Dogtown Ink

Surfer, jetty, sea.

Digital Photograph
© Kent Andersson

Aug. 3, 2008
Stingray Alley
Venice, California

Boardwalk import shop with incense, saris, shell necklaces, woodcarving, candles…

Boardwalk bikinis and all the Havaianas you’re ever going to need. LOTS of bikinis. LOTS of flip-flops and slides.

Venice Lifeguard Station is located on Venice Beach above the jetty. It commands views of the beach north to the Breakwater and past, and south to the Venice fishing pier.

The Lifeguard Station doubles as a polling place where area residents vote, some coming in wet suits before or after surf sessions. A regular, 360? semi-real time view of the beach (it’s a series of still stitched together and regularly updated) is streamed from the lifeguard station for web surfers interested in the surf conditions: LA County Coastal Monitoring Network (Venice Lifeguard Station)

Between the body-building facilities at the Venice Recreation Center (the new Muscle Beach area) and the actual beach lies a sandy yard equipped with balance beam, rings, uneven bars, climbing rope and a range of other gymnastic and recreational apparatuses. It’s for bigger kids and adults. (An enclosed children’s playground can be found 100 yards to the north.)

A more relaxed locale for chin-ups than the nearby body-building facility, the work/play pit is a popular place for speed bag practice (there’s a speed bag station — though you must bring your own bag or possibly rent one from the rec center office).

A great bike path runs along the beach for much of Los Angeles’ west side. The Santa Monica/Venice leg of the path is among its most colorful. The two-way, paved thoroughfare is best for wheeled devices like bikes, blades an skateboards. It can get a tad hazardous on weekends when lots of oblivious walkers meander — and unaware little ones dart — onto the path. Of course, the parade of humanity is part of the attraction for many. Watch out for aggro road bikers and berate the bullies accordingly.

Big and pink and next to Rand Corp.

Luxury place I guess. Seems kind of soulless, though I understand the spa is nice to sneak into.

Expensive little snooty joint. I hear it’s good.

The art of surfing. Mollusk’s original shop is in San Francisco, a surf shop/art gallery associated with artist Barry McGee and the Beautiful Losers contemporary art and street culture movement.