Venice Beach California is located in the western part of Los Angeles. It has gained fame because of its colorful boardwalks, bohemian residential areas and stunning beaches and canals. Tobacco mogul Abbot Kinney founded it in the year 1905. His goal was to create a resort town that would resemble Venice Italy. He seems to have succeeded. Today, Venice Beach California is often referred to as The Venice of America. Abbot Kinney Boulevard, the street named in his honor, is filled with an interesting selection of one-of-a-kind shops and restaurants.
Throughout the years, Venice Beach California has received notoriety for a variety of reasons. It was here that B.H. Delay, the famous movie aviator and airport owner created the first lighted airport in the United States. He also created the first aerial police station in the nation. Delay was also known to perform movie aerial stunts in Venice Beach California.
Venice was once home to an amusement area known as Pacific Ocean Park. However, due to competition from other parks such as Disney, the area was torn down, and residential property was built in its place. Today, the area is now known as Dog town. It is home to the skateboarding pioneers known as the Z-Boys, who were featured in the film Dog Town and Z-Boys.
In the year 1925, Venice Beach California became annexed to Los Angeles. Given the iconoclastic nature of the Venice Beach California culture, there have been many movements in favor of seceding from Los Angeles.
There are many highly unique aspects to Venice Beach California. The impressive Venice Beach Family Clinic is the largest free medical clinic in the country. Compared to much of the Southern California car culture, Venice Beach is extremely pedestrian-friendly. In fact, some houses have entrances from pedestrian-only streets.
Venice Beach California is well known as a celebrity hangout. The city's famous residents include actresses Julia Roberts and Angelica Huston and actor Nicholas Cage. During the actor Robert Downey Jr. kept an apartment on the boardwalk. Arnold Schwarzenegger is the majority owner of a restaurant in Venice called Schatzi's on Main.
If you are planning a visit to Venice Beach California, be sure to spend some time on the boardwalk. On weekends, enjoy the street performers as they perform their magic. On any given day, these may include instrumental musicians, singers, jugglers, acrobats, mimes, comics, magicians, prophets, fortunetellers, and other types of entertainers. In fact, the people themselves are a form of entertainment. Watch them stroll by with their multi-colored hairdos, painted faces, strange tattoos, and outlandish clothing. In some cases, it may be their lack of clothing that you may find interesting. For recreation, there are courts for basketball, handball, shuffleboard and paddle tennis.
Do to the counter culture atmosphere of the town, if you are looking for an expensive, luxury hotel in Venice Beach California, you should probably look for a room in near by Santa Monica or Marina Del Rey. However, if you want to totally immerse yourself in the Venice Beach experience, you should seek to find a hotel in Venice Beach California itself. You will have many to choose from. The city's popularity makes it easy to find a hotel in Venice Beach California.
Those of you who are on a tight budget will be pleased to discover that it's easy to find cheap accommodations Venice Beach California. Hotels within a block of the beach can run from $35 to $250 nightly. If you are on a really tight budget, cheap accommodations Venice Beach California can go for as little as $10 to $15 nightly at the Venice Beach Hostel. These cheap accommodations Venice Beach California can allow you to experience the true Venice Beach Bohemian lifestyle.
