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Saturday, January 29, 2011

Venice Beach

Today, Matt and I are headed down to Orange County for a long-awaited visit to our favorite beach. It's not swimming weather, of course, but I'm so excited to feel the sand on my toes and just listen to the waves crash on the shore.

This little beach trip reminded me that I never blogged about our visit to a wildly different beach in California -- the one that everyone says is "sooo LA." Although, I must say, Venice Beach is so not the kind of Los Angeles that we've fallen in love with. We knew that heading into that Saturday beach trip, but figured we had to cross it off our list at some point. It's fascinating, to say the least. Observe:
The boardwalk is crowded with tourists, shops, sidewalk vendors and street performers.
The most ridiculous of these shops is the medical marijuana doctors. There were at least a dozen of these when we went to Venice Beach last August. An employee would stand outside, handing out flyers and inviting people to come inside and get cleared for medicinal marijuana. Even more ridiculous than the existence of these shops was the shockingly high number of customers inside each one. Seriously.
Further down the boardwalk, we encountered the designated graffiti areas, where spray painting walls, trash cans and trees is entirely legal.
Next, there is the skate park, which is actually pretty entertaining.
Not too far away from the skate park is a huge collection of courts -- basketball, tennis, etc.
Then, of course, there is the famous "Muscle Beach," where meatheads pay about $10 to workout for hours in front of thousands of people at the beach. We tried to get a picture of the fake & bake superstar in the yellow speedo below, but he moved to a different machine right before we snapped a shot. Along with the paid gym are a bunch of free apparatuses that anyone can use, and we had fun playing around on them for a little bit. 
Lastly, the actual ocean, which seems to be a big afterthought with all the crazy busyness of Venice Beach. We spent the bulk of our time enjoying the cool Pacific water on a hot August day. That was more like it.
So there you have it: our least favorite beach in LA that you can't help but visit just to see the spectacles. I must admit, though, despite not loving Venice Beach, seeing these warm swimsuit pictures has me itching for summer!

11 comments:

  1. Yeah I am not a big fan of Venice Beach, I love living in Redondo!

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  2. Venice is a great people watching place, but I love beaches in Malibu to relax at, like Matador and Paradise Cove...

    Have a wonderful weekend!!

    And not sure if you knew (can't remember who I told!) there's a SoCal blogger meet up, check out my blog for info :)

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  3. I'm glad we're not the only ones who aren't fans! MJ- El Matador is on our short list of beaches to visit soon. It looks gorgeous!

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  4. oh how i miss my beaches in california. i hope you have a great time :)

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  5. ohmyword. take me with you. haha so pretty! btw you are so adorable! Im loving the romper!!

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  6. I was surprised that the beach itself at Venice Beach was actually clean - I knew the boardwalk itself was going to be gross though! But still a place you have to see to believe I think!

    I can't believe you guys drive to OC for a beach day. I love being on the road but not that much! ha :) What do you do in the car to pass the time!?

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  7. great post. it was almost summer on friday :) we're getting there!

    <3mvv

    ps. im your latest follower!

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  8. Leah- We normally only go to OC when we're staying with friends for the weekend, who live just 30 minutes from Newport. But this was a special occasion (our pre-Valentine's date), so the almost 2-hour drive was worth it :-)

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  9. It's snowing here today and you are on a beach adventure. *SIGH*

    Some kind of family beach adventure needs to happen for us this summer.

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  10. Mmmm all that sunshine looks soooo nice. We just had the snowiest January on record (I think) here in NY. Sunshine......... :)

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  11. You're just the cutest thing ever! Great photo skills my friend :)

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