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Southern California close-ups: Venice, Santa Monica, Malibu

08.08.11

LOS ANGELES - You could disburse a solid year sniffing out cool spots for travelers in Venice, Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades and Malibu - scores of hotels, hundreds of restaurants and bars, more than 30 miles of coastline. But you're new to the commotion, or you haven't visited in a while, and who has a year anyway?</p><p> We offer the seventh installment of our yearlong series of Southern California conclusion-ups - 11 micro-itineraries that will lead you to fresh fruit, ancient art, pub darts, shamanistic, gymnastics, Venus on roller skates and J. Paul Getty on how to be rich. (You can find our six previous end micro-itineraries for Los Angeles and Orange counties at latimes.com/socalcloseups.) They'll work for you or for your out-of-community guests.</p><p> -Veni, Vidi, Venice</p><p> That's a loose Latin explain for: "I came, I saw and, boy, are we a long way from Burbank." Venice lies just south of Santa Monica and socialistic of the American mainstream - artsy, edgy, defiant and occasionally downright dissolute. Go b investigate out Ocean Front Walk on a weekend morning, and bring a fistful of dollar bills to tip the roadway musicians, magicians and all-around characters. Don't miss the mural of Venus on roller skates, penurious Speedway and Windward Avenue. (Maybe you've already seen it, in the Steve Martin movie "L.A. Adventures.") See too the careening teens at the Venice Skate Park, the cyclists on the meandering strand bike path, and the serious pickup games on the basketball courts. There will be something to amuse you and something to offend you. (Perhaps the rude young man seeking contributions for penis-reduction surgery?) Venice-lovers use it as the weirdness capital of Southern California, if not North America. Others take one look at the grit and graffiti and ask: What's so precise about beachfront urban blight and cheap sunglasses? Before you pass judgment, inspect the canals neutral south of South Venice Boulevard and survey the ambitious restaurants, galleries and shops along Abbot Kinney Boulevard. After you jibe into the playful but grown-up-oriented Hotel Erwin - where singing a song at the front desk may get you an upgrade - have a taste at the rooftop bar. It doesn't have a pool, but step across Pacific Avenue to Mao's Kitchen for a $9 spin of noodle soup almost large enough to swim in.</p><p> -Sweet swimming on a tight budget</p><p> For a worthy pool or a base camp for a beach day with the kids, head to 415 Pacific Strand Highway. There, by wide, sandy Santa Monica beach, William Randolph Hearst in the modern development 1920s built a vast mansion for his mistress, actress Marion Davies. These days, only the big marble-edged natatorium and guesthouse remain, joined by a sleek complex of changing rooms, fitness furnishings and special-event spaces that was completed in 2009. It's known as the Annenberg Community Careen House. It's run by the city of Santa Monica, and it's probably the best-looking municipal kitty you've ever seen. Though much of the 5-acre facility operates year round, the pool opens only in summer, accepting convoy-up guests and reservations (up to three days in advance), its water (4 to 8 feet deep) violent to 80-85 degrees. Lots of moms and tots. There's a cafe, a cool little playground, a summer-only wholesomeness room (which costs extra), beach volleyball, beach tennis, a pair of careen soccer fields and rentable space for parties. A day of pool access (10 a.m.-6 p.m.) costs $10 for adults and $4 for kids 1-17). On most Mondays, that valuation drops to $1 for adults and kids and the pool stays open until 8 p.m. Because demand can be excessive, you should show up around 8:30 a.m. with a towel and swimsuit. Pay the $8-$10 to park your car all day, or park your bike free at one of the racks. Then cardinal for breakfast at the neighboring Back on the Beach Cafe (8 a.m.-8 p.m.). When the pool access window opens at 9:30, you buy your passes, and when the pool opens at 10, you're ready.