5 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Venice Beach

We all know that Venice Beach is a funky sort of renaissance amusement park along the beach in West Los Angeles. The boardwalk is known for its eclectic street vendors, artists, musicians, muscles and some of the best surf in LA County. But did you know the following about one of our favorite summer spots?

* Venice (formerly Venice America) was founded as a beach resort by tobacco millionaire Abbot Kinney in 1905.

* Venice Beach has been the location of over sixty movie sets, dating back all the way to 1915.

* Over 450 oil wells used to operate in Venice, with the first oil derricks constructed in the 1920s. Oil was pumped in Venice until the 1970s.

* Venice Beach is the second most popular tourist destination in Southern California, only trailing Disneyland. An estimated 150,000 tourists walk the boardwalk every weekend. That's almost 8 million annual weekend tourists alone!

* According to Heal the Bay, Venice Beach has an A+ water quality grade at all four locations where samples are taken.

The beach is closed from 10:30pm to 5:00am. When the boardwalk is open, bring along the entire family as there is sure to be something entertaining for everyone: rent bikes, surf, play volleyball, paddle ball, basketball or simply just stroll around and enjoy the sunshine and the entertaining street vendors.

Please feel free to share your Venice Beach experiences with us and post pictures of your fondest memories.

Take the Pet Pledge and Win a $25 Gift Card!

Are you on Facebook? Well the LA Stormwater Program sure is!

Join our Facebook page and post "I pick up after (enter your dog's name here)" on our wall from now until June 30th and you will be entered into our drawing to win a free $25 Gift Card donated by Modern Dog!

Winner will be announced July 1st.

Find out all the hip pet news in our latest pet email newsletter.

Why Ocean Day Matters

The LA Stormwater Program attended the 17th Annual Kids Ocean Day with thousands of local students to help reduce and prevent coastal pollution in Los Angeles. Listen to a few City staffers, kids and a teacher talk about the importance of the event and why the City was so excited to take part in the day’s clean up event at Dockweiler Beach.

Monthly Events: Start the Summer off Right and Volunteer for a Cleaner LA

The year is half over, have you volunteered yet? Well, if you have, thank you. If you haven’t yet had a chance, let June be your month! For more info on the following events, including time and location, please visit the embedded links or check out our calendar.

>Come out on Saturday, June 5th and help the Echo Park Trash Abatement Project clean up litter along Sunset Blvd. Tree People will also be at it in Topanga Canyon planting trees.

>On Sunday, June 6th join hundreds of residents in celebration of 10 years of Riding the River. The day of family events will support the cleaning up and revitalization of the LA River!

>Tree People will be busy on June 12th in Harbor City and out in Sun Valley planting 1 million trees! Join the effort to make LA a greener, more tree happy place to live.

>If the first part of the month doesn’t work for you, there are plenty of events in the latter part of June that might be a good fit! On June 19th Tree People needs your help cleaning up the beach in Playa Del Rey and planting trees in South LA on the 26th.

>Tree planting isn’t your cup of tea? How about surfing? If so, surfers are uniting on June 20th in Santa Monica to cheer on International Surfing Day. Surfrider will be on hand promoting awareness for the sustainability of our ocean resources. Cowabunga!

>If your weekends are packed, there is also a volunteer event on Thursday, June 24th in Coldwater Canyon. Tree People supporters will be amassing to support Park Work Day by cleaning up a popular park in the area.

Please consider volunteering! A few hours of your time can make a great impact on the city we love.