Planning my trip to the West Coast (Venice Beach & Malibu related)

[CRAFTY]

As some of you may know, I've been meaning to go to the West Coast for a while now, but I've finally planned a date: summer of 2009.
I've started planning the trip yesterday bit by bit, and came across some things I'd like to know more about:

On DAY 3 of our stay in the LA area, me & my family would go to Venice Beach in the morning & Malbu in the afternoon. My question is:

Venice Beach:
1) is there anything else worth seeing in Venice Beach beside walking along the Ocean Front Walk?
2) how long would it take to walk along the Ocean Front Walk? I've foreseen about 3 hours. Is that too much or too little time?

Malibu:
1) Since my parents want to lay on the beach for an afternoon, I was wondering what the best beaches in Malibu would be for this. I know Malibu is famous for its surfers, but my parents would like to lay on the beach quietly, not being disturbed by tons of surfers who're yelling or what not. Then again, they don't want to isolate themselves. Just something where most tourists or Malibu residents go? Is Zuma Beach a good place to go? There seem to be lots of beaches in Malibu according to http://www.ci.malibu.ca.us/index.cfm?fuseaction=detail&navid=12&cid=432 , I was just wondering what the 'best' beach is in terms of view/quietness/...
2) Is there anything else worth seeing/going to in Malibu apart from the beach?

Also: is it possible to squeeze in a visit to Santa Monica that same day? Or should I drop Malibu and go to Santa Monica if I want to lay on a beach? Apart from the beach, what else is interesting in Santa Monica?

Thanks in advance WCC I'll be having random questions like the ones above frequently from now on, since planning this trip thoroughly will take a while, so you might see threads like these pop up every now & then.

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

1.basically, there's just a bunch of stores, food-stands, and bums selling cool shit on the venice strip.. if you're into basketball, they have some good ballers on the courts.
2.i'd cut that 3 hours shorter (2 hours max), but i get bored easily.


1.zuma beach is one of the best beaches out here...that's the one i would recommend.
2.malibu is mostly about the beaches, so i dunno what else you're looking to do there.


santa monica neighbors venice. you'll probably be able to do both santa monica and venice together in 3 hours...santa monica has a mini amusement park...i'd spend 1.5 hours on venice and 1.5 hours on santa monica.

[.:DaYg0sTyLz:.]

go to Venice and Santa Monica. Fuck Malibu, its not like Baywatch..

[E. J. Rizo]

go to Venice and Santa Monica. Fuck Malibu, its not like Baywatch..

yeah instead of malibu i would hit up Hunnington Beach  down on main street for shoping and eating and laying out on the beach too... they also have a Pier

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

^he said his parents wants to relax and lay down on the beach. Malibu>Hunnington in terms of that.

[Al Bundy]

go to Venice and Santa Monica. Fuck Malibu, its not like Baywatch..

yeah instead of malibu i would hit up Hunnington Beach  down on main street for shoping and eating and laying out on the beach too... they also have a Pier

If you come to my town (Huntington Beach) holla at me. I'll show you why HB > Malibu

[CRAFTY]

^^^^Feel free to explain that to me now already My purpose is to plan this trip in advance...so all the info I get right now, I can use it.
By the way: +1 to all of those who already gave feedback. I really appreciate it. Google helps me a lot with planning this trip, but feedback from you guys, who live in the area, is very helpful.

[Styles1]

Whatever you do, don't go in the water..... especially at Santa Monica.

[CRAFTY]

Whatever you do, don't go in the water..... especially at Santa Monica.

Care to elaborate on that, Styles?

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

Whatever you do, don't go in the water..... especially at Santa Monica.

That's why i recommended Zuma beach...you can actually go into that water, as opposed to most beaches out here.

[.:DaYg0sTyLz:.]

Whatever you do, don't go in the water..... especially at Santa Monica.

try San Diego. Imagine what the water is like when your close to the Tijuana river...

[Styles1]

Whatever you do, don't go in the water..... especially at Santa Monica.

Care to elaborate on that, Styles?

because it's nasty and polluted... I don't touch Ocean waters unless it's Pismo Beach or the Monterey area.

[E. J. Rizo]

^he said his parents wants to relax and lay down on the beach. Malibu>Hunnington in terms of that.

all tho i will agree... i think they will have a better time at HB just because you can relax and laydown... its a huge area... and besides there is alot more to do there than Malibu... and its deffinately a better place to go just to say you been to HB... that is a place where i would want to go to the beach to chill....

i guess i could be bias tho since we are always in HB all summer just chillin and drinking all day and Bon Fire at night... great times.

but a thing you are going to have to consider is transportation..... these places arent exactly close to each other... i hope you guys are planning to rent a car or something to do all this... unless you got family or friends down here to drive you around.

[Styles1]

Kicking back at Redondo Beach is nice too. There's a lot of restaraunts around there. And a nice spot called Chillers that's good for drinking....

[Tha G In Deee]

Kicking back at Redondo Beach is nice too. There's a lot of restaraunts around there. And a nice spot called Chillers that's good for drinking....

^I 2nd Redondo Beach, I was just there a few weeks ago. Dope spot, especially if you want a good place to go eat.