-
Venice Canals
41 reviews
Neighborhood: Venice
Category: Local Flavor
-
The Spadena House aka The…
3 reviewsNeighborhood: Beverly Hills
Category: Local Flavor
-
The Venice Beach Drum…
15 reviewsVenice, CA
Category: Local Flavor
-
Danny's Venice Beach…
24 reviewsVenice, CA
Category: Delis
-
Gjelina
227 reviewsNeighborhood: Venice
Category: American (New)
Abbot Kinney
Rating Details »
- Good for Kids:
- No
11 reviews for Abbot Kinney
Great turkey sandwich.
They put avocado on.
Why did I say that?
Abbot Kinney "the man himself" was a very interesting character who lead a colorful life - full of intrigue, wish fulfillment, visionary accomplishments and the kind of personal drama which only rock stars are accustom to.
Sad what's happening to AK Blvd though - but I'll still give it 3 stars because of the stalwarts like HAL's and the Brig. But come on people . . . seriously. . . First Fridays went from the quaint village vibe which AK Blvd always seemed to embody - to a "bridge and tunnel" throng rivaling Bourbon Street at midnight during Mary Gras. Police in riot gear ? AK is now a police state !
Gone are the days of strolling down AK with your date on a brisk Friday Autumn night. Say bye bye to visiting local businesses and delighting in their complimentary holiday offerings. Farewell to the discounted goods which the shops offered during Sept through X-Mas. Now you have to pay a fifteen dollar cover charge and stand in line with a bunch of "hipsters" from who knows where.
I'm already making plans to move from AK Blvd back to my old hood on Rose Ave. Venice is (and I hope always will be) the coolest neighborhood in Los Angeles - just too bad AK is being exploited by the jet set elitist yuppie scum. And despite the current economic collapse there always seem to be the elite crew who let us bohemians know "who's got it all". . .
in conclusion. . .
Okay Mr & Mrs: Prius driving, run over a cyclist, used to live NYC, then Los Feliz and then in a loft downtown, Intelegencia coffee drinkin', tom's shoe wearin', fixed speed bike ridin', pink wayfare & tight red & white striped American Apparel t-shirt and skinny jeans wearin', trust-fund livin' ass hipster . . . YOU CAN HAVE AK !
See you at the festival though - we gonna' pitch a wang dang doodle ;)
I love this part of LA- granted, I haven't been to many spots in LA, so I will not give it a 5 star as I have nothing to compare it to. I think it's changed a lot even in the last 8 months since I was last there.
As far as neighborhoods go in LA, though, I think this is a sweet, funky little spot. I had a great time taking pictures of all the cool shops and the funky little cottages- some of the houses have been turned into businesses, some are art galleries, some are still homes. Great strip of bookstores, bars, coffee shops, restaurants, galleries, boutiques.
I hope the authenticity of the neighborhood can be retained, though that may have already gone out to sea. WESTSIDE whoop whoop.
Huge difference from the AK of today and that 10 years ago.
I walked it today for the first time in years and I think I still like it. I have been there to go to specific places but when a friend from Alaska was in town, I took her here to hang.
It was a good choice. A few of places are silly and won't last long but the food element is strong here, there are houseware stores that have interesting items as well as the place that sells $1200 coats.
I really like the Farmacy that just opened up.
How long will the one chain store last (tart frozen yogurt place) is anyones guess. AK ain't a fan of chains. Tho technically, Abbot Pizza Co is a chain now. Oh well. I like both, sue me.
This is a great area of Venice. There are great shops and restaurants. Its kind of like a toned down version of 3rd street meets Melrose. Its not a tourist trap like 3rd street, and not quite as "out there" as Melrose can be. You can find some cool prefab architecture around the surrounding streets which is always kind of cool.
Excellent review by Joan.
I highly recommend the beginning of "Dogtown and Z-Boys" (documentary) the beginning of which focuses on the West LA/Venice/SanMo of the late 70s, offering a fascinating dystopian glimpse at how run-down Abbot Kinney's European dream for LA used to be.
i used to haunt this join religiously when i lived in venice. that was a bit ago, and i'm not sure about its present quality and prices. but the pizza i did have rivals pizza i had in italy. it's a different, americana take on it for sure, but they've made it their own. the crust is a fresh bagel-like sesame goodness. i a freak for mushrooms, and they satiate my urge with their Wild Mushroom pizza. douse that with red chili peppers, and you will have a mushroom orgy of goodness in your mouth.
this is my favorite place to see a modern-chic prefab 2 story house, a garden that is also an art display, a shitload of distressed salvage home stuff, a sign of obama with an afro for a salon, craftsmen houses and trees of old growth, a heroin deal, wrought iron meets stucco, art galleries and frozen yogurt....
in short, walking around A-K is always an inspiring and eye-opening experience. :)
Glossy. Why is there a Pinkberry here? (Why are there Pinkberry's everywhere!?) The shops and restaurants are pretty expensive. I like the history of this place. It would have been interesting to see what it used to be, but it's pretty sanitized now, steam-cleaned. I'm gonna netflix "Dogtown and Z-Boys".
Abbot Kinney is probably the most intersting neighborhood in the area. Also, they have a pretty good amount of nice restaurants in a general area that is rather lacking.
Who??? Well, listen up.........Abbot Kinney is a neighborhood in Venice & also a major local street......named after the founder of Venice, CA, who was born in 1850 on the East Coast (Jersey). This well-educated, multi-lingual world traveler discovered So Cal to be an area where his asthma symptoms were alleviated, and so he stayed. Kinney won the marshy land that is now Venice in a coin toss. His ultimate creation of the town of "Venice Of America", unveiled in 1905, was an attempt to re-create Venice, Italy - complete with a network of canals, ornate Venetian style buildings, even gondolas. After Kinney's death in 1920 (the former tobacco-importer died of lung cancer) Venice was annexed to the City of Los Angeles, resulting in the filling-in of the majority of canals to build streets. In the early 60's L.A.'s code enforcement policy (all buildings had to be upgraded to current standards) ensured the demolition of 550 structures. Fortunately, a large section of the canals remains intact in Venice.... a quaint residential area with waterside walking paths & narrow streets adorned with little curved bridges (see the photos). Some of the Venetian buildings remain here and there - you can't miss the ones at the corner of Windward & Pacific, with their columns and murals. Venice, especially Venice Beach, is one of my favorite places on this planet. All that charm puts a high price tag on the real estate, so that's why I don't live there. Some people brand Venice as infested with drugs & crazies. Well...........yeah. But, that's not all there is to be found there. Besides....... old hippie that I am..... that stuff don't scare me.
