The Colorful Los Angeles: Venice Beach
One of the bohemian and artistic areas of the greater Los Angeles area is Venice Beach. After two years living in LA, it became one of my favorite spots to walk around during the weekend afternoons, as you really do not know what you may see on any given day. From the spooky little apartments along the boardwalk to the multi-million dollar homes of the movie stars along the coast, this is one area that while the real estate prices have soared, the eclectic and the spontaneous, and the mix of people from different cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds has remained varied and interesting.
One day I waved to Angelica Houston has she tended her garden, drank a carrot juice and watched a street sense basketball game at the courts just on the southern tip of the beach. That Saturday was completed by the drummers on the beach at sunset, a tradition that has been taking place for many years, one which draws at least one hundred bongo and conga players on any given Saturday. Some of the best Los Angeles hotel accommodations can be found along Venice, as well as up the coast a bit in Santa Monica and Malibu, giving you easy access to the beaches without the annoyance of spending hours in the LA traffic nightmare.
At one time, Venice Beach was an uninhabitable marshland. However, as most creative entrepreneurs do, Abbot Kinney saw something in the marshes that others had overlooked. He decided that he wanted to create a Venice in America, with canals, gondolas and Venetian architecture. While the beach was affected by World War II and the Great Depression, and suffered greatly from the gang activity in the early 1980’s, it is now one of the most visited sections of the city. A mix of culture, art and music, Venice Beach is collective melting pot creating a whole, the vibe of Southern California. From clothing vendors, to artists, to street musicians, to fortune tellers and the body builders of Muscle Beach this is one many areas of Los Angeles which remains steeped in the history of the generations that came before, and those that are living there today.