almostbutter

I didn't actually have a problem with Colorado Ave until I saw a drive-by shooting there one night. There are a couple of 24-hour diners on the corner of Colorado and Lincoln - a Dennys and another one called Norms. This is nice when you have late-night food cravings with friends, but I came out of Norms one night around 2AM and almost immediately heard gunshots and saw a car driving off into the distance down Colorado Ave. That isn’t really what I’d call a “safe neighborhood,” so I doubt I’d want to live there. Most of Colorado Ave. is fine during the day, but I’d avoid going there in the middle of the night.

As much as it's hyped up, the area around Venice beach isn't really my favorite in the neighborhood, but I can't really complain about Pacific Ave. It runs from Marina del Rey into Santa Monica, and is a good place to look for restaurants and nightlife. As it's right by the beach, parking is hard and the food can be overpriced, but it's also relatively easy to find free parking and cheap food if you look in the right places. As it runs into Santa Monica, you encounter the Santa Monica Pier, and during large portions of the street you get a good view of the ocean. A lot of Pacific is also residential. Houses around here sometimes run for cheaper than ones in parts of Venice, so although it isn't the most upscale neighborhood in the area, it's a pretty good one if you want to be right near the beach.

Nowita Pl isn't so much a street as it is a large pathway, as is the style of a good deal of Venice. Residents can access their houses through garages in the back, but otherwise there’s no way to drive thorugh it. It runs through one of the most pleasant neighborhoods in Venice, in the area between Lincoln Blvd. and Abbot Kinney, so there’s a lot to do nearby. I sometimes walk through Nowita Pl in the mornings because it’s always very lovely – full of plants and trees and pretty houses. I think there are a few big celebrities here, too, but I haven’t seen them. It’s fairly expensive for the size of the houses but as it’s quiet, safe, pretty, and near plenty of good things to do, I couldn’t imagine what more you’d want in a neighborhood.

Roma Ct. is right next to the Grand Canal in Marina Del Rey, which means that it is home to some of the most lavish houses in the Venice/Marina Del Rey area. Therefore, it's a rather fun street to visit. Fancy houses, expensive cars, and pretty walkways, etc. which lead to the canal. I’m sure it would be a pleasant street to live on, too, but it may take me an entire lifetime to be able to afford a house here.

My cousin and her family have lived on Avocado street for quite a while now, so I only know it from my occasional visits. It's a little tiny street - only a few blocks long, and very thin. Half of the street is filled with parked cars, while the other half is almost too small to be a two-way street. It’s generally pretty quiet, and from what I understand the neighbors can be friendly (or sometimes obnoxious). It’s pleasant enough to look at, although I wouldn’t call it gorgeous. The housing is not the best nor the worst you can find in Los Angeles, and tends to be on the smaller side. It’s right off of Los Feliz, so there are some pretty good restaurants, etc. within walking distance, and it feels pretty safe. It’s also pretty close to Hollywood, so there’s plenty to do within driving distance, although sometimes getting out of the neighborhood can include unpleasant amounts of traffic.

You can find just about anything on Santa Monica Blvd, and I mean ANYTHING. It's a little hard to sum up just because of how incredibly long it is. In fact, it's one of the longest and most important streets on the west side of LA. I think there’s even a Sheryl Crow song about it. It stretches from the Santa Monica promenade at the coast through 3rd street promenade, through Santa Monica, past the 405, through Beverly Hills and past Rodeo Dr, and all the way into Hollywood. It’s not the prettiest street in Los Angeles, nor always the most pleasant, and sometimes the traffic gets stuffy, but it's generally good way to get through the city, and you can just about always find something to do there.

Main St. lies right between Venice and Santa Monica just one block away from Pacific and very close to the coast. There’s a good number of shops (both practical and boutique), restaurants, cafes, salons, etc. This makes it a fun place to hang out, although it usually feels rather touristy (especially in the summer when everyone is at the beach). It’s also pretty hard to find parking here, and the shops tend to be on the expensive side. Nonetheless, it is a pleasant place to visit for a day, especially if you are only visiting the area.

Basically a residential street except for the stretch that crosses the Santa Monica airport, I only know S. Bundy from driving through – therefore, I can’t accurately judge what living or hanging out on the street is like. All I know is that in a city as cluttered and trafficky as Los Angeles, S. Bundy is one of the best ways to get from Venice to anywhere North of the 10 and close to the 405 or west of it (eastern Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, etc.). The speed limit is relatively fast and there’s usually not much traffic, which is very pleasant if your driving through.

There’s a lot of everything on Lincoln Blvd: drugstores, grocery stores, restaurants, shops, schools, houses, mechanics – anything you can think of. Plus it’s technically a California highway, and a major route to get from the 90 freeway and Marina Del Rey to Venice to Santa Monica and the 10 freeway. Unfortunately, there seems to be traffic on Lincoln at almost every hour of the day, the lights are timed badly, and it’s one of the uglier streets in West LA. Therefore, as important of a street it is for Venice and Santa Monica residents and passerby, it’s never a very pleasant street to be on.

Electric is the street directly north of Abbot Kinney. A good deal of the parking lots for Abbot Kinney shops and cafes are located right off Electric, and it's a good place to find street parking, too. It’s also the fastest way to get to Abbot Kinney if you’re driving west on Venice Blvd, although the first two blocks leaving Venice Blvd. are one-way, and then after that it turns into a two-way street. The houses are rather pleasant and in the style of the surrounding neighborhood, are usually small but very carefully and uniquely decorated on the outside. A lot of artist/celebrities/weirdos live there. It’s not a good street, however, if you want houses on both sides of the street because although houses line most of the north side, the south side is taken up by either warehouses or parking lots. It does, however, feel very safe most of the time.