Venice

A poetry center founded in 1968 that occupies the old Venice city hall on Venice Boulevard. The bookshop carries what it says is the largest selection of new poetry titles for sale anywhere, and the archive behind it holds more than forty thousand small press and limited edition volumes. Readings and workshops run in the evenings.

Bookshop Thursday to Saturday 1pm to 6pm in winter, Thursday to Sunday 1pm to 6pm from Independence Day to Labor Day. Readings run later, check the calendar

A bakery in a plain industrial building on a Venice back street, where you pull a paper ticket at the door and wait for your number to come up in red over the counter. Bread, pastry, smoked fish and sandwiches are all made on site. There is a separate express line for coffee, pastry and a loaf if that is all you want.

Daily, 7am to 4pm

A bar a block off the sand at the foot of Washington Boulevard, open since 1962, with sawdust on the floor and pool tables at the back. The kitchen makes one thing properly, which is a charred cheeseburger on a soft bun. It replaced its street sign in 2023 and kept the same design.

Daily, 8am to 2am. Happy hour 4pm to 8pm

What survives of Abbot Kinney's 1905 canal scheme, six blocks of water with footbridges and narrow walkways between back gardens. There is nothing to buy and no gate. Ducks, kayaks and people's vegetable beds are most of what you see.

Open at all hours. The walkways are unlit in places, so it is a daylight stop in practice