We will always have Venice

Friday, March 16, 2012
Venice Beach, California, United States
A family wedding sends us to the west coast for what we expect will be an escape from the cold, wintery northeast to bright, sunny Southern California. Once again, man plans... God laughs.

As we leave Lovettsville, Virginia and the Greater Washington, D .C. area, the temperatures heat up a couple dozen degrees to balmy mid-70s and low 80s with clear and sunny weather. Contrary to that lovely weather, we arrive at LAX to massive cold front moving in from the west. Rain is imminent. It's cold and very windy. Welcome to Southern California where it "never rains".

We grab our rental car at LAX, meet our daughter Kelsey who has just flown in from Philly and head to our Venice Beach digs. My in-laws, Robin and Phillip, have flown out a day ahead of time and checked into the “CRV Classic Properties” 3 bedroom condo/house that we have rented for the long weekend. Located at 123 Anchorage Street, this property is near the beach, near the Venice Canals and near a Starbucks! The floor plan of the unit is great – three bedrooms, three baths, large living room with 3 futons, dining room, kitchen, and small balcony. A 2-car nose to butt garage. But somehow, the place just seems sketchy, ill administered and uncomfortable – in an East Coast, Uptight Consumer kind of way . We eventually will throw a party there and have a full house. Overall, it served its purpose.

Venice is a beachfront district on the Westside of Los Angeles. It is known for its canals, beaches and circus-like Ocean Front Walk, a two-and-a-half mile pedestrian-only promenade that features performers, fortune-tellers, artists, and vendors. Venice was home to some of Los Angeles' early beat poets and artists and has served as an important cultural center of the city. Today, it seems to host a variety of shops where you can easily obtain your “prescription” for Medical Marijuana.

We meet up with some other family members that are in town for the wedding. We walk out on the Venice Beach Pier, walk up ocean front walkway and bike paths and enter the heart of Venice Beach and its Muscle Beach facilities. There are definitely some funky houses along the way.

Over the objections of some and the confusion of others, I lead a tour of the Venice Beach Canals. The canals are now a quaint upscale neighborhood. Fully restored and remodeled homes make it a postcard scene along the canal shores. Venice California originally was to be a copy of Venice, Italy, canals and all. Few of the original canals remain today.

So ends our first day in SoCal.

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