I kind of hate saying, "I went to Venice Beach last weekend." It sounds so exclusive. As though we Californians thought that naming a city, right off the freeway, in Los Angeles after an ancient city, built on water, in a European country known for vineyards, the birthplace of the Renaissance, and the inspiration for Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, was perfectly reasonable.
"Yeah, let's just go ahead and name it Venice. We'll put 'Beach' after it so that it'll be different and point out that we're built on water too. Now. Where are we gonna put the nudie bar?" - Venice Beach city planners
Anyway, I did spend a saturday morning in Venice Beach recently, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I'm sure most of that had to do with the pleasant company, the perfect weather and the fantastic food at GJelina. (Highly recommend the place. Brick floor, rustic tables, food served in skillets, dish towels for napkins....and one rather attractive waiter with hair bordering on an afro, but wearing a sweater with a tie. Which made the afro just look "quirky.")
Speaking of quirky....I notced that Venice Beach seems like just the type of hipster haven that Zooey Deschanel would take to. Meaning....I didn't belong there. Technically speaking, I mean. I, however, felt perfectly comfortable, thank you. With or without tights and leg warmers worn with shorts. But I do wish Zooey would meet me and learn to like me and then we'd rent an apartment together and we could just be two quirky, glasses-wearing, single (R.I.P. Zooey and Ben Gibbard's marriage) gals about town, listening to Ratatat on our walkmans. (Because I swear to you, those are going to be the next trend to hit hipsterville.)
Nope, I wasn't going to be run out of town by those haters of Banana Republic and plastic water bottles. Because, by the way Venice Beach residents, I saw a scarf as thin and insubstantial as John Edward's integrity in one of your atypical, off-beat boutiques for $62.00. So who's all corporate now?
Still, what looked like the pages of an Urban Outfitters catalogue literally spilling onto the sidewalks via some "bad" pot, only made me love and appreciate the refreshingly different feel that comes with a city not in the County of Orange. I'm learning to fall for the dirty, crowded, billboard housing, cheesy tourist sights, unimpressed Los Angelians, run-down parts of L.A. Plus, who wouldn't be taken with a city that has an establishment with this as their marketing slogan: "Home of Turtle Racing."
Although, maybe that love for L.A. only exists on weekend visits. It's a possibility. Maybe I'll find out sometime.... (When Zooey asks me to be her roommate. I'll let you guys know when the housewarming party will be.)
- Just Michelle
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