Venice Beach is LA's most characterful boardwalk — a 2.5-kilometre oceanfront promenade where bodybuilders, street performers, skateboarders, tattoo artists, medical marijuana dispensaries, and tourists from every country share the same strip of concrete in a daily pageant of Southern California weirdness that has been Venice's identity since Abbot Kinney developed the neighbourhood as a Venice, Italy-themed resort in 1905.
Muscle Beach, the outdoor gym at the boardwalk's centre, has been the home of American bodybuilding since the 1930s — Arnold Schwarzenegger trained here in the 1970s, and the tradition of lifting weights outdoors in front of an audience continues with the same exhibitionist energy. The skate park adjacent to the beach draws some of the best skateboarders in the world, and the combination of ocean, concrete bowls, and California light creates a backdrop that has defined skate photography for decades.
The Venice Canals, three blocks inland from the boardwalk, are the surviving remnants of Kinney's original Italian fantasy — a grid of narrow waterways lined with eclectic houses (from tiny bungalows to modernist mansions) that provide one of LA's most unexpected walking experiences. Abbot Kinney Boulevard, the neighbourhood's main commercial street, has evolved from bohemian to boutique — craft coffee, farm-to-table restaurants, and designer shops that cater to a Venice that is increasingly wealthy but still determinedly eccentric.
Verified Facts
Venice was developed by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a Venice, Italy-themed resort
Muscle Beach has been associated with bodybuilding since the 1930s
Arnold Schwarzenegger trained at Muscle Beach in the 1970s
The Venice Canals are surviving remnants of Kinney's original development
Get walking directions
Ocean Front Walk, Los Angeles, 90291, United States
