Urban Hike: Santa Monica to Venice
Once upon a time, I helped friends train for the Camino de Santiago—a pilgrimage walk in Spain–covering 500 miles/804 km. To prepare, they would plan out local Urban Hikes of at least 10 miles. In Los Angeles, this involves a lot of planning. Many of the highways cut swaths into the city, cutting off neighborhoods from each other. So many of the freeway entrances, although they involve crosswalks, are completely unfriendly to pedestrians. Even though, at times, it felt dangerous, I fell in love with the Urban Hike. Walking through Los Angeles, watching the city change from block to block along the L.A. River, from flat plains of endless sidewalks to sprawling cityscapes and pockets of Craftsman Houses. I think walking is one of the best ways to see Los Angeles. Here are the stops and sights of the Urban Hike: Santa Monica to Venice I planned for friends.
Table of Contents
The Beginning: Santa Monica Place
A quick stop at Santa Monica Place to get some walking coffee. All the stores in the more high-end mall were closed, but we window-shopped while waiting for stragglers and lattes. On weekends there is live music here, but this early, it is strangely quiet. Coffees in hand, we walked south to a place that is an oasis of green in one of the most crowded places in Los Angeles.
Stop one: Tongva Park
The original settlers of this land
If you looked at all of the histories of Los Angeles, it would seem that it was nothing before it became Alta California. Before it was Rancheras, it was desert and nothing else. Los Angeles sprouted into being suddenly when the Spanish Mexicans and other titans of industry came. If you know American history at all, you would know that the entire country was inhabited and cared for by the First Nations people. Before it was Los Angeles, it was Yaanga, a hub of civilization for the Tongva people.
This is where this park gets its name from —these original stewards of this land the Tongva peoples.
Local Tongva artist Mercedes Dorame created a filter that shows an overlay onto a Los Angeles location showing its importance to the Tongva people. You can get more information here.
The Park
Los Angeles is dotted with parks, from the several hundred acre Griffith Park to neighborhood parks that are the size of a city block. This park is a welcome addition to downtown Santa Monica. It isn’t overtaken with playground equipment–although there is a sizable area for the kiddos–but a park for everyone from work lunch picnickers to weekend swing dancers. I love this park because it features lots of green space filled with native plants and art installations. Spiral walkways lead you to woven metal hoops that perfectly frame the ocean views.
Hours, cost, and other information
- Website: http://tongvapark.smgov.net/
- Location: 1615 Ocean Avenue
- Hours: 6:am-11:PM
Main Street Santa Monica
For this Urban Hike, we decided not to take the Strand–the 22-mile walk/bike/roller way that connects some of Los Angeles’ major beach cities–we decided to walk along Main Street so that we could eat when we were hungry and drink if we were thirsty. I have a post that has all of my restaurant recommendations for this area here.
Just past the Santa Monica Pier are several hotels with great views of the ocean. If you stop here, expect to pay for the real estate. Shutter’s On the Beach has been the home for industry deals and power lunches.
Stop two: Santa Monica Sunday Farmers’ Market.
Our first stop was to wander around the Sunday Santa Monica Farmer’s Market that takes over the California Heritage Museum parking lot every weekend. This market is a lot bigger than it looks on the street. Tons of fruit and vegetable stalls with some ready-to-eat foods, like French pastries from Bistro Laurent. If you are there between March and October, go directly to the Harry’s Berries stand, they have the best strawberries in Los Angeles.
Hours, cost, location, and other information
- Website: https://www.smgov.net/departments/pcd/farmercontent.aspx?id=14636
- Location: 2612 Main Street
- When: Sundays, 8:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
I am a bit of a farmers’ market junkie, and I have written about that in my post about the Hollywood Farmers’ Market and talked about my favorite market in the city.
Stop three: Lula for lunch
Salty ocean breezes always make me crave salty things.
The patio at Lula Cocina Mexicana is one of my favorites–bright and colorful, sunny with the faint sound of ocean waves. Lula is like eating in a cabinet of curiosities. Take some time to look at the art that covers every square inch of this place–from papel picado hanging from the rafters to sexy bullfighting babes.
