 3 coolers, an umbrella, the mother-in-law and 12 kids in tow. This is probably the most crowded section of Santa Monica beach.

[A Santa Monica beach]
South of the Santa Monica pier you have several more miles of wide sand beach that continue to Venice beach and ending at the main boat entrance to Marina Del Rey. How many people you will find on the beaches will depend on the weather and the day of the week. Some beaches are surfing only and some near Ocean Park Blvd are marked unsafe for swimming because of old piers, roller coasters and amusement parks submerged just under the waves.

SANTA MONICA PIER

I have a whole page on the Santa Monica Pier with it's long and stormy history. But today the pier has a ton of fun things to do, it's a great place to throw a birthday party, ride the roller coaster or try the Ferris wheel (highly recommended!). Pacific Park is the only west coast amusement park located on a pier. There is also an arcade, and an aquarium. On the other end of the pier is a working vintage carousel, famous from the Robert Redford movie "The Sting". There are several restaurants on the pier and most places that serve food serve at least beer and wine. On the pier you're paying more for the view than the food, but it's worth it at sunset. Then you can wander up to the Third Street Promenade where you will find theaters, shops, and street performers, sometimes even a trained monkey.

SANTA MONICA PROMENADE

If you leave the Santa Monica pier and walk 2 blocks north and 2 blocks east you'll find the Third Street Promenade and the Santa Monica Mall, an upscale Mecca for shoppers from all over the world. With the great weather there is a constant buzz of activity with dozens of shops and restaurants, about 20 movie screens, and a wide assortment of street entertainment, you don’t come here for the $10 T-shirts, this is the corporate/sanitized version of the Venice Boardwalk. I have a complete page about the Third Street Promenade you can check out.

SANTA MONICA MAIN STREET

While you're at the Promenade you can check out the oldest building in Santa Monica, it started as a saloon in the mid 19th century, back when the Clipper Ships had to sail around the Cape to reach Santa Monica. Take Main Street south from the Santa Monica Mall, and in just a few short blocks you will be in the Ocean Park neighborhood. Once a 1920”s boom town, Ocean Park andMain Street are now a funky neighborhood that has evolved into an eclectic mix of early beach bungalows from the 20's, 60's apartment buildings, environmental homes and contemporary architectural gems. There are shops like Patagonia and Betsy Johnson, some good pastry shops, coffee shops and even a thrift shop or two.

MARINA DEL REY

Abbot Kinney dead ends into Washington Blvd as you head south, take a right turn there and head back toward the beach and you'll be at the Venice Pier in about 5-7 minutes. When you get to the light at Washington and Via Marina look to your left, this is the entrance to Marina Del Rey the largest man made marina in the world with water sports galore. Straight ahead it's only a few blocks to the Venice Pier where the Venice Boardwalk begins and you can pick up the bike path again.

VENICE BEACH ABBOTT KINNEY

Keep going down Main Street and Abbott Kinney veers off to the left right at Gold's Gym. This used to be called West Washington Blvd as opposed to West Washington Ave and just plain Washington. This was the most confused street in the entire city of Los Angeles until they changed it to Abbott Kinney, right around the Venice centennial I think it was. I remember there was a big party...Anyway; Abbot Kinney has been the last bastion of the artist's studios and the rundown store fronts that disguised cheap digs. During the early 80's Abbott Kinney hosted the Vector Super car and the Venice Vintage BMW Motorcycle Sidecar Club on the same street, so it's always been eclectic. Lately the developers have been having their way with the old dame and people are in a snit about, horrors, a chain store called Pinkberry's coming to town. I have a whole page of the old and new Abbot Kinney Blvd that's worth visiting.

VENICE BEACH BOARDWALK

The Venice Beach boardwalk doesn't draw anyone with chic shops, great dining, or even the best beaches (sorry to say). No, today what draws the crowds, other than the great weather, is "the freak show" referring of course to the locals and visitors that, umm how can I say it, aren't your typical neighbors. If you check out the cast of characters page you might get an idea if what you've heard about all these years is actually true.
Watch the VIDEOS of the street performers, see the freak show, knife juggler, strongman and everything else that the Venice Beach Boardwalk has become famous for.

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The beach experience isn't always just about sun and sand. One of the most enjoyable parts of any time spent at the beach is checking out everything and everyone around you. At most beaches, that means skimpy bikinis and the odd kite-flying youngster. At Venice Beach in Los Angeles, it's a different story entirely...