I’ve never had a problem in Venice or Santa Monica, during the day or in the evening.
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Santa Monica is very sfe. Where are you staying?
The ride / walk from Santa Monica to Venice is not far; a mile or so at the most. Honestly, if you want to enjoy your bike ride, I’d stay clear of Venice. Ride Santa Monica to Malibu (North); it’s more beautiful and less stinky.
As of this week, plans are underway to clear the homeless encampments along the Venice/ SM boardwalks by sometime in August, whether that happens, remains to be seen.
In the meantime, I’d stay clear; it’s just not worth the waste of time and the ‘horror’ such as avoiding animal or human excrement on the sidewalks/beach, holding your breath to avoid the stench that even masks don’t filter out; averting your eyes if you catch a glimpse of an impromptu ‘sex show’, open drug use, unconcious drug users etc.
Of course, you might go to Venice, look around and say to yourself ‘WTH was she talking about? This is just as I pictured it!’
We had bad experience with Venice back in the pre-Covid days. Got food poisoning at one of the better restaurants there. This could have been a fluke, but we will not return. 
If you want to be cool and get away from the city, I love, love, love the Island Packers trips out to Channel Islands National Park. There are full day trips to Santa Cruz Island that leave early morning and there are half day trips to Anacapa Island.
Santa Cruz has little island foxes, found only on the Channel Islands, that like to hang out in the campground. Anacapa is a sea bird nesting island. For either, you’ll need to bring water and food.
On the boat trip over you could see thousands of dolphins and maybe a whale.
Check out the Island Packers website. Boats leave from either Oxnard or Ventura harbor.
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I would also caution against going to Venice and I would add to that caution against going to Hollywood and Olvera Street. These areas were named by our sheriff as the areas where homeless camps are out of control. Venice used to be a top attraction in LA. Now it’s a no-go zone. Needles, human waste and people ranting out of their heads are common sights there. If you haven’t visited LA in a long while, you will be shocked by how horrific the situation is. You’ll see it as soon as you leave the airport, taking the on ramp to the 405 North. There’s an encampment in the brush there.
South Bay beach cities, Manhanttan, Hermosa, Redondo Beach then head a few miles further south and walk the easy trail on the bluffs at Terrenea Resort-it’s absolutely stunning!!!
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If you get yourself to Pasadena try to squeeze in The Gamble House too. It’s a house built like a piece of furniture, it’s just gorgeous. And I think the Caltech campus is one of the prettiest in the country - beautiful gardens. We got married in the Dabney Garden which is a little walled garden with an olive grove. Depending on when things bloom you might see iris, jacaranda, crepe myrtle, or wisteria with cute Spanish colonial revival backgrounds.
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As long as you are Santa Monica pier adjacent and North it is fine.
LA city and county are under multiple consent decrees that substantially limit what police can do during covid. Plus the general incompetent local political system.
We have reservations at Le Meridien Delfina Santa Monica, which is slightly south of the pier on Pico Blvd. My reservations are cancellable so I am fine with changing that if recommended to move further north.
Thanks so much for painting the picture. You just don’t know if things are as bad as what the “news” tells you. But my kids, especially my youngest, would be horrified by all of that. My youngest actually has extreme anxiety about drugs and alcohol (is terrified of being an addict because we have addicts in our family), so being confronted with that in real life - it scares her to even hear about it on tv - would be very difficult for her. We will be riding north for sure!!
Sadly, there are many homeless encampments throughout LA.
We always stay at Le Meridien Delfina Santa Monica when we visit my sister and have stayed there numerous times. It’s a great location, and we’ve never had any trouble there.
You can walk to the 3rd St Promenade and to Santa Monica Pier. We always rent bikes and head north - it’s always a favourite activity for everyone. The kids also love climbing the ropes, swinging on the rings, etc on the beach.
We’ve seen a few addicts near the beach, which is very sad and was an introduction to the real world when our kids were younger. Our oldest always wondered what sad circumstances led them down this path. We used to go to Venice Beach but have deliberately avoided that area for the past few years (even pre-pandemic).
When D2 had an internship in LA we went shopping and to lunch a few times along Abbott Kinney Blvd in Venice and walked around the Venice canals. I don’t know if either is still something you want to do now.
I lived in LA for about a year when I was in my 20s. Lived in Venice actually a block from the boardwalk. We went out three years ago to visit friends and do a road trip of CA.
In our experience, back then pre-Covid, the homeless situation was much worse down by the Last Bookstore. Venice was full of folks hawking weed (legal of course) and there was a lot of weed smoke and aroma, but there weren’t huge encampments on the sidewalk like there were by the Last Bookstore. I took my kids to see my old house on one of the “walk streets”. It was still super cute. It’s the 3rd one back, blue/grey one with the windows poking out on the second floor: Google Maps
I don’t know what it is like now with Covid, though. We stayed a few hours (maybe 3) and by then we were ready to move on. Venice can be a LOT to take in even in good times.
BTW, The Daily Mail is a junky tabloid. Not a good news source. But here’s a story in the LA Times on the problem: Homeless camps, trash and crime have transformed Venice boardwalk, eluding easy solutions
The number of unhoused/homeless people all over California is really shocking if you’re coming from somewhere else. It’s a far bigger problem there than in any other state I’ve been to in the past 10-12 years.
This is true. We visited ds two years ago when he lived in Santa Monica. I was taken aback by the number of homeless people there. I just don’t see them where I live.
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Here is a local article with pics. that only scratches the surface, but it will give you an idea of Venice
Happy Hour (M-Th) at either Casa Del Mar or Shutters in Santa Monica, is very good, with HH food portions, enough to call ‘early dinner’.
Malibu Country Mart. is another nice place to wander for an hour or two with plenty of food options. It’s across the street from Adamson House, which is worth a visit. The beach and lagoon are stunning!
If your do venture out to Huntington (which is far given you only have two full days), the food at the Chinese Garden cafe, is very good; you can also pre-order picnic type food at the main cafe, to enjoy one one of the outdoor dining terraces.
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If you like horseback riding, you could do a guided ride in Griffith Park. We did one in January 2013 when we were out for the Rose Parade and it was great. The stable we used was Circle K in Burbank.
Also I second Huntington Gardens and the Norton Simon museum.
I love the Huntington Library. If it’s a bad weather day, you can view the museum. If it’s good weather, the grounds are lovely year round. You can also do a combo. If they’re serving food, I’ve had a nice high tea and also a lunch there (separate visits). It’s always a nice place to stop—it feels a world away from the bustle of LA.
I have also remembered an off the beaten path locals thing to do -
Penmar Golf Course (public) offers Happy Hour drinks & food 7-days a week 3pm-7pm with music and comedy Wednesday, Thursday & Friday
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Also you can rent swan boats at Echo Park Lake with lovely views of downtown. One of my favorite things to do.
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Thanks, everyone! I talked to ds last week, and I could tell he was glad I had some thoughts/ideas. He has been to the car museum and said it was great but felt like it was best done with a true car enthusiast who (in his words), “knows what they’re talking about.” He has a college friend who is a car enthusiast and went with him.
He has also been to the Getty Villa, but I could tell he thought it might be worthy of a revisit and seeing Malibu. Many of the other things were familiar to him, but he had not been to them.
He already had a brunch planned for Saturday
I don’t go until the end of July, but I will report back as to what we decided to do!
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