Venice Beach Los Angeles: The Ultimate Local Guide

Venice Beach is Los Angeles at its most gloriously unfiltered — a 2.5-mile oceanfront boardwalk where bodybuilders, street performers, skaters, artists, and tourists collide in a daily spectacle that has defined California counterculture since the 1960s. The famous Muscle Beach outdoor gym has produced legends since 1934. Abbot Kinney Boulevard, one block inland, is one of America's most celebrated independent shopping streets — boutiques, galleries, farm-to-table restaurants, and coffee bars that set national trends. The Venice Skate Park, a concrete bowl that cascades toward the Pacific, hosts some of the most naturally gifted skating anywhere in the world. Rent a bike from Bike Attack and cruise the path to Santa Monica Pier (2 miles north) or Manhattan Beach (8 miles south). Sunset at the Venice Beach Breakwater, watching surfers catch final waves as the sky turns pink and orange, is a quintessentially Californian moment available to everyone for free.