Beach Life - Californian Style

Friday 27 Feb 09 - weather very warm and mainly sunny

Although I had read about Venice Beach, I was still suprised how the stretch of ocean front between Venice Pier and Santa Monica Pier can vary so much in character. From smart picture-windowed sea-front houses to a stretch of tattoo parlours, t-shirt shops, dope paraphenalia emporiums and street vendors and entertainers and then back to grassed areas with picnic tables and childrens playparks; Venice and Santa Monica beaches have it all.

The stroll from the hotel down Washington Boulevard to Venice Pier was pleasant with many well tended gardens alongside the footpath. Just before the pier a selections of food outlets and beach shops preceeds the beach and pier. A film crew had set up on the approaches to and on the pier, providing some chance to join in with movie making. The scene they were shooting seemed to involve lots of people on the beach lying aimlessly on the beach, a number of surfers lying face down in the sea pretending to be dead, whilst the only 'dry' actor, on the pier, is seen responding to a call for help from two live surfers. We kindly played the role of unpaid, background onlookers!

The route between the two piers follows the beach with a choice of using the bicycle or pedestrian path. There are bike rental outlets every where where bikes, trikes, tandems and recliner bikes can be hired by the hour. It is forbidden by local statutes to walk on the bicycle path which is heavily used by cyclists on every type of bike you can think of in addition to roller bladers, roller skaters and skateboarders. Whilst using these forms of transport it is acceptable to be pushing a baby-buggy, exercising your dogs, talking on your phone or indeed playing a musical instrument. As we left the Venice Pier area, the beach walk was lined with houses opening straight onto the beach, many with picture windows and extensive decks, some are clearly very expensive. Soon, however, the path starts to pass t-shirt shops and shops that cater for those wishing to smoke 'weed' where you can buy anything you might conceivably need to support the habit apart from the raw material, presumably! Tattooists also seem to be making a living from the passing trade as there are dozens of them beachside.

'Muscle Beach' is situated in the midst of this peculiar mix of commerce along with a few quirky souvenir shops and eateries. A stop for coffee here allowed us to listen to a piano player who had managed to get a full size understrung piano on the beach and when he finished, a boy/girl band tried to drum up support for there music. The muscle part of the beach was regretably deserted.

Away from Venice, there is a suddenly a change from the hippie, surfer and beach bum look to an altogether more refined atmosphere. A quick look at the street signs comfirms that we have entered Santa Monica. The beach is the same, but now it is backed with grassy areas and blocks of appartments which continue all the way to Santa Monica Pier. The pier has a 'kiss-me-quick' feel to it and indeed has a big wheel and rollercoaster on it in addition to restaurants and fast food vendors. The pier is busy and since it is lunch time, we duck into 'Bubba Gump's Shrimp House' which is very busy with families eating vast quantities of shrimp cooked every style imaginable. Nonetheless, we find a table and proceed to demolish lunch as we calculate that we have walked a further 2 miles from Venice Pier.

After lunch, we follow the ramp up on the bluffs, aka low cliffs, and find ourselves in the commercial centre of Santa Monica. We decide to leave exploration of this pleasant area to another day and take the 'Big Blue Bus' back along Lincoln Boulevard to our Hotel.

Not content with all this walking, later we walk almost back down to the beach for dinner. Here we find a Mexican restaurant which is absolutely heaving. Clearly, valet parking is normal in restaurants here and we feel a bit out of place arriving on foot. Once inside we are quickly shown to a table. A quiet dinner this is not, the bussle and noise is all pervasive, but the food is good and later we wander back up the road to the hotel full of enchilada and burritos and pleasantly tired.