Week 22: Venice Beach and Abbot Kinney

Visiting Abbot Kinney is one of the things on my L.A. To-Do List, and I crossed it off back in May.  I'm having a hard time working up the enthusiasm to write about things I did months ago, so I think that, in an effort to breathe life back into my relationship with the ol' bloggy blog, I am going to have to skip over the past couple months and get back to current time.

{Abbot Kinney}

I did, however, already go through and edit all of the pictures from our little jaunt to Venice Beach, so...  Apparently, Abbot Kinney was a tobacco millionaire who founded "Venice of America" in 1905. Despite Kinney's efforts to make Venice a center of arts and culture, it became known as the Coney Island of the Pacific. Poor Mr. Kinney. The Venice Beach boardwalk definitely maintains a Coney Island feel today, but happily, the streets surrounding Abbot Kinney Boulevard are more gentrified, filled with shops selling the work of local artists and designers. It's definitely more hipster than freak show, more plaid shirts and thrift shops than dreadlocks and tattoo parlors.  

{James Beach}

{fish tacos}

 

Abbot Kinney is famous for its quirky stores, but my favorite was this weird antique store that was crammed with stuff.

 Lots of stuff, but mostly cake stands. There were lots of cake stands.

{I think I need to start owning one of these guys.}

Lastly, the famous canals. According to Wikipedia, Kinney dug miles of canals to drain the marshes for his residential property. They also helped with the whole Venice of America vibe, I imagine.