Abutting Santa Monica’s south side on the Pacific Coast Highway, Venice Beach—or simply Venice—was developed as a Los Angeles beach resort that paid homage to its Italian namesake with canals, piazzas, pedestrian bridges, a lagoon, and a colonnaded business district. Designed by eccentric millionaire Abbot Kinney in 1905, Venice’s original waterways and charming beach cottages can still be seen on Dell Avenue in the Venice Canal Historic District.
Today’s Venice, though, is more famous for quirky happenings on its iconic beachfront boardwalk and pier, where mimes, jugglers, musicians, and street performers of all kinds inhabit an ever-changing and unforgettable bohemian subculture.
Description provided by visitcalifornia.com
