This year I wasn’t able totravel to Europe for vacation, but I was still able to go to Italy! Okay, notreally, but we took a day trip to the beaches near Los Angeles, includingVenice Beach. We love unique and fun places, so it was definitely on our list.Since Venice Beach is just 8 miles from Santa Monica, I decided to do them bothin one day. Before our trip, I looked up more things to do in Venice and itturns out that developer Abbot Kinney had a Venice in America plan andrecreated 16 miles of the Italian canals in 1905.
Unfortunately, 75% of thecanals have since been covered up, because the sidewalks and houses surroundingthem fell into disrepair in the 30s and 40s. The city was salvaged and the remainingcanals are lined by million-dollar homes and looked amazing online, so Eric andI wanted to see them for ourselves. We parked at the beach and walked down toWashington Boulevard on the advice of a local walking his dog. Although I was bummed that I couldn’t rent a gondola to float down the water, I still wantedto experience the neighborhood.
The houses aren’t large, thoughthey are fantastic “beachfront” houses with small yards and largemortgages/rents. They have the advantage of being steps from the beach, havinga great walking neighborhood and being on a manmade river that they can cruisedown. The banks of the canals are lined with small boats owned by theresidents. Maybe they row down the river to their friends’ houses when theweather is nice. Whatever the case, I’m sure it’s a beautiful view from theirtiny balconies.
We visited the beaches on aweekday on the off-season, so we didn’t get the whole experience of Venice, butI love that the beach is clean and there are two sidewalks. One is specificallyfor bicycles and the other is for walkers. It’s a great way to keep trafficseparate and minimize accidents. I didget to see an old guy rollerblading in a pair of jean cut-offs, but mostly weenjoyed the quiet day and watching bicyclists roll by.
Venice is a great way to enjoyboth the beach and a recreation of the European canals on a budget. Both arefree, there are usually unique street performers and there are plenty of funshops and restaurants to choose from, too.
Have you been to Venice Beach?If so, what was your favorite part?
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