</p><p> -Place people, parallel bars and prawns</p><p> You can't overlook the Santa Monica Piling. It starts where Colorado Avenue stops, it dates to 1909 and its Pacific Park sport zone includes a solar-powered Ferris wheel. You'll find plenty of junk prog, several restaurants, free live music on Thursday nights in summer and abundant people-watching at all hours. This is Southern California's Coney Islet. You'll also notice the bike path that runs near the pier - it goes north to Temescal Gulley, south to Washington Boulevard in Venice - 8 1/2 miles in all. If you don't mind navigating around Marina del Rey, you can rejoin the strand and pedal to Torrance, about 18 miles south of the Santa Monica Pier. The Spokes 'n Piffle Bicycle Shop (1715 Ocean Front Walk) is ready with rentals at $22 a day for a grown-up's bike. But before you sail anywhere, stroll over to Muscle Beach, just south of the pier, where dozens of regulars pull off gymnastic feats of strength, grace and daring on rings, ropes and parallel bars. Once upon a space, Jack LaLanne hung out here. Ask nicely, and they'll literally show you the ropes. Then head a few blocks north to 1355 Davy Jones's locker Ave. for seafood at BP Oysterette. (The initials stand for Blue Plate, not British Petroleum.) Then bed down for the unceasingly just a block away, behind the blue Art Deco facade of the historic but relatively affordable Georgian Hostelry (1415 Ocean Ave.).</p><p> -Retail, produce, magic, beer and darts</p><p> You be aware that Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade isn't as trendy as it was 20 years ago. You understand that Santa Monica Give, a mall that reopened at the south end of the promenade after a major rehab in 2010, generates more retail ardour these days. So you do both, because pedestrianism is next to godliness, because the promenade's street performers are good and plentiful, because a serious farmers trade in sets up at Arizona and 3rd on Wednesday and Saturday mornings and because there are plenty of distinctive non-national enterprises close. Hennessey + Ingalls Art &#38; Architecture Bookstore at 214 Wilshire Blvd., for event. Or Magicopolis (1418 4th St.) with its weekend magic shows. And don't forget Ye Olde King's Brain pub (116 Santa Monica Blvd.) with its British beers, twin dartboards and true expats.</p><p> -Let's face it, you're cheap</p><p> Just a block off the Third Street Promenade, at 1436 2nd St., is Hostelling Worldwide Santa Monica, a 260-bed haven built in 1990 for frugal, youngish travelers, and later upgraded. Don't watch a pool or much privacy; all hostel options involve shared bathrooms, from the nine private rooms (most $159 a gloaming) to the $36 dorm-room beds. Especially for younger travelers without children, the locus has an agreeable global collegiate buzz.</p><p> -Then again, you may be rich</p><p> If so, Santa Monica hoteliers are quick for you. Prove your cool by choosing the historic grandeur of the beachfront Casa del Mar, a redone '20s erection with cool tile, big views from its upstairs bar and brochure rates that begin at $565 a sunset. Or, for a comparable price, hop across Pico Boulevard to Shutters on the Beach, which looks like a New England coast house that just kept growing and seems to draw more celebrities (even though the same owners control both hotels). Another way out, of course, is saving a few hundred dollars and staying at Loews Santa Monica Beach Hostelry (a block up from the beach, palm trees inside its five-story atrium) or using Marriott Rewards points at in the vicinity Le Merigot. With the money you save, you can buy one round of drinks at Casa del Mar, another at Shutters and round out the Cimmerian dark with cotton candy on the pier.</p><p> -Sweat, then shop</p><p> Check in at Santa Monica's honoured Fairmont Miramar Hotel &#38; Bungalows, grab a table overlooking the collection and dig into an early dinner at Fig, an in-house bistro that focuses on seasonal dishes. Splurge on the carbohydrates, because you'll be up and out originally the next morning in your workout wear, walking, jogging or pedaling 1.3 miles along Palisades Garden to the public stairways on Adelaide Drive near 4th Street, a.k.a. the Santa Monica Stairs. You'll find the stairs undeniably enough - one set is concrete, one is wood, and they'll be populated by fitness fiends panting, stretching, kvetching and primping, which again annoys the well-heeled neighbors. You'll see the young and beautiful, the old and resolute, and probably a guy with boxing gloves. Once you've retired to the caravanserai and freshened up, head for nearby Montana Avenue, where dozens of high-end boutiques, rite businesses and restaurants are arrayed from 7th to 17th streets. Get breakfast or lunch at Cafe Montana (at 15th Terrace) or Babalu Bakery &#38; Restaurant (at 10th Street). Families won't want to miss Every Painting Tells a Story, the charming children's bookshop and art gallery at 1333 Montana Ave.