So this is a kind of “Behind The Scenes” posts I’m going to try and put up for each week’s videos. Each week there usually are a few extra photos and bits of videos that didn’t quite make it into the final edit. Here is where I’ll try and post some of those bits, along with any personal notes I didn’t share in the video.

See this week’s video if you haven’t seen it here: Week 22 – Venice Beach

Location:
Venice Beach
Ocean Front Walk, Venice, CA 90291

Hours:
Beach curfew in effect from midnight to 5am

Costs:
Parking is either metered street parking, or private lots.  I paid $18 for on the beach parking lot on a saturday, your experience may vary.
Beach is public so no charge.
I recommend bringing lots of small change and cash to tip street performers or buy from vendors.

When I set out this week to Venice beach, the sun was out and shining and I thought it’d be a great day to hit the beach.  However by the time I had arrived there, the clouds and fog had rolled in leaving a pretty overcast sky, much to my chagrin.

Grey skies over the beach 🙁

There are some parking lots right on the beach, and plenty of parking lots in the nearby area, but like a downtown area, they are pretty expensive to park in, and usually cash only.  Street parking is pretty difficult and any street close to the beach is usually metered parking.  Like I mentioned in the video, most of the attraction of Venice beach is walking along the beach where all the shops and vendors are.  There are lots of vendors all along the way, with some street performers interspersed between.  There were also a lot of random people either bicycling or skating around playing some musical instruments.

Guy riding bicycle playing the guitar

This pianist was not very good, even my friend Briana’s daughter can play the piano better.

I really was a disappointed we couldn’t check out the freakshow they had there, which we decided wouldn’t be good for my friend’s daughter to see.  It was only a $5 entry fee, so if you’re into it it’s pretty cheap to give a look.  Briana mentioned that it’s not always open, and a quick check of their Facebook page shows that they are open on Saturdays & Sundays from noon til dark.

One of the areas I liked was that the skateboard area and skatepark.  Like I said in the video, I suck at skateboarding, but I like watching the people who are good at it.  I was trying to get a video of an area adjacent to the skatepark when I caught this kid who saw me recording and tried to do a rail grind while I was recording, at the end you can catch him looking up at me seeing if I caught it or not, which I did and had to try hard not to laugh.

Lastly, in the video I showed you the “muscle beach” area, where you always see in movies giant steroid-filled bodybuilders working out.  Today it was a bit later and the cloud cover I’m sure kept most of the gym-rats and muscled dudes away.  One of the building attached to the area I thought was pretty neat as it featured a barbell like architecture to it which fit the motif perfectly.

If you’re ever in the area, let me know how your visit was, hopefully you’ll get to enjoy a bit more of the sun and actual beach area than I did.  If you have any questions, please leave a comment.  See ya next week!