Venice Beach, Public beach in Venice, Los Angeles, US.

Venice Beach is a public beach in Venice, a neighborhood of Los Angeles, extending several kilometers along the Pacific coast. A wide boardwalk runs parallel to the sandy shore and hosts numerous vendor stalls, sports facilities, and open spaces for performances.

Abbott Kinney, a businessman, founded the settlement in 1905 as a seaside resort and built artificial canals along with buildings in Venetian style. In the 1930s, the first public weightlifting area appeared on the beach, later known as Muscle Beach.

The name comes from the canals the founder built after the Italian city, though only a few remain today. Street artists display their work directly on the walkway, while skaters perform tricks on dedicated lanes, making the area a meeting place for creative people.

The boardwalk accommodates pedestrians, cyclists, and skaters, with marked zones separating different types of traffic. Rental stations for sports equipment line the path and allow for spontaneous activities on the beach.

The original Muscle Beach was not in Venice but near the Santa Monica Pier, where gymnasts gave public shows from the 1930s. It closed in 1959 after a rape on the grounds, and the athletes moved south to set up the Venice training area used today.