Weekend Adventure: Venice Beach to the Santa Monica Pier

”The cure for everything is salt water: sweat, tears, or the sea.” – Isak Dinesen

A true sentiment for sure, however I’m not a big fan of sweating or crying. Therefore I take myself to the sea on a regular basis. Living here in the Los Angeles area we are lucky enough to never be too far from the Pacific. Thank goodness for that. I love the smell of fresh salt air! To get my fill of it one of my favorite weekend adventures is bike riding at Venice Beach.

Between the sand and the land is a paved two lane bike path. It runs 22 miles from Will Rogers State Beach in Pacific Palisades to Torrance County Beach in Redondo Beach. I have aspirations of someday doing the whole 22 miles, though this may lead to the other salt water “cures” of sweating and tears. Honestly, probably both at once. Until that fateful day I’m content to do the stretch from Venice to the Santa Monica Pier. Round trip it takes me about an hour.

If you don’t want to haul your own bike there you can easily rent bikes at several places along the path. Most of these places have those cool old Schwinn beach cruisers. I always get a red one.

Along the way you’ll have your fill of beautiful ocean vistas and the circus freak show that is Venice Beach. Venice is known for its eclectic folk. Street performers, craft vendors, musicians, they all flock here for the happy go-lucky vibe that is the style of Venice. If you’re easily shocked let me forewarn you that Venice is colorful to say the least. One of my favorite street “performers” in Venice is an elderly looking African-American guy who dresses up in a caveman-like tunic and carries a big dull spear. He likes to shout out about how mad he is that Californians did not pass Proposition 19 (to legalize marijuana) and he also goes on about how he’s going to “eat some white people for dinner” ‘cause he’s so hungry and we’re all fat. It’s all tongue-in-cheek and trust me it’s funny.

Only in Venice Beach: Botox and marijuana. One stop shopping!

Closer to the Santa Monica Pier you’ll have a great view of the Ferris wheel and roller coaster there. Just before the pier is a playground with a set of swings and bars for pretending you’re a monkey. Hey, it’s the weekend so why not? Ride under the pier and on the other side you’ll find a sobering yet heart warming sight. Every Sunday morning volunteers come out to the beach just north of the pier and put up an “Arlington of the West” to commemorate all of the American service people who have died in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. These amazing volunteers put up a cross for each and every service person.

After your bike ride you have to take time to walk the boardwalk along Venice Beach. Between the street performers and the crafts being sold on rickety card tables you’ll find plenty of interesting things to gawk at. There is also a pretty “high” density of medical marijuana offices too if that’s your thing. (Pun totally intended).

While there I bought some incense from one of the street vendors. I don’t always like incense because I think a lot of it stinks. I kept smelling something really good though so I followed my nose to the guy making it by hand at his path-side table. He calls it “Caribbean Breeze” and it smells like strawberries and coconuts. WARNING: Do not attempt to eat the incense. Also do not be fooled by imitations. According to the incense guy, there is another incense guy making a similar scent in Venice but he calls it “Pacific Breeze”.

"Red and White" Fries at Jody Maroni's

After all that bike riding, people watching, and fresh ocean air, I was really hungry. There are lots of little stands along the beach in Venice to get a snack at. People get the munchies around here you know? At Jody Maroni’s hot dog stand I discovered my new favorite thing to do with potatoes and cheese. Jody Maroni’s takes French fries and covers them with sautéed onions, tomatoes, garlic, and then smothers the whole concoction with mozzarella cheese. They call it “Red and White Fries”. I ate it while sitting on the beach and watching a glorious sunset. The seagulls were pretty jealous and circled me like a bunch of winged hyenas, but I didn’t care because it was scrumptious. I’m pretty sure I’d need to do the whole 22 mile bike ride in order to burn off even a fraction of the calories!

Make sure to stay late enough to watch the sun set. It’s an amazing sight. I love when there are sailboats on the water and they sail back and forth right in front of the sun as it sits on top of the horizon. The sailboats get silhouetted against the bright orange and yellow light, and the sky above is dark blue with little stars just beginning to wink. Everyone on the beach stops whatever they are doing to just watch and say goodnight to another day. Peace, man.