THE FULLEST Guide to Venice
Venice Beach, it’s a place that sees buff bodybuilders and yogis, creatives and corporate types, young families and Venice OGs seamlessly come together. Equally, stunning beachfront seems like a natural backdrop to a graffitied skate bowl, wellness centers and dodgy dispensaries are likely friends, and hitting a tonic bar in the morning and a cocktail bar at night just makes sense. Welcome to one of our favorite multidimensional LA neighborhoods.
Stay
Hotel June
Technically not Venice but just a stone’s throw away in Playa Vista, this hotel is a vibe. Brought to you by the team behind The Proper, you’ll get all the design, dining, and details at a smaller price tag. Wrapped in a timeless mid-century modern building, its spacious light-filled rooms include luxurious linens and Aesop bath amenities. Its Baja-inspired Caravan Swim Club is also the perfect place for a poolside read, cabana drinks, or fire pit gatherings.
Photo by The Ingalls
Venice V Hotel
The only beachfront lifestyle hotel in Venice that blends the eclectic culture of the world-famous boardwalk with luxury and design. Their three distinct room themes borrow inspiration from Venice’s colorful history and iconic characters — including the beachy, breezy bohemian; the moody, soulful artist; and the Dogtown skater, an ode to skate and DIY culture. Also, you’re not going to get a better location than this.
Photo by Mark Durling
Airbnb: Sage Cottage Venice Studio
We love this serene, light-filled guest studio of an original 1920s beach cottage. Located right off Abbot Kinney Blvd and walking distance from Venice’s best foodie and wellness spots, it features a private entrance, kitchenette, skylights, high ceilings, and a small outdoor seating area. Outfitted with clean lifestyle brands (Jenni Kayne, Cultiver, Caraway Home, True Botanicals), it’s a calming California dream.
Eat
Moon Juice
Their Rose Ave shop opened nearly a decade ago and is like a coffee bar, candy store, and apothecary all in one. Their juices, milks, tonics, and treats are handmade daily and work synergistically to heal and nourish. Pop by and meet their team of highly trained alchemists to help guide your Moon Juice journey.
Gjusta
Gjusta began in fall 2014 as a kitchen providing bread and pantry items for restaurants Gjelina and GTA, but quickly grew to be much more. Big on seasonal food and community, their menu changes depending on the time of year and the needs of the neighborhood. Step off Sunset Ave and into their space and you feel as though you’re a part of their talented team of bakers, chefs, baristas, and servers in their working kitchen. Pick up a lox bagel or stand at their European-esque coffee bar and sip on a cortado.
Gjelina
Gjelina is one of Venice’s most long-standing restaurants — and with good reason. Serving locally-sourced, produce-forward food, its menus are guided by conversations and long-standing relationships with Southern California farmers, local ranchers, fishermen, and co-ops.
Superba Food + Bread
From breakfast to dinner, Superba is equal parts bakery, restaurant, and urban park. In its open and airy dinner hall, it serves up hearty American classics, like Paul’s Big Boy breakfast, Venice Beach friendly keto plates, and Croissant French Toast (a nod to their love for French pastries). There’s truly something for everyone on this menu.
Plant Food + Wine
Nestled on the northern end of Abbot Kinney, Matthew Kenney’s Plant Food + Wine takes plant-based dining to a new level. Its health conscious menu and biodynamic wine list is as elevated as any awarded fine dining establishment. On warmer nights (so basically most of the year in Venice), make sure to book a table out back in their glorious fairy light garden.
Double Zero
Matthew Kenney’s other Venice location is a healthy take on the world’s most popular food — pizza! Using seasonal, plant-only ingredients, you can feast on pizzas, pastas, and salads that have all the indulgence of your usual Italian menu items but are better for you — and also just better.
Shop
Living Libations
If you’re familiar with this benevolent beauty line from the clean queen, Nadine Artemis, then you’ll want to stop by their Venice Beach boutique. Tucked away in a Venice back alley, they are an appointment only service but well worth booking in. Its tester heaven and you can sample anything from their delectable raw and organic chocolates to their Rose Glow Complexion Mist.
