California Livin' Series: Venice Canals (Venice)

Welcome to my first post in the California Livin' series! These posts will not be about food. I know, sad. But there are other things in life besides food, fortunately or unfortunately enough. Today I want to share with you my lovely journey through the Venice Canals.

The Venice Canals, as you might guess, are a series of canals in the city of Venice in Los Angeles County that span about four blocks. They have a walkway up and down each aisle. Obviously, you cannot drive down them, which is really all the better as you can take in their beauty slowly.

The canals span four blocks from Venice Blvd. to 28th St, and are located west of the main street in Venice, Pacific Ave. It's relatively easy to find parking in the neighborhood.

There are bridges spread across each canal. If you've seen photos of anyone who's visited, they've likely taken a picture on one of these bridges. They're quite scenic. Some people store their rafts underneath, as you can see.

There are various and sundry canoes scattered alongside the canals which also make great photo ops if you're not afraid of a potentially embarrassing sitch of getting caught on someone else's property.

Venice canals property owners also share residence with small families of duckies. Here's the anatine incarnation of the (in)famous Squad, plus a few members:

Walking the whole perimeter of the canals is only about a 1.5-mile stretch so it's definitely doable.

If you weave in and out each pathway though, you get to sneak peeks inside people's yards.

And yes, most of them have hidden cameras, so don't try anything funny.

Some crazy people even leave their doors wide open in the middle of the day. It's that safe here. I guess. Or like I said, just crazy.

If you've ever visited Venice you may have heard of Abbot Kinney Blvd. It's the most notorious street after the Venice Boardwalk, if you count that as a street. Abbot Kinney was a developer who was responsible for the canal construction, as a sort of homage to Venice, Italy.

They were built in 1905 with no practical purpose other than to add beauty to the city. Of course the lots sold like hotcakes.

As the automobile became popular, people started to view the canals as obsolete and they fell into disrepair just a few decades later. For forty years the city couldn't find funding to fix them. Finally in 1992, they were renovated and they re-opened the following year. Since then the properties have been the highest valued and most in-demand in the entire city.

The better portion of the properties have been torn down and reconstructed with more modern architecture.

The architecture of the houses is one of many aspects of the canals that make it worth visiting.

This is a Dutch-inspired property that I particularly liked. The lot it's on is pretty huge.

Some cute beachy houses with simple designs.

And even more houses I'd love to live in.

Quite an interesting patio we have here. It almost looks like it could be a restaurant.

Wanna take a ride on a flamingondola? Inquire within. (Jk please don't bother the residents they'll kick us out)

Perhaps a floating backyard is more your style.

A particularly flimsy-looking buoyant deck is another option.

In the mood for some light reading? The Venice canals host their very own mini public library.

Many of the houses feature gorgeous flowers out front (or is it out back?).

Some of the sleeker architecture featured on the walk.

Can't afford a house on the canals? Don't worry, they have apartments too! Good luck finding a vacancy, though.

And last but not least, my own little house of dreams. (Not really, it's just another cute house but I've run out of captions.)

I hear, and have seen from pictures, that the canals are even more gorgeous at night. I plan on returning so I can repost some pictures at dusk. Nevertheless, a wonderful little sojourn most tourists don't know about. I highly recommend checking it out for an easy little jaunt.

Oh yeah, here's yours truly at the canals, in case you were wondering what I looked like.

All in all, not a bad day.