Inspiring Lives Magazine Spring 2017: Issue 4 | Page 58
RIVAL • AR
AR
RIVAL • AR
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VENICE BEACH, CALIFORNIA
By Kim Adley • Photography by Kim Adley
While on a recent trip to Los Angeles, I decided to
flee the hustle, bustle, and traffic of LA for an over-
night escape to the beach. I headed to a charming lit-
tle beach town that engulfed me with sights, sounds,
tastes, and experiences. The diversity and energy there
is so palpable that anyone and everyone can find a
“happy place” in Venice Beach, California.
After checking in at my hip and chic boutique hotel,
The Hotel Erwin, I was directed by a most helpful
concierge to the expansive 2 ½ mile cement Venice
Beach boardwalk just one block away that runs paral-
lel to a wide and beautiful beach on the Pacific Ocean.
It was there I sipped a mimosa garnished with a Cali-
fornia orange slice at The Sidewalk Café and watched
the greatest show on earth unfold before my eyes…
PEOPLE. I saw the rich and the famous, the poor
and the homeless, moms pushing strollers, seniors
with canes, surfers in wet suits, skateboarders, bikers,
joggers and tourists, musicians and artists, and me all
co-mingling on the sun-bathed boardwalk of Venice
Beach. It was totally energizing and entertaining.
After breakfast, I started my stroll along the board-
walk to Muscle Beach, the famous oceanfront gym
just oozing testosterone. Here suntanned bodybuilders
lifted weights while onlookers observed with both
amusement and admiration. Nearby were basketball
courts, tennis and pickleball courts, a skateboard
course, and bike rental stands. The temperate Califor-
nia climate and active lifestyle are the perfect com-
bination for outdoor activity, and Venice Beach is no
exception.
The colorful Boardwalk shops cried out to me with
their showy souvenir displays ranging from the tradi-
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INSPIRING LIVES
SPRING 2017
tional to the outrageous. Alongside the touristy t-shirt
shops were high-end leather goods and fine jewelry
stores. The most intriguing storefront was The Green
Doctors, offering “medical marijuana evaluations” for
$40. The “doctors” were out on the sidewalk busking
for business in bright green scrubs. If you walked a lit-
tle further, you could get your fortune told, tarot cards
read, and astrology chart plotted. You could have your
name tattooed on your arm, airbrushed on a shirt, or
written on a grain of rice, all while listening to diverse
local street musicians serenade you.
While strolling along the Venice Beach Boardwalk,
you could literally eat yourself around the world. There
were gyros, churros, wontons, sushi, curry, and hot-
dogs. It was a fried food heaven with fried Oreos, fish
nuggets, French fries, and corndogs. Want healthier
choices? There were fresh pressed organic juices, fresh
caught organic fish or fresh steeped organic green tea,
fresh picked organic fruit, and of course, when all else
seemed exhausted, there was a creative cocktail offer-
ing almost every ten feet. The place exudes the feeling
that happy hour is every hour.
But, once I took an easterly turn and left the beach
area, another persona of Venice Beach emerged as a
sleepy little residential beach town. I walked to the
Venice Canal Historic District, which is on the U.S.
National Registry of Historic Places. It is here that
real estate developer Albert Kinney built the canals
in 1905 to create his plan for a “Venice of the West.”
The canals encompass just a few square blocks and are
truly beautiful with wooden bridges and sidewalks
lining them. The homes along the canals are an eclec-
tic collection of real estate, ranging from tiny vintage