The casual observer might find a disconnect between Venice’s two most defining elements: a network of European-style urban canals with quaint arched bridges and paddling ducks, and a carnival-worthy boardwalk where strongmen flex, vendors offer to inscribe your name on a grain of rice and gravity-defying skateboarders launch themselves skyward.
Both, though, flow from the vision of a New Jersey-born developer named Abbot Kinney (as in the area’s popular shopping thoroughfare) who, having made millions in the tobacco trade, sunk a good deal of it into the coastal marshlands here to create a city modeled after its Italian namesake, right down to the canals and gondolas. As of July 5, 1905, Venice of America was open for business. But ever the consummate businessman, Kinney also provided a more immediate attraction to lure visitors; an amusement pier that jutted out over the water, filled with the kinds of rides, attractions and spectacles that would establish it as the Coney Island of the Pacific.
Get to know Los Angeles through the places that bring it to life. From restaurants to shops to outdoor spaces, here’s what to discover now.
Through more than a century of cyclical busts and booms, the seaside community shifted and changed; after its infrastructure fell into disrepair, the independent city was annexed by Los Angeles (in October 1925), many of the original canals were filled in (1929) and the amusement piers would burn (1920 and 1924) and shutter (1946). What remained are the two most visible reminders of that bygone era; a half-dozen canals and a boardwalk that continues to radiate BPE — big pier energy — with an estimated 28,000 to 30,000 people visiting each day.
In between those two tourist-attracting caricatures is a much more nuanced version of Venice: the indie bookstores, top-notch taco shops, dimly lit bars, fancy restaurants and human-powered carousels that fill the bellies and nourish souls of those who call Venice home. As idyllic as that all sounds, the city-turned-neighborhood isn’t immune from the problems that come with haves and have-nots living cheek by jowl in near-paradise; crime, a lack of adequate parking and stalled projects aimed at helping the substantial unhoused population.
As one of my Venice-dwelling colleagues told me when I first began to explore the neighborhood: “I should tell you Venice is more than just the beach.” And she’s right. For a different view of Venice, read on.
What’s included in this guide
Anyone who’s lived in a major metropolis can tell you that neighborhoods are a tricky thing. They’re eternally malleable and evoke sociological questions around how we place our homes, our neighbors and our communities within a wider tapestry. In the name of neighborly generosity, we included gems that may linger outside of technical parameters. Instead of leaning into stark definitions, we hope to celebrate all of the places that make us love where we live.
