SUGGESTED ACTIVITY: Walk, people watch, shop, and be entertained on the Venice Beach Boardwalk! There is something for everyone on Venice’s world famous Oceanfront Walk. Fun for the entire family!
LOCATION: Ocean Front Walk. Venice, Ca 90291C
ADMISSION: Free
WHAT TO EXPECT: Street performers, artists, tourists, locals, restaurants and bars, shops, souvenirs, and more!
ABOUT: The World famous Venice Beach Boardwalk is not to be missed. If you are visiting the Los Angeles area, you owe it to yourself to come to Southern California’s number one visitor attraction. Stretching about one a half miles along the manicured sands of the Pacific Ocean, the boardwalk is a large part of what makes Venice unique. On the west side of the “walk” are hundreds of street vendors and performers. You can see everything from break-dancing to broken glass walking. Mimes to musicians, jugglers to jesters and everything in between make up the human landscape. You can have your fortune read, get a temporary tattoo or have your name written on a grain of rice. If souvenirs is what you are after then the boardwalk is the place to go. The Westside offers unique arts and crafts, odds and ends and one of kinds only obtainable here. Paintings, photos, rocks of various sorts and sculptures are among the popular offerings. On the Eastside are the store fronts of the boardwalk. Here you will find every sort of t-shirt under the sun. From the politically motivated to sexually charged to the plain old Venice Beach t-shirt there is sure to be one for everybody. In addition, there are tattoo and piercing stores, skate and surf shops, medical marijuana dispensaries and more. You can buy sun glasses, vaporizers, beer and shoes. This is all in addition to the large selection of restaurants, juice spots and bars. In summary, packed into its one and a half mile, the boardwalk has more diversity in demographics and retail then probably anywhere else in the world. There is reason it so famous. Come and see for yourself!
Additional info from Wikipedia. This 2.5 kilometer boardwalk has a bike path, rollerskaters and skateboard ramps, restaurants, sunglasses, and plenty of tourists. Venice beach is famous for muscle beach, where body builders work out. California Govenor Arnold Schwarzenegger worked out on Muscle Beach and made Gold’s Gym famous in the 1980s.
KEY ATTRACTIONS:
Muscle Beach Gym
Muscle Beach Hall of Fame
Venice Beach Recreation and Parks
Historic Windward Ave.
Home of the Venice Sign
Venice’s oldest bar the Townhouse
Robert Gramhams’s Venice torso
Venice famous colonnade
Murals including “Hobnobbing in Venice”, “Kinesis”, Endangered Species
Great places to dine and drink: The Sidewalk Cafe (Outdoor patio on the Venice Beach Boardwalk), Danny’s, Hotel Erwin’s Barlo Kitchen and Cocktails, High Rooftop Lounge (Best 360 degree view of Venice), Hama Sushi, Nikki’s, Canal Club, Fruit Gallery, Poke Poke, and The Cow’s End Cafe!
Visitor survivor tip: Bring plenty of $1 dollar bills when you walk along the Venice Beach Boardwalk. If you watch an entire performer’s show or appreciate an artist’s work, please leave a tip. They work very hard to make your stay enjoyable at Venice Beach. Click here for more visitor survivor tips!
FOR MORE INFO: Venice Recreation and Parks. 310.396.6764 or 310.399.2775
Insider’s Guide
Written by Venice Paparazzi’s Alex Stowell
The Veniceʼs boardwalk has got to be the coolest ocean front walk in the world!
There are hundreds of things to do, and here a few:
1. Get a henna tattoo from the Cruz brothers @ 17th and the Boardwalk, they are the original and still the best Henna guys out there.
2. Check out Eddie between Westminster and Market for a custom toe-ring. Unique, fun and personal!!
3. Get legal at Medical Kush Dr., buy some weed and partake in a local tradition.
4. Have a drink at the Sidewalk Cafeʼ, full bar and late night happy hour on the weekends. The Sidewalk Cafe is know the world over as the best place to people watch in Los Angeles.
5. Buy some handmade art from a real starving artist. There is a guy named Cacaguat who sets up near 17th ave. and has the some of best original paintings around. They are steeped in vibrant colors and dark Mexican folklore.
6. Watch a live performance, there are a wide variety of entertainers, some great, some terrible. You be the judge. Don’t forget to tip, they work hard to entertain you.
7. Sit on a bench and watch the freak show roll by. You could even join the Krishna parade when they dance by. They welcome additional participants and the song they sing only has four words, so it is quite user friendly.
8. Buy a t-shirt, 3 for ten bucks at Big Mikes, which is near 18th st. or we have some “made in LA” at the American Apparel store. One of my favorite is MILF hunter, oops no, I mean I like the one that has a picture of the devil and the caption says: God is busy, can I help you?
9. Grab a work out a the Muscle Beach Gym. It costs $10 for a day pass. They have bumper weights to rival any Olympic or Powerlifting spot around and you get all of the color of the boardwalk to enjoy between sets. Also, the pass price includes access to a heavy bag and a speed bag. Very cool place, even if at times it is overrun with bikini clad men prancing around like they are lost the 80ʼs.
10. Watch, or play basketball, ours is the same court where American History X was filmed.
Written by Venice Paparazzi’s Edizen Stowell
If you are a shopper or love to browse, the Venice Boardwalk is filled with everything and anything you can imagine and more. On the east side of the boardwalk you can find Venice tees, fashion clothing, jewelery, furniture, etc. The west side of the boardwalk is dominated by artists from around the world that come to Venice to exhibit their works. It’s like an outdoor market where you can sometimes barter the costs of goods. Artists offer original sculptures, paintings, poetry, photographs and sketches, etc. You’ll find the neatest things in Venice, such as paintings on spoons, endearing poems on cardboard or recycled trash turned into art.
Take a moment to enjoy a performance by one of the boardwalk performers . We have performers eating fire, walking on glass, singing, break dancing, standing on stilts while juggling very large knives, singing, playing instruments and more. As well, stop and take a moment to listen to the newest sounds and beats from one of our Local Venice Artists.
