Mismatched Travel Diaries - Los Angeles - Part 1 - A Touch Of Venice

danedebeau (50)in #travel • 7 years ago (edited)

Venice Beach is one of those places which as an Aussie, you hear so much about in TV, movies, radio, songs, podcasts... pretty much any medium, because so much of it is produced in LA. There is an aura people imbue upon it as they talk about it. It's what we imagined peak Los Angeles to be.

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So we arrive with this in mind, and are a little disappointed straight up... We had literally just gotten off our flight and gone straight to our hotel on the boardwalk not really realising that at 8am Venice Beach is just as sleepy as anywhere else on earth, if not, more. Its pretty much the pigeons and us.

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We also realise that we too, are sleepy and proceed to check in and pass out. Just before I lie on my bed though, I take a random window photo... this is it. More of a memory-shot than an actual photograph. It mimics my memory of our first few hours in the USA... blurry and distant.

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Our nap does us a world of good, and when we wake up, immediately the atmosphere is different. We can hear cars honking, people shouting and the general riff-raff you would expect from L.A. So naturally, we go outside half-expecting to run into a film set and joking about what would happen if we did. We walk past a bar which someone shouts to their friend across the street: "That's the best fish-taco in LA place from I Love You Man." We found out later it wasn't and he was a street off his mark, but I guess by then, he probably would have found out too.

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We turn up a backstreet and a very large African-American man puts his hand on my chest. From his sheer size, I was surprised how he appeared out of nowhere. "Not comin' up here man. We're filmin' an episode of NCIS." he says. Meg and I both start laughing, agreeing with him, and head toward the thick mass of people gathered in front of the 'Worlds Greatest Wine-O" who was rambling on, but we couldn't get close enough to understand him... and we continued on once again. Our heads were reeling from this series of events, and our stomachs were empty too.

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The Venice Beach Boardwalk is an incredibly vibrant spot and is just as good being watched from outside as it is being inside the mass of skateboarders, cyclists, dog-walkers, tourists, police, musicians, muscle-men and muscle-women and just about every type of person you could imagine.

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It is such a fun place to hang out. I like street-musicians especially, so it definitely suited my style. I love music and a meal, but rarely do you get a live show with breakfast.