MARINA DEL REY
LA’S nautical playground shines on land and sea
TUCKED BETWEEN hectic LAX to the south and bustling Venice to the north, Marina del Rey is an oasis of calm that has spent much of 2018 enhancing its waterfront pleasures.
This unincorporated patch of Los Angeles County boasts the nation’s largest small-craft harbor (eight basins, nearly 5,000 boat slips), offering a wide variety of fishing trips, harbor tours, dining cruises, yacht charters, kayaking and stand-up paddling. Mesmerizing harbor views from most of its restaurants, which offer year-round outdoor dining, make it a prime attraction even for landlubbers.
While popular ocean beaches are found nearby in Venice and Santa Monica, Marina del Rey’s small and rarely crowded Marina Beach (a.k.a. Mother’s Beach) in the harbor is a big draw. Families especially appreciate the flat water, water sports and playground. Beach Eats, a summer congregation of food trucks, inaugurated a concert series in 2018, while the returning Artsea festival in May brings two days of art and music.
Family-friendly Entertainment
Views of passing watercraft grace the walking path and picnic tables at Burton Chace Park, where summer brings free concerts and movies as well as the popular Fourth of July fireworks. Come December, free entertainment includes the Holiday Boat Parade and a family-friendly New Year’s Eve bash with fireworks.
Just over 50 years ago, Marina del Rey was an estuary frequented only by local duck hunters and fishermen. First envisioned in 1887, the harbor finally became reality in 1965, though some wetlands remain in the adjacent Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve.
Just next door, Venice offers an array of unique shops and restaurants on popular Abbot Kinney Boulevard. Visitors can also glimpse LA’S quirkier side at world-famous Venice Beach, where weight-lifters, artists and would-be rock stars hold forth and eccentric characters bike and rollerblade the boardwalk every day.