Venice Beach Board Walk , CA              405,000 visitors

​Venice, Los Angeles

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Venice (often referred to as Venice Beach) is a beachfront district on the Westside of Los Angeles, California, United States. 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.[2] Venice was home to some of Los Angeles' early beat poets and artists and has served as an important cultural center of the city.[3]

Venice is bordered by the Pacific Ocean on the southwest, by the unincorporated Marina del Rey on the southeast, by Culver City on the south and east, by the Los Angeles neighborhood of Mar Vista on the northeast, and by the city of Santa Monica on the north.

Venice Beach
Venice Beach includes the beach, the promenade that runs parallel to the beach ("Ocean Front Walk" or just "the boardwalk"), Muscle Beach, the handball courts, the paddle tennis courts, Skate Dancing plaza, the numerous beach volleyball courts, the bike trail and the businesses on Ocean Front Walk. The basketball courts in Venice are renowned across the country for their high level of streetball; numerous NBA players developed their games or recruited on these courts.[6]

Along the southern portion of the beach, at the end of Washington Boulevard, is the Venice Fishing Pier. A 1,310-foot (400 m) concrete structure, it first opened in 1964, was closed in 1983 due to El Niño storm damage, and re-opened in the mid-1990s. On December 21, 2005, the pier again suffered damage when waves from an unusually large northern swell caused the part of the pier where the restrooms were located to fall into the ocean.

The pier remained closed until May 25, 2006, when it was re-opened after an engineering study concluded the pier was structurally sound.

The Venice Breakwater is an acclaimed local surf spot in Venice. It is located north of the Venice Pier and Lifeguard Headquarters, and south of the Santa Monica Pier. This spot is sheltered on the north by an artificial barrier, the breakwater, consisting of an extending sand bar, piping, and large rocks at its end.

This spot has differing breaks depending on swell intensity, swell direction, tide and time of the day.