Los Angeles would hardly be Los Angeles without Malibu. Among
its famous beaches are the Surfrider Beach, Zuma Beach, Malibu State
Beach and Topanga State Beach. Pepperdine University is a campus is
not only prestigious, but beautiful and the Malibu Film Festival is
often attended by celebrities.
Santa
Monica is a little east of Malibu. The city was designed to be
a retreat, and still is today. Keep an eye out for public art and
check out artsy Bergamot Station. Shoppers should explore Third
Street Promenade and the Santa Monica Pier and Beach are must-walks.
Venice
Beach, just south of Santa Monica, indeed has canals, and
Venice Beach is a great place to people watch. Shoppers with a taste
for the avant garde should give the Abbot Kinney District a visit.
Marina
del Rey is along the largest constructed small yacht harbor in
the world. Ballona Freshwater Marsh, and the stylish Venice Pier are
all a part of this seaside community, south of Venice, four miles
south of LAX. Beach bums with kids should check out the very safe
Marina Beach.
Manhattan
Beach, first of California’s three Beach Cities,
is five miles south of LAX and home to the AVP Beach Volleyball
Championship. However, the next city south is Hermosa
Beach, which is the Beach Volleyball Capital of the
World. Last is Redondo
Beach, which, like its cousins, is all beach volleyball and
surfing.
Torrance is a
little inland from Redondo Beach. Torrance Beach is large and busy,
but very clean. Madrona Marsh is a draw for nature lovers. Rancho
Palos Verdes is a far-southern suburb of Los Angeles set along
the grand bluffs of Palo Verdes Peninsula. The Point Vicente
Lighthouse is an unmissable landmark. Long Beach is the
easternmost portion of coastal Los Angeles,
bordering Orange County. The fascinating art deco style ocean liner,
the RMS Queen
Mary, acts as one of Long Beach’s museums. Parks such as El Dorado
Regional Park and the Long Beach Greenbelt keep this a very green
city. Off shore, south-southwest of Los Angeles, is Catalina
Island, a rocky island with plants and animals found nowhere else
(among them the Catalina manzanita and the Santa Catalina Island Deer
Mouse). Two Harbors and Avalon are the two communities on the island,
but most people come to hike or bike the island or scuba dive its
reefs.
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