LOS ANGELES | BEACH CITIES PART 1
My thread is kind of boring so here's an intro about the photos I'll be posting.
Now that I covered DTLA, I can now start covering other areas! There's no way I could have a thread of Los Angeles without talking about Venice Beach or Santa Monica, right? So here's an intro to Venice and Santa Monica.
Venice Beach:
Venice Beach is 3.1 sq mi and is located south of Santa Monica, and north of Marina Del Rey (I never been there and it sounds boring so please convince me). Venice Beach is where you'll get that LA-vibe and I'm telling ya, you've never been to LA if you've never been to Venice Beach. And thanks to Abbot Kinney, who developed the Venice Canals, Abbot Kinney Boulevard, and the world-famous Venice Boardwalk, Venice Beach attracts millions of people each year.
Trip advise:
The photos I'll be posting are from my very recent Venice trip on 07/19/2014. I parked my car by Venice Canals, explored that area, then walked from Washington Blvd to the pier. I got from the pier to the Venice Boardwalk quickly though it's a short, boring stretch. After Venice Boardwalk, I was able to walk to Abbot Kinney Blvd very quickly within a few blocks. AK easily takes me back to Venice Canal, so I walked in a large triangle. I'm a slow walker because I take a bunch of photos, and I spent 3 hrs doing all that. I advise you take the same route so you could explore most of Venice in a day. It's not a lot of walking (maybe for suburban people).
Santa Monica
I love SM. Aside from Griffith Observatory, this is where I take all the touristy friends and family to go. SM is a city itself, so it's much bigger than Venice covering 8.4 sq mi. North of SM is Malibu, and south of SM is Venice. SM must be the tourist's favorite place to go which is why it's the most traffic-congested city in SoCal, but lets be thankful for the new Metro rail extension. There are a lot of public transit in Santa Monica too, and a very bike-friendly city. The main part of DTSM is extremely walkable, possibly the most walkable area in SoCal. Third St. Promenade/Santa Monica Place has a very nice selection of stores that you can't find in your local mall. Santa Monica Pier is the very last pier in Los Angeles with a surviving amusement park. I don't know how to describe Santa Monica other than it's a giant playground for tourists, and a real 24-hr city that locals can go to.
Trip advise:
I don't have the best advise... please comment on what you like to do in SM if you like. If you're driving to Santa Monica, good luck on free parking because it's a city, not a suburb, but my to-go parking garage is the one at 3rd St. Promenade. It's 24-hour, hella cheap (depends on how long you park), and it's right next to the beach (it's like $15 at the beach). I usually go to the touristy places (pier, 3rd st) and explore downtown. There are also a lot of nice shops on Main St, SM, such as Urth Caffe and Pressed Juicery. You can also cruise along the PCH up towards Malibu. If you're going to come here, don't come and leave at rush hour and on a weekday. My relatives decided to leave SM at 5:00PM on a weekday and took 1.5 hours to get to Downtown LA area.
Here are my introductory photos
365 Intro photo
366 This photo shows the density of Santa Monica.
367
368 The famous Venice sign.
369 The famous Santa Monica Pier sign.