Windward Circle

Windward Circle Venice derives it name from the European style traffic circle at its heart. The neighborhood takes on the shape of right angle with Venice being the base, Pacific the height and Abbot Kinney the hypotenuse.

The traffic circle at the center of the neighborhood is center of commerce for Venice (though, of course, not as famous as the Boardwalk along the beach). For residents this is a main destination. At the meeting point of Grand, Windward and Main, the circle has yoga places, the Venice’s art deco post office, a grocery store (Windward Farms), a sushi place, a video game shop, stationary stores and surf shops. The area gets a lot of traffic but its wide lanes are not as conducive to pedestrians as most areas of Venice.

The most walkable and attractive area of the neighborhood is, of course, Albert Kinney Blvd., with eateries like Abbot’s Pizza, Abbot’s Habit, Wabi Sabi Sushi and Rooster’s Fish (not technically on Albert Kinney). It also has some cool dive bars like The Brig. Venice residents love this palm-lined lanes—a kind of beachy Melrose with less traffic.

Slightly more pedestrian is Pacific with its fast food joints like Quiznos and Subway, but even pacific does it up in this area giving visitors choices of vegetarian and Vegan foods from Maos Kitchen and Seed.

Though much of this area is taken up with commercial buildings and stores there are also expensive residences in the area as well. Many are the kinds of older boxy apartment buildings popular in the 50’s and 60’s, that anywhere else would not command high rents but here do. There are also large Craftsman style homes.

Some of the most interesting architecture in the area is right around the circle where you have not only the art deco post office, but also modernist type store fronts on two of the four corners.

The main park in neighborhood of Venice is Westminster Dog Park. Locals tend to avoid it, not because it is dangerous, but because it is not well kept with dog droppings left uncleaned for days on end. In addition, many of the dogs who roam the park are pit bull type dogs—a favorite of residents—and there are occasional dog brawls as dogs stake out their territory.