The Travelling Fairy DancerVenice Beach
February 5th 2009 10:27
Venice Beach, California, is part carnival, part muscle man display and part flea market. As we walked past stalls selling unique paintings, jewellery and souvenirs, we dodged girls on rollerblades, a man weaving erractically through the crowd on his three wheel bike and a few random souls simply sitting in the middle of the foot path; happily smiling as they were jostled back and forth.
We sat at an outdoor pub and became mesmerised for hours - the colourful display of human differences never paled and variety only increased as dusk fell.
The actual beach is wide and scattered with the life guard huts made famous in the television show 'Bay Watch'. Trees are madly painted in swirling, rainbow colours and a graffiti wall waits domant, ready for the next exciting artist to colour its open canvas.
As we walked to the bus stop to return to Santa Monica Beach, we noticed the streets were almost deserted; only a few stragglers lounged on light poles, cigarettes dangling from limpid mouths, making the sinister street corners glow as shopkeepers closed their doors to the coming night.
For no other reason than this, and the odd vibe taking over the place under the cover of darkness, we decided not to wait fifteen minutes for the bus and called a taxi instead.
Despite being happy to return to the wide, brightly lit streets of Santa Monica Beach and the shopping district, we immediately wished to be back among the 'strangeness' of Venice Beach, if only to see what happened after dark.
A little bit kooky with a thread of danger surrounding it, Venice Beach is completely unique and utterly spellbinding - the kind of place you want to stay in and run from at the same time.
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Comment by NoaIzumi
Fine Politics
Anime Bottle
If you want a real experience, check out the Hare Krishnah festival. They used to hold it every September at Venice Beach (and I hope they still do). Righteous head trip.
Comment by Waysouth
Romantic Writer
Given To Gaming
Waysouth
Spanish Honduras
Comment by The Travelling Fairy Dancer
Travel Magic
Waysouth - I wish I'd had some roller skates there! (Although I would have spent more time falling over due to staring at everything!)