It’s Game Time at The Sidewalk Cafe! Enjoy the action on the field and on the Boardwalk at Venice’s best people watching patio!
About The Sidewalk Cafe: A Venice Boardwalk landmark for 46 years, The Sidewalk Cafe offers fresh, high-quality, well-prepared food with generous portions. And all of their soups and sauces are homemade. The outdoor covered patio provides a beautiful view of the beach and ocean while street performers and an eclectic crowd continuously entertain.
The SWC has satellite sports packages, Ten TV’s including three big screens and is known as “The Best Place to People Watch in Venice Beach.” The Sidewalk Cafe features a full service bar. Happy Hour from 3-7 p.m. A fun place for the entire family.
Also under the red and white awning you can find Small World Books, a wonderful independent bookstore. It is a great place to find out more about Venice. Small World Books offers a wide collection of literary fiction and poetry, and is frequently used as a resource for entertainment industry researchers.
Whether you come for breakfast on the beach, lunch in the sun, or dinner at sunset, you are sure to enjoy at The Sidewalk Cafe. Look for the red and white awning near the center of the Venice Boardwalk!
- View gallery!
- View food menu!
- View drink menu
- Beach side setting with view of boardwalk entertainment
- Serene mornings & beautiful ocean sunsets in the evenings
- Open daily from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.
- Happy Hour 3 -7pm, Monday thru Friday.
- A beautiful Venice sunset
- Validated weekday parking is available one block south at Market Street
- Check out their instagram here for music and upcoming events.
- Monday – Friday:11:00 am – 8:00 pm
- Saturday – Sunday:10:00 am – 8:00 pm
See you at the Sidewalk Cafe!
1401 Ocean Front Walk. Venice, CA. 90291 thesidewalkcafe.com. 310.399.5547
Here is a Venice/Sidewalk Cafe History lesson!
In 1905, after winning the Venice land on a coin flip with his partners, Abbot Kinney built Venice-of-America to be a personal monument to Venice, Italy. He built a fantasy city with real canals, a wood boardwalk and piers with rides and water slides. It was a huge hit! Celebrities like William Randolph Hearst and Marion Davies strolled the Venice Boardwalk. Sarah Bernhardt performed in the Venice Auditorium; Charlie Chaplin clowned in Abbot Kinney’s auto races, and Mary Pickford was rowed in her own gondola. Venice was the place to be!The building that now houses the Sidewalk Café was one of the last of Abbot Kinney’s Venice buildings and was originally designed to be four stories tall, but only the first floor was constructed was built.
The building sold to the Harrah family (of gambling fame) and was turned into a bingo parlor (later called bridgo because bingo was illegal). During prohibition, Abbot Kinney’s underground utility tunnels were modified to accommodate bootleggers who delivered liquor at night under the pier. In the 1950s and early ‘60s the building housed artists’ studios and served as the crash pad for beatnik writers and poets such as Jack Kerouac. The building stood vacant for many years until 1976 when Mary Goodfader’s bookstore, Small World Books, lost its lease in Marina Del Rey. Bob Goodfader, while bicycling on the bike path, saw the building and called the phone number graffitied on its front. The Goodfaders and their friends, Walter (Skip) and Penny Dixon bought the building as a new location for the bookstore.
Bob and Skip decided to open a small takeout place on the side, not in use by the bookstore. The eatery was such a hit that they expanded it into a patio restaurant. Venice experienced a rebirth with roller skating and skateboarding in the 70s.
The Boardwalk’s unique entertainers, skateboarding’s Z-boys, Muscle Beach’s bodybuilders and Venice’s basketball players attracted worldwide attention. The Sidewalk Café offered great food and a front row seat to the circus. Small World Books is one of the last surviving independent bookstores in Los Angeles and is still run by Mary. See what treasures that their staff can help you discover.
Bob passed away in 2002, but the Sidewalk Café is still being run by the people he trained including his son Jay, his protégé Steve, his general manager Kristen and his head cook Luciano.
Check out photos from their 40th Anniversary party in 2016. All photos by Venice Paparazzi.
Jay Goodfader and family. Photo from their 40th Anniversary party in 2016
SWC’s General Manager Kristen Archival and daughter Alex. Photo from their 40th Anniversary party in 2016
Photo from their 40th Anniversary party in 2016
Re-live the SWC’s 40th Anniversary in 2016!
Dine, drink, & play at the Sidewalk Cafe, 1401 Ocean Front Walk. Venice, CA. 90291.
For more info: thesidewalkcafe.com.
