0 thoughts on “Venice Beach, California

  1. venice is really relaxed. i walk down there all the time from my house to avoid the rush. you can always find harry perry skating around with his guitar and a turban. beware of yuppies. venice gets to be a kind of a tourist trap sometimes.

  2. The atmosphere is out of this world. Wouldn’t it be nice to sell up and live on the beach for rest of your life. We all have dreams perhaps one day. Can’t wait for my next visit, hopefully this October. Greetings from across the Atlantic stuarthhargreaves@yahoo.co.uk

  3. Venice Beach is cool for a week or so. If you want to sleep on the beach just wander over to the Santa Monica side of the beach to the north but be careful and sleep near a lifegaurd station or the bathrooms. The reason for this is that the police take pleasure in running over people sleeping in the open. Also make sure you wait til after 11pm to pick a place to sleep because you might have a very angry drunk person “wake you up”. Prime real-estate is: under the concrete stairs, life gaurd stations (watch out for the transvestites under #27), restroom vestibules(the city workers are all cool as long as you keep your shit neat and tidy, most of them are “doing time”)

  4. IM moving to venice beach in a few of months(have to get a job first) About the summer time and i was wondering if there is anyone that could show me around(drug dealers) and such.ps jefferson airplane rules

  5. Venice beach is a fun place, but there are a number of things I don’t like about it.

    The good: It’s swarming with interesting people, head shops, drum circles (on the weekends), there are areas to spraypaint and express yourself (i highly recomend it), and so forth. Good place to wander around while high (but be careful about smoking, see below).

    The bad: The place has a lot of problems. First, sometimes there are a lot of gangs. That doesn’t really bother me, but the absurd number of police really bothers me. Everywhere you go there are lots of cops. Lastly, there are too many tourists, and WAY WAY WAY too many t-shirt shops, all selling the same shirts.

  6. mmm i love venice. the drum circle is awesome. oh how i love harry perry “no more steak and chocolate cake, no more steak and chocolate cake, no more booze and tv news…” haha he’s so awesome

  7. Lived/squatted in Venice/Santa Monica for a week and a half. It’s a turbulent place with plenty of street kids & kind hearts but just as many crazies. The boardwalk of souvenir buying tourists might get to you, but they can be to your advantage. I found a big bag (3lbs maybe) of random jewlery bits someone threw out, was gifted some hemp cord, and had no problem selling enough for food/pot. There’s free food on “hippy/hobo hill” usually, if you really need it just ask around. Best place to sleep is just south of the Santa Monica pier, otherwise you’re liable to be harrassed by the man. Stay low profile, preferably with a friend for security, and find a spot alongside a lifegaurd tower or pole so you don’t get run over by the sand sweeper early morning. (I met someone who was actually run over by this bull-dozer-like thing; cut and bruised all over.) There are public restrooms and outdoor showers to use. Found a few discarded sun umbrellas, a boogie board(Wooee!), and other random stuff that I used to make a shelter from the cold night wind. Spotted San Pedro on a walk a mile or so inland and was able to have a beautiful spiritual experience with some friends. Unfortunately the ocean around here is a bit polluted, so don’t stay in too long. Not a place you want to stay for an extended period of time, but its good to get sand in your crack for a little while. Happy trails.

  8. Venice and southern SM do have a great vibe to them but Venice being policed by the LAPD is extremely unfriendly to those “camping rough” and living a street type existence. Santa Monica PD are easier on the homeless and those who choose to sleep outdoors but the population who lives there is quite hostile and intolerant, as you’d expect in a place that’s basically yuppie central – expect to get a lot of shit from people, including getting bottles thrown at you if you look “homeless”, people trying to run you down in their brand new SUVs, getting all kinds of crap. If you have to sleep rough in that area you’re best off heading to Pacific Palisades, it’s LAPD turf but there aren’t that many homeless people in the area so the locals are not as unfriendly as in SM, and there are more places where you can hide out and sleep in the mountains. those people who live rough there have all said it’s pretty hassle free and because it’s so far from any other LAPD territory being surrounded by SM on one side and Malibu on the other, you can pretty much smoke weed on the street and no one will hassle you.

    now, of course, if you actually want to live in Venice NOT on the street, it’s a wonderful place.

  9. spent a little more than a month living on the beach… met a lot of crazy fuckin’ people, but a lot of great ones too. i’d spend time writing all the free food places and orgs that put on shit for the street kids, but that’s been done. i’ll go back someday, i will…

  10. Fond memories, lived there in the early 80´s.
    An oasis in plastic L.A. back then.
    Lots of groovy individuals and cool chicks from all over the globe.
    Moved on to Japan to visit people i met there and stayed for 17 years.
    Wanna be back one day to see how it changed.Peace

  11. My brothers and I lived on Horizon St and the boardwalk in the early 70’s. That was a magical time and place never to be repeated, at least not for me. There was plenty of everything to go around and we made the most of each day. The boardwalk was busy but nothing like today. The streets weren’t safe at night unless you were in numbers but that was no problem. There was absolutely 2 girls for every guy any and all of the time! Venice is a special place and those that want to run it down just missed the point.

  12. Venice seriously rocks as long as you’ve got a place to stay. If you’re living in the street it sucks – the LAPD will fuck with you and the gangs – some of whom live nearby in Oakwood and East Venice, and others who come from other parts of LA – will fuck with you too. If you’re not homeless though you won’t get messed with

  13. I lived on Venice Beach for almost a year in the late 80’s. It was great. Not a lot of violence and hostility then. I have been back since, but its never the same when u are wearing a different life.

    peace

  14. VENICE BEACH FUCKIN ROCKS!!!!

    Very good memories of this place so awsome. I had went on a trip there with some friends to help them find their daughter. It was cool we found her the first day amazed me. We squatted in a parking lot Me being new to all of this. Any how my car took a shit….I was standed there for 3 months….The place was absolutley a blast….the people I met are people I will never forget. Gardnerville Bill, Marlone, Peaches, Sid, My stupid retarded step Brother or thats what I called him JEFFREY HOREBATH!!! Unforgetable the people I met. Drum Circles WOW one of my favorite things I loved everything about venice. Hell I slept under a life guard tower and I would probably do it again. An experience I will never forget. Venice is definatley its own little world.—–ang

  15. Venice Beach has become the tweaker capital of California. The place is overloaded with meth heads who will rip you off. It is DEFINITELY no place to sleep rough! There is a gang which has made raping homeless women into its initiation ritual. Expect nothing but hostility from the cops as well. It’s definitely getting worse even if you have a place to stay, but if you do it is INFINITELY better than sleeping on the beach! Unless you’re a meth head stay away!

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