Venice Beach

Hmmm, how do I explain Venice beach? I told you yesterday that Jason and I had driven south down the CA coast and looked at the beaches from Santa Monica to Redondo. We decided to go back and spend the rest of Saturday at Venice beach because it appeared to have the most beautiful coast line, winding board walk, play structures, and a permanent "street fair".

It is a beautiful beach!

Venice beach is extremely well known as one of the destination beaches of CA. It has been used for hundreds of Movies and TV shows, ie: White Men Can't Jump, Grease, 24, CHiPs (whoa, that bring back some memories). It is called Muscle beach, which I will explain later, and is home to the famous Miss Venice bikini contest (I was invited this year, but declined). It is also the home to many famous people, and it is supposedly a great surf spot.

This is the boardwalk or promenade that winds along between the beach and the town. If you ever see someone roller blading in a bikini along a boardwalk in a CA movie, it is probably Venice beach.

So yes, the beach is beautiful, but that seems to be where the beauty ends. It is an extremely filthy place.

This is the "street fair" that is a permanent attraction at Venice beach. It is a virtual carnival running year round with street performers, artists, jugglers, acrobats, mimes, fortune tellers, prophets and more. It is a side walk circus with extremely bizarre sights, smells and sounds.

Jason and I were totally unaware the Venice beach is also well know as one of the counter-culture capitals. I can only explain it as a combo of New Orleans Marti Gras and San Francisco. In fact I found a web site today that rated it as third to these two cities in irreverence, and funky eclectic culture.

Imagine the sound of bongo drums and tribal singing, along with the smell of burning incense and hot dog stands mixed together. There are people walking around in bizarre costumes, if they are dressed at all! Some people have feathers coming out of them, some have reptiles wrapped around them, and some are just face down in a drugged out stupor.

The street vendors were also out of the ordinary. This one is selling bones, spears, and other tribal weapons.

I was trying to be inconspicuous while taking pictures, I was even holding the camera on my pregnant belly to be less obvious while trying to capture the scene. Ooops, this guy saw me!

I told you the air was bad down here!

A rollerblading (obviously high) street performer.

Snake charmer

I don't think he was selling anything, he was just happy to advertise his love for Aunt Mary and cousin doobie.

Jesus with a sleeping bag.

This guy was a street performer, he was jumping and doing flips over people. Yes, he was very good.

He may not look like it, but the sign does say he is the master.

The token Hari Krishna's.

And of course your political activists.

I have left out several pictures, including the 100 tattoo parlors and marijuana pipe store fronts.


The drug culture doesn't even attempt to keep a low profile here. I am pretty sure drugs are still illegal in CA, but from what I saw they are not prosecuting in Venice beach.


L.A. is currently trying to "clean up" the area by providing free clinics and rehab facilities. We were literally stepping over people slumped over on the walkway and others scratching the "bugs" off of them, so these clinics are much needed.

Muscle Beach, home of Arnold Schwarzenegger's original muscles.


This is an outdoor work out area where fanatic bodybuilders pump iron in a public show of strength. (could you even imagine the maintenance on outdoor work out equipment in WA)

This is the gymnastics area, there are also Basketball courts and racket ball courts. Everything is free, except for the weight area, it is $5 per day.

Whoa.......talk about Muscle beach!!!!

Nice dismount (insert wolf whistle)

Well, like everything else in L.A., this place is super crowded. After having our fill of the sights, sounds and smells of the street fair we decided to go play on the beach.

Sean had a blast chasing the birds.

Along with mass population comes mass filth. The beaches may be beautiful in CA but they are also very polluted. The news has regular updates about the water quality on the coast and there are signs warning of the "pollution level" for the day. Here is a giant drain emptying right into the Venice waters and beach.

This is what is draining into the ocean. Sean and Jason didn't swim at this beach because of the pollution level, not to mention we had walked past this! Even though Sean had not swam with the hypodermic needles I still sanitized him after leaving the beach.

Sorry to end with that gross picture. I hope you enjoyed your tour of Venice beach.

See you tomorrow,

Sarah