Day 2: Venice, Los Angeles, California

Wow what a sleep! As soon as I was horizontal I was out like a light. Had another refreshing outdoor shower and we headed into the streets for breakfast and a local festival.

Our local area:

The queues were long at this place…

So we crossed the road to ‘Great White’ (which I mistakenly called Shark Bait ooh haha). Very hipster ‘breakfast bowls’, breakfast burritos and people with dogs!

Venice Beach

Watched the skaters at the skate bowl and were entranced by two young boys there whom the other skaters adored and encouraged. It was lovely to watch their interactions. The youngest one was with his mum and dad and his dad was being a great role model with helmet and elbow pads and his mum was his biggest fan.

We ventured into the Pacific Ocean with our toes to feel the other side of very familiar water! I got a little further out than I expected when a wave crept up on me and wet the Camilla!

Our next stop was a local event just one street down from our Airbnb.

Abbot Kinney Festival

Firstly, who is this guy with a really cool street named after him that gets shut down once a year for a festival?

He was a developer and conservationist. Kinney is best known for his “Venice of America” development in Los Angeles.

Venice came to be known as the “Coney Island of the Pacific.” By mid-January 1906, an area was built along the edge of the Grand Lagoon patterned after the amusement thoroughfares of the great 19th and 20th century expositions. It featured foreign exhibits, amusements, and freak shows. Trolley service was available from Downtown Los Angeles and nearby Santa Monica. Visitors were dazzled by the system of canals complete with gondolas and gondoliers brought in from Venice, Italy. There were ornate Venetian-style businesses and a full-sized amusement pier. Around the entire park, a miniature steam railroad ran on a 4.0 km track. Kinney and some of the nearby residents were aghast at some of the low-class shows that Venice began to offer, but it was considered the best collection of amusement devices on the Pacific Coast, and made a handsome profit.

Eventually, Kinney gained control of city politics and had the name changed from “Ocean Park” to “Venice” in 1911. Kinney was also allowed to build a 60-foot (18 m) breakwater to protect his facilities from storm tides. thanks Wikipedia.

(We visited the canals later in the afternoon)

The festival had a very bohemian vibe. The area itself is very like Brunswick St (shops and bars and restaurants). The street vendors ranged from vintage clothes, jewelry, art, lemonade stands and food trucks. We had a delicious ice cream from Salt & Straw – lavender and honey for me, salted caramel for Josh. We did try a sample of olive and goats cheese which Josh enjoyed but did not impress my taste buds.

So many dogs!

Patrick recommended Kogi Korean tacos and they had a food truck at the festival so we got to try the famous short rib taco.

Venice Canal Walk

The best part of this little wander was the many and varied homes we passed. What a lovely part of the world to live!

IN-N-OUT Burger 🍔

This was a requirement of our stay so we grabbed an Uber (lady driver!) because we didn’t want to lose our great car spot! Reminded me of a Friends episode 😂

I can say that I agree, it was mighty delicious! Can’t say the same for the fries though 🤔

Well that’s it for LA. Still plenty we didn’t see or do so might need to come back! Harry has expressed a serious wish to visit and there’s so much he would love about this place.

PS

Did you know weed is legal in California? They have a store called Medmen that is like an Apple store for weed. We popped in last night for a look and it was crazy! Jars of strains, edibles (chocolate, cookies, gummies) and even CBD oil for dogs that we nearly bought for Bailey as we’ve been told it’s great for their mobility.

The store was so bland. Defiantly lost its cool boho hippy vibe.🤣