Here you can find specialties from many different regions in Mexico as well as of the most extensive tequila lists in town. This was a great place to fuel up before continuing the walk.
Hours, cost, and other information
- Website: https://lulacocinamexicana.com/
- Location: 2720 Main Street
- Cost: Nachos $12, enchiladas $17, chips and salsa $5
Pit stop: Not on the hike, but maybe should have been (Raven Spa)
We did not stop to get massages, but I don’t really know what other way to talk about my favorite spa in town. Technically we passed by it so I am including it in this post.
My spa of choice is The Raven in Santa Monica. It has been recommended by my friends on the east side, who have enjoyed The Raven on Rowena for years.
What I like about The Raven is the ambiance. You walk into the dimly inner room and are greeted by calming sounds of fountains. It instantly takes you away from the rush of the city outside. There are plenty of overstuffed vintage chairs for you to sit and wait for your services. I recommend sitting there and drinking tea before your service as step one in your stress-release journey. Once the services are done, tea and fruit are waiting to energize you after all of the knots in your body have melted into nothingness.
I find that they often have a Groupon special–the one to get is the sixty-minute custom massage and thirty-minute facelift facial both for $99.
Hours, cost, and other information
- Website: https://theravenspa.com/santa-monica/
- Location: 208 Pier Ave
- Cost: There is a wide range of services here, best to check the website above.
- Other: This location and their sister location, El Leon in Beverly Hills is perfect for full days of services with a group.
Walking off lunch
Along Main Street, there are surf shops and skate shops–we are in the area where skateboarding was born, after all. There is lots of window shopping at streetwear companies, home furnishings stores, and clothing shops.
Once you get to the Frank Gehry-designed Chiat Day headquarters– the one featuring a pair of binoculars and now a Google campus–it gets more residential. Here the sidewalk gets uneven, pushed up by the roots of trees, perfect for skateboard jumps but not maneuvering a stroller; it was here that we decided to walk the two blocks to the Strand and Venice Beach.
Be on the lookout for art while you are walking down the street. You will see this creepy ballerina clown and street art from Invader and others.
Stop Three: Venice Beach
This is where all the people are. Here we penguin walked through the crowds, getting passed demo CDs (yes, still), past drum circles, and tourist shops. There is a lot to see here–restaurant patios bursting with people, skateboarders dropping into pool-shaped structures at the skatepark, muscly couples working out on Muscle Beach. Souvenir shops line the street selling Venice Beach to tourists.
Because the crowds of people were hindering our progress, we turned off on Windward, under the Venice sign, and continued to the canals on Pacific Avenue.
Stop Four: The Venice Canals
One of the reasons for this walk was that I had never seen the Venice Canals. In my research about this area, I learned about Abbot Kinney and his desire to bring his favorite European city to Los Angeles. Venice, Italy is both the namesake and his inspiration for Kinney’s resort city on the beach. When it debuted, people could ride through the canals by authentic gondola.
The canals used to be more extensive, connecting much of Venice, but due to the need for drivable streets, they were paved over. What you can explore today is a fourth of its original size. There is about a mile of walkable space connected with bridges and sidewalks.
Although close to the touristy area–turns out very close to the Venice sign on Windward–this area of the city is very quiet. There are no touristy spots to buy a Venice Canals t-shirt. It is a lot of walking and gawking at the multi-million dollar homes that have backyards that open to the water. A highly photographed area is a place where someone hung Moroccan pendant lanterns of different colors from the tree. When they hit the light of the setting sun, it looks pretty magical.
Like most hidden gems in Los Angeles, you might have driven around this area and never knew that a block away was a piece of Los Angeles history.
The Venice Canals are on the National Register of Historic Places, and it sees thousands of visitors every year.
Back to the beginning
It is here that we decided to head back to the beginning, walking most of the three miles we had already covered back to the Expo Line station.
I hope I inspired you to strap on some shoes and explore Los Angeles in a different way. You can miss a lot if you just see Los Angeles from a car window. You can use this post as a walking itinerary of the area.
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