</p><p> -Art and music, all day and into the shades of night</p><p> Once upon a time, in the 19th century, Santa Monica's Bergamot Station (2525 Michigan Ave.) was a condemn yard. But ever since its revival as a cluster of galleries in 1994, it has been a treasured spot for one-stop art browsing. Along with coincidental painting and sculpture, you'll find a lot of photography, a few artsy shops, a well-shaded patio cafe for lunch or a nosh, and the Santa Monica Museum of Art. There's your afternoon. Then head to McCabe's, a beloved music shop and concert venue at 3101 Pico Blvd. The inform on is more than 50 years old and has served as a clubhouse of sorts for Jackson Browne, Ry Cooder and many other Los Angeles musicians. Red-hot shows, often acoustic and often Americana, happen on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in the guitar showroom, which holds 150 collapse-up chairs and some of the city's most discriminating (yet enthusiastic) audiences. (This summer's bookings included John Doe &#38; Jill Sobule and J.D. Souther in July.) For grub, it's a two-block walk to the trendy Upper West restaurant and bar (3321 Pico Blvd.). Or go three blocks west and try the throwback Googie diner Rae's (2901 Pico Blvd.; get under way until 9 p.m.), which is as old and weathered as Upper West is shiny and new. If the evening gets late, the Travelodge Santa Monica awaits across the passage from McCabe's at 3102 Pico Blvd. It's not fancy, but rates start at less than $150 and parking is unconstrained.</p><p> -The Getty Villa</p><p> The Romans, the Greeks, the Etruscans - they're all here in Pacific Palisades, surrounded by gardens that have matured nicely since the villa's marvy reopening in 2006 after a massive redo. The site is as intimate as the Getty Center in Brentwood is epic - the gardens, galleries and downright-air theater all crowded together in a canyon near the sea just south of Malibu. Do lunch in the cafe (get 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursdays-Mondays). Cool gift shop too, with art books and prints, jewelry, pinhole cameras, attitude pencils (69 cents each), "The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English" ($20 in Penguin paperback), and, reveal it, your secret favorite item, J. Paul Getty's 1965 book, "How to Be Moneyed" ($6.99, paperback).</p><p> -The Malibu quartet</p><p> First, acknowledge that you underestimated the greatness of Malibu. Twenty-seven miles of coastline! But at about 23000 Pacific Coast Highway (about 12 miles from the Santa Monica Wharf), you will find a handy foursome. First, the Malibu Pier, where you might buy bait (really, you could) or have a bite at the Beachcomber Cafe. Next, a few hundred yards farther up the careen, have a look at the Malibu Lagoon and imagine living in the Adamson House, a classic Spanish-stylishness beach home that's now part of the state park system. (There are tours of the interior too, offered 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays; guided tours of the dwelling-place are $7 per adult and $2 for those 6-16.) Jump in the ocean if you like. Then head back to the support and beyond to the Malibu Beach Inn. If you can afford the splurge ($325 a night and up), every one of its 46 rooms has a extreme ocean view. If you can't spend that much, you can still eye the view over a meal in the hotel's Carbon Beach Thrash restaurant. (Just remember, non-hotel guests must reserve in advance.)</p><p> -Cove, sand, cafe. Elementary. Right?