Venice Beach Highlights

With its live performers, artists, stores selling everything from sunglasses to t-shirts to Egyptian artifacts to marijuana dispensaries, Venice Beach is like a carnival where you can spend an entire day.  For the athletic, you can rent skateboards, surfboards, bikes, roller skates and more. This post will help you hit the highlights of Venice Beach even if you only have 3 hours to spend.

Free parking is available on Venice Way a couple of blocks away from the beach. A block closer and lots charge $20 for day parking.

We ate lunch at Great White on 1604 Pacific Ave. across from the street sign over Windward Ave. that welcomes people to Venice. From the outside tables
you can watch people standing on the corner taking pictures under the sign, like a young woman modeling in a red dress as a couple of guys stood by and watched. The food is amazing. I had the coco salad with salmon that was superb. 

From here we strolled under the Venice sign on Windward Ave. to the beach and boardwalk passing a great mural of Venice in the 50's. Venice Beach is filled with amazing street art. Make sure to look down each side street and alley as well as on the upper stories of buildings as you never know what you will see.

Cutting across the boardwalk we passed through graffiti palm trees to watch skaters in the skate park just to the north of Windward Ave. Even though I skated a little in my youth, I never learned how to keep your skateboard on your feet when you were in midair like these skaters.

Then we crossed the broad sandy beach down to the blue-green ocean, kicked off our shoes and walked in the shallows of the cold water heading north.  We cut back across the sand to the boardwalk when we reached the northern end of shops and walked south.

Temporary street vendors, performers and artist line the western edge of the boardwalk while storefronts and restaurants line the eastern side. As mentioned, you can find almost anything for sale here, a wide variety of food, and lots of handmade street art.

Make sure to check out #1 Bordello Alexandria house on Westminster Ave. a half block east of the boardwalk. It is a two-story purple painted house covered with Greek and Roman statues, gargoyles, paintings and wrought iron grill work. It is one of the coolest houses I have ever seen. 

We had arrived at Great White at noon and we're in our car and headed home by 3:00 pm. It was an amazing three hours.

If you have an extra 20 minutes, head south of Windward 3 blocks and check 

out Muscle Beach as it is an iconic location if you want to see heavily muscled bodybuilders. 

Los Angeles Coffee Adventures November

Here are four interesting eastside coffee shops I visited in November, plus a place to visit when walking with your coffee. If you have any coffee house suggestions to visit in December please leave a comment below.

Most beautiful building exterior

Urth Caffe

451 S. Hewitt St.

Los Angeles, CA 90013

While there were a couple of people working on laptops here, the majority of people at the tables were eating full meals, giving the Urth Caffe more of a cafe feel than coffee shop. That being said, they are known for their organic coffees and teas and there was a line of people waiting to pick up drinks. The food is great, the building is gorgeous and it is in the center of L.A.'s burgeoning art district.

Most interesting coffee food combo

Art + Science Café

101 S Madison Ave.

Pasadena, CA 91101

Sushi and coffee, who would've thought. It works. The place was full of college students. The sushi menu is limited but the owners take their sushi seriously. You can only eat the sushi at the small counter and my server said I had to eat my sushi roll within 10 seconds before the seaweed got stuck to the warm rice. I ate it in about 30 seconds, I can only eat a roll so fast. I did notice a change in texture from the first bite and last bite. The iced caramel latte was very good.

Most industrious

Swork Coffee

2160 Colorado Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90041

I walked in not knowing what to expect as I was headed to another establishment that I did not know had closed the week before. There was only one person sitting outside and one person sitting at a table by the window, so I was surprised when I walked in to see 15 people working on laptops and drinking coffee all along the far wall. It appears to be popular with students and professionals. I had a Mexican Mayan Mocha. Along with coffee drinks, they also have healthy gym-influenced blended drinks.

Brand New

San Marino Cafe and Marketplace

2507 Mission St.

San Marino, CA 91108

Quaint little cafe in San Marino that advertises the best coffee in town on a blackboard out front. Unfortunately, I was unable to try the coffee as I was still recovering, but I had a delicious smoothie. People are always coming and going here, some sitting and working, and the owner is very friendly.

Take a walk

Lacy Park

1485 Virginia Rd.

San Marino, CA 91108

My first excursion after surgery. Beautiful large open park seemingly out of place in Los Angeles. Great for picnics or taking a walk with your coffee.  Free to visit during the week, but there is a fee for nonresidents to visit on the weekend. 

Los Angeles Coffee Adventures October

I hope the coffee shop list below provides you with the same fun and opportunities to get the creative juices flowing as they provided to me. These coffee shop writing excursions have taken me all over LA including going over San Francisco-style hills in Silverlake,  through communities oozing money, and others desperately poor.  If you have any suggestions on shops I should visit in November please add in comments.

Here is a quick note about each of my visits and my favorite things about each one:

Friendliest Baristas

Coffee Commissary

801 North Fairfax Avenue, Los Angeles California

Iced Kumo coffee and chia seed muffin. Wide range of people here: most women wearing yoga pants, a homeless guy, a man in a leather jacket and cowboy hat, a woman running her business on her laptop and phone, a woman with tattoos asking an older guy for a job. In terms of food, they only had a few baked goods inside the shop, outside they had a food truck.

Favorite Décor

Lamill Coffee

1636 Silver Lake Boulevard., Los Angeles California 90026

Scenes of ancient Greece covered the walls, golden chandeliers hung in the main room, the walls were red. Wide variety but pricey food. Tacked on service fee to offset minimum wage increase. Being a Saturday morning most people were in workout clothes: walking, running or yoga. Definitely more of a community feel than some of the other coffee houses I visited. The zucchini bread was really good. Valrhona mocha.

Most Impressive Presentation

Intelligentsia Silverlake

3922 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90029

They place the mug of coffee on a wooden tray with cup of milk and pitcher with extra coffee. I also liked the blue tiled floor. They only had baked goods. Tough parking on the weekend as everything is permit only on the side streets. I parked on Santa Monica two blocks away.

Best Cold Drink On Hot Day

Starbucks

454 Fair Oaks Ave, South Pasadena, CA 91030

My boss gave me a gift card to Starbucks when the temperature was over 105 degrees. It was a day that definitely called for a venti Java Chip Frappuccino. I know Frappuccinos are travesty to coffee purist but sometimes you just need to have that 600 calorie caffeinated brain freeze to get you through the day. Lots of free parking and nice fountain outside.

Best Food

Paper or Plastik Café

5772 West Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles California

Great food menu and delicious food. Had a delicious iced Almond Joy coffee. It left me wired for rest of the day.  While the benches outside were a little hard, there were large  orange cushions that provided great back support. Staff was friendly here and you could find parking a block south on the side streets. I was only able to stay an hour but it had such a good vibe that wish I could have stayed longer.

Best Slogan

Alfred Coffee & Kitchen

8428 Melrose Pl, Los Angeles, CA 90069

Had cappuccino and small tasty breakfast burrito. Everyone wearing black here and well groomed. Perhaps it was because it was in the middle of Melrose fashion row. Nice area to walk around after a writing session. Farmers Market takes place out front so parking can be tough. While it was crowded, the tables turned over pretty quickly. I loved the slogan their cups "We are here to inspire you."