Vacations Blog

It’s not just a cute place for a romantic encounter, a la “The Truth About Cats and Dogs.“  The canals of Venice Beach , California are eye candy for anyone, especially architecture or  style enthusiasts who just love to ogle a uniquely designed home.

View of Venice, CA canals

At one time the city of Venice, CA consisted of a network of canals created by the developer Abbott Kinney as a tribute to the Italian city.  Over the years many of them were filled in and paved, but a small enclave of the original grid was allowed to remain and eventually took its place among the priciest real estate in the area.  The canals are best viewed on foot.

The Truth About Canals and Babies

Located a few blocks inland from the beach between Washington Blvd. and Venice Blvd, the canals can be reached by parking on Ocean or Dell Street, but pay attention to the signs, because with Los Angeles’ budget deficit reaching up to $1 billion, every nickel and dime the parking attendants can squeeze out of your error counts.

Great place to take a baby

Walking through the canal neighborhood you might forget that you are in Los Angeles at all.  The noise and bustle of the crowds at the boardwalk seem worlds away from this tranquil and colorful area.

Foot bridge over Venice canal

It takes a special kind of person to live in a thin, tall house whose front yard is a sidewalk and a duck-filled waterway, and that kind of person also often has a quirky eye for design.  A stroll through the canals at sunset allows you to peer into the front windows and see what they live like inside.  During the holidays the residents dress up their little boats and canoes for a holiday boat parade.

Funky homes line the canals

When you are hungry head to a restaurant instead

If you work up an appetite some good local spots to visit are House of Teriyaki Too on Ocean if you are gritty and sweaty or if you clean up a bit they might let you into Hal’s Bar and Grill on Abbott Kinney.

When I first moved to California, I missed the mountains of my home state, Washington. Then I went to the beach and realized the wildness of a beach gave me with the same sense of beauty and nature’s grandeur I had been longing to see.  Here are the beaches I love in Northern California:

1. Ocean Beach, San Francisco–very much the urban beach, but to me having the Pacific within walking distance was amazing.  (Wow, I really am in California, I can’t believe a beach is this close).

2. Stinson Beach–long white sand beach with a snack shop serving soft ice cream cones and with a good boogie board rental shop.

3.  Bolinas Beach– no crowds, no snack shops, just one long beautiful beach with tide pools, buy a map to get there, the locals always remove the highway signs.  If they aren’t exactly welcoming, just know it isn’t you!  It is them-really it is them, they do not welcome because they want to keep it to themselves. No Banana Republics in sight and never will be.

4.  Santa Cruz Boardwalk–c’mon what is better than a college town with a surf attitude and a boardwalk?

5.  Pt. Lobos–just a beautiful set of trails bordering the smashing, crashing Pacific shore.

6.  The four beaches on Half Moon Bay because of the three mile hike that you can take to reach each one:

7.  Venice Beach (yes, I know there is also a Venice Beach in SoCal, let’s just say they are very different, no body builders at this one.)

8. Frances Beach

9.  Miramar Beach

10. Dune Beach

11.  Paradise Beach–sometimes a quiet little spot on San Francisco Bay is all I need, especially since it can be easily reached from the city within 30 minutes.

12. Muir Beach–I take my visiting tourists to Muir Woods and tell them I will pick them up later while I sunbathe at the beach and grab lunch at the Pelican Inn.  Just cuz I hate paying to see tall trees, when I can see them for free at a number of other places with a lot less people. Not a fan of Muir Woods except when the rangers put on their Winter Solstice show…

13. Capitola Beach–a cute little town for a weekend visit, plus the margaritas they serve at many of the watering holes along the beach are just the thing to quench a beach induced thirst.  Just watch for strong surf in the fall, the locals warn me…

If you do visit  Northern California, a visit to the beach must be on your list.  Just plan ahead, bring a jacket in case the fog rolls in, rent a wet suit if you plan on surfing or boogie boarding and of course bring a frisbee or two to feel like a Californian.  And yes, the Great White Sharks, do patrol our waters, but that is another post…

Photo courtesy of angela7dreams on Flickr.