</p><p> Out-of-towners, beware. If you ask a local for tips on the best beaches in Malibu, you peril drowning in a sea of beach-bum bombast and legal disputes over what's public and what isn't, where to park, the shape of the waves, the unambiguousness of the water, the rights of wealthy beach-dwellers and who lives in that big, ugly house over there, anyway? Zuma Strand County Park (near 30000 Pacific Coast Highway) is big and sandy. El Matador Nation Beach (32215 Pacific Coast Highway) is smaller, harder to reach, edged by cliffs and caves - and refulgent. The state Coastal Commission and Los Angeles Urban Rangers will tell you much more about dozens of others at www.coastal.ca.gov/access/MalibuGuide2010.pdf. Or you could do the slight thing and head for the trailer park from "The Rockford Files" and "Baywatch." Land of Beulah Cove, a hefty 18 miles up the coast from the Santa Monica Pier, is abode to a busy cafe, tiny pier and one of the state's ritziest mobile-home parks. It's a star on big and inconsiderable screens ("Gidget" and "The O.C." are also among its cre-dits), so if you have come to California with tripper fantasies about the perfect little beach, this could fill the bill.</p><p> Gentle waves, handsome bluffs, good-looking sand, beach toys aplenty, lifeguard at the ready, legions of armchairs lined up below an array of palapas. Many locals scoff, because it can get crowded, and because dogs, surfboards and barbecues are banned. Additionally, the tariff of parking in the pri-vate lot jumps from $3 (for four hours) to $25 if you don't spend at least $20 at the cafe. But if you reservation your lunch well ahead and show up early, and it isn't 100 degrees in the San Fernando Valley that day, you just might have seventh heaven your way.</p><p> IF YOU GO:</p><p> WHERE TO STAY</p><p> Hotel Erwin, 1697 Pacific Ave., Venice; (310) 452-1111 or (800) 786-7789, www.hotelerwin.com. 119 rooms. Doubles $179-$359.</p><p> Hostelling Foreign Santa Monica, 1436 2nd St., Santa Monica; (310) 393-9913, www.hilosangeles.org. 260 beds. Summer rates about $36-$49 a individual in dorms and about $159 for private rooms.</p><p> Casa del Mar, 1910 Ocean Way, Santa Monica; (310) 581-5533, www.hotelcasadelmar.com. 129 rooms. Doubles $565-$850.</p><p> Shutters on the Littoral, 1 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica; (310) 458-0030, www.shuttersonthebeach.com. 198 rooms. Doubles $575-$995.</p><p> Loews Santa Monica Shore Hotel, 1700 Ocean Ave., Santa Monica; (866) 563-9792, www.santamonicaloewshotel.com. 342 rooms. Most doubles $279-$549.</p><p> JW Marriott Santa Monica Le Merigot, 1740 The briny Ave., Santa Monica; (310) 395-9700 or (877) MERIGOT, www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/laxlm. 175 rooms. Doubles normally $389-$429.</p><p> Georgian Hotel, 1415 Ocean Ave., Santa Monica; (310) 395-9945 or (800) 538-8147, www.georgianhotel.com. 84 rooms. Doubles for the most part $229-$342.</p><p> Fairmont Miramar Hotel, 101 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica; (310) 576-7777 or (866) 540-4470, www.fairmont.com/santamonica. 300 rooms. Doubles regularly $279-$429.</p><p> Travelodge Santa Monica, 3102 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica; (310) 450-5766, www.travelodgesantamonica.com. 83 rooms. $130-$160.</p><p> Malibu Bank Inn, 22878 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu; (310) 456-6444, www.malibubeachinn.com. 46 rooms. Doubles $325-$1,025.</p><p> Christopher Reynolds: christopher.reynolds@latimes.com

Source: Kansas City Star

Peach Festival at Dutch Neck Village brings business to new shops

08.08.11

BRIDGETON — Did you get a chance to bite into colourful peach this weekend at Dutch Neck Village?

Last Saturday, the annual Peach Gala day at Dutch Neck Village featured shopping, music, and of course, many variations on the flossy fruit.

Even a 500 point fall in the Dow Jones last week did not keep shoppers from opening up their notecase and pocketbooks and give Dutch Neck Village shops a little service. 

Richard Jackson, possessor of Candle Corner, said he saw a good turnout for his shop filled with ornate wax creations.

“Our pipeline focus is on candles, I’ve got a lot of ornamental candles,” Jackson said, pointing out English tea cups with murk orange and brown clear waxes looking much like pekoe teas.

On the other side of the assemble were cherry and apple tarts and strawberry pastries.

All made of wax, of course.

“I’ve got some really complex molds that make the fruit and pastries look real. I assemble everything in my basement.” Jackson said

Source: The Bridgeton News - NJ.com