Olderbrother
Nestled in a gorgeous refurbished Venice bungalow, Olderbrother’s eco-conscious range includes organic cottons from Japanese farms, unique blends of wool and woven rice paper, and linen from the flax fields in Japan’s cooler climates. Using truly natural dyes from hibiscus to turmeric, each of their pieces is devoid of toxins and heavy metals.
Rudy Jude
Just next door to Olderbrother is Rudy Jude: an adult, baby, and kid clothing line that shares a similar philosophy. All Rudy Jude garments are plant-dyed using roots, berries, bark, flowers, leaves, lichen, and wood. Stop by if you’re dedicated to keeping toxic chemicals off of your body, out of water-ways and ecosystems, and like to look timeless doing it.
Christy Dawn
Christy Dawn’s stunning dresses are repurposed from deadstock fabric and elicit a connection to the earth and your femininity. Taking fashion further than simple sustainability, they also employ regenerative practices under their farm-to-closet initiative. Stop by their Rose Ave store and pick up one of their high-integrity pieces and own something you’ll always feel good in.
General Store
Originally founded in San Francisco in 2009, General Store opened their second location in Venice in 2012. The space has ample interior volume and its stunning collection of carefully curated ceramics, jewelry, vintage clothes, and books will hold a place in your imagination long after you’ve left the store.
Visit
Den Mother
If you’re looking for some self-care, you can’t go past Den Mother on Abbot Kinney. Choose from ancient healing modalities like acupuncture, massage, dosha balancing, and facial acupuncture. You can also take it up a level with their cedar sauna and cold plunge pool or turn it all the way down with a peaceful flower foot bath and grounding reflexology in the tea garden.
Abbot Kinney Boulevard
Venice’s most famous street is always evolving but still retains its roots in art, fashion, and food. From Abbot’s Pizza Company to Acutonix Wellness Center to Adidas, it really captures all the facets of Venice’s subcultures. A mile long, you’ll be visiting AK as it’s known to the locals multiple times in your stay (or even multiple times a day).
Erewhon Market
Technically, this may be more logically placed under the “EAT” section of this guide but Erewhon is an experience in and of itself. It’s been alluded to in a bunch of television series, is rife for a celebrity spot, but honestly, its biggest drawcard is that it’s a health and wellness mecca. We’re huge fans of the Buffalo Cauliflower and everything from the tonic bar (but especially their ashwagandha cappuccino).
LOVE Yoga
On Venice Blvd, you’ll find one of our favorite places to pigeon pose and chill. Unlike other LA yoga studios, LOVE Yoga is not elitist or competitive, it’s accessible and balanced, and the perfect speed if you’re on vacay.
RA MA Institute
Kundalini yoga has definitely gained more mainstream exposure in the last few years — some good and some controversial. However, RA MA Studio’s approach brings the modernity, the inclusivity, and the humor to this often heavily spiritual practice. It’s founded by the late Guru Jagat, (Alicia Keys, Kate Hudson, and Demi Moore’s teacher), and her larger than life legacy lives on. Drop by and you may laugh, cry, or find your inner bliss depending on that day’s class.
OSEA Skincare Studio
This ocean-inspired clean beauty line brings its simple, holistic philosophy to Venice in the form of their skincare studio. Blending healing cranio sacral with ancient beauty techniques like gua sha and Mother Nature’s most radiant elements, these facials are like no other.
Beach
Sitting on Venice Beach and seeing the sun sinking over the Pacific Ocean is as much a feeling as is a sight to behold. Pink and orange skies glint off the gun metal grey ocean, and there’s an electricity in the air courtesy of the boardwalk’s colorful character, skater kids, and bustling bar scene. ‘Gram it or it didn’t happen.
Riding a Bike
The best way to explore Venice’s sprawling canals, boardwalk, and beach? On a bike. Choose some solo wheels or go tandem for an extra fun morning or afternoon.