Bike To Venice Beach From Echo Park

Story courtesy of City's Best.

By Katie Bain

For cyclists, Los Angeles is still the wild west. Our city is dominated by cars, and if a cyclist ventures out without a proper route prepared, the chances of ending up frantically peddling down a bus lane with fingers crossed while uttering a Hail Mary are high. That is to say, biking here can be treacherous. Don't let this stop you. It's totally possible to cycle L.A., and with gas prices now at $4.25 a gallon, it's the most financially efficient option as well. Mother nature will also thank you--look, you just did your green thing for Earth Day, which is Friday, btw.

This trip will take about an hour and a half, and is the best route for getting from Echo Park to the beach:

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Start: Echo Park

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Your initial eastside stretch will be the sketchiest portion of the trip, as you take the always busy Sunset Boulevard west. Fret not. You'll only ride into the Sunset for a few minutes before taking a left on Benton Way. Stay on Benton for a mile and cross under the 101 before taking a right at Council Street. Pictured: The corner of East Sunset Boulevard and Echo Park Avenue. Photo via Flickr: IK's World Trip

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Your initial eastside stretch will be the sketchiest portion of the trip, as you take the always busy Sunset Boulevard west. Fret not. You'll only ride into the Sunset for a few minutes before taking a left on Benton Way. Stay on Benton for a mile and cross under the 101 before taking a right at Council Street.

Pictured: The corner of East Sunset Boulevard and Echo Park Avenue.

Photo via Flickr: IK's World Trip

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Comments

[Don Treadwell]

08:25 AM on 04/24/2011

Wow, Echo Park to Venice? Hope you make it alive; that was right around the area that woman was stabbed near the Paramount Studio? Sounds like a great ride.

[dna user]

04:22 AM on 04/24/2011

It seems to me that many people here have fears about Los Angeles, that Los Angeles residents, such as my self, don't share or even understand why. Believe me, if LA is too much for you to handle, than you can't handle much. Considering LA is actually a very safe city for it's size.

Anyways. Thats to much zig-zaging. Take Benton way left, to Hoover av left, Venice Bl Right. It's a long way on Venice Bl, save your energy.

[dna user]

04:33 AM on 04/24/2011

Although, that zig-zaging route it's nice and easy, as far as the pace of traffic. Plenty of space to stop and rest until you get to Venice Bl.

[redando]

02:23 AM on 04/24/2011

Anyone who thinks that the only traffic competition on the beach bike path is from rollerbladers has never been on there. You also have to fight through joggers, clueless pedestrians and idiot parents with kids in strollers. All this BS even though it's marked in six foot letters "Bikes Only."

[hazyafternoonsunshine]

01:13 AM on 04/24/2011

Don't forget your gas mask or oxygen tanks! The air in LA is most foul.

[marshallastor]

12:01 PM on 04/24/2011

Um? Been to LA since the 1970's?

[hazyafternoonsunshine]

03:00 PM on 04/24/2011

Well, yes, Venice actually. I did not leave until '94, and I have returned regularly. Since moving to a place with clean air (Humboldt), I really notice the bad air quality when I return to LA. And you are right, it has improved a great deal since Kaiser Steel closed, but the extreme quantity of vehicular emissions is still unhealthful. Biking in Humboldt is great. Biking in LA? I am sure it is fun, but the air is still sub-standard, unless you are somewhere along the bay and the wind is blowing onshore.

[wchyers63]

12:58 AM on 04/24/2011

In the mid-90's I was visiting a friend in North Hollywood and decided to borrow her bike and head down Ventura blvd. I didn't stop till I got to Woodland Hills (where I had some fairly bad Indian food). I don't know if it was my long hair or the fact I was traveling fast on the sidewalk (didn't trust the drivers!) or that I was simply riding a bike but at one point I looked up and saw a police helicopter hovering above me. It followed me for 6 blocks or so! The occasional pedestrian I spoke to was really friendly too. This did not jibe with what I had been told about LA.

[TheOuroborus]

02:26 PM on 04/23/2011

HA-HA... I thought you meant "being murdered in rough neighborhoods", but you meant "dying from being hit by a car."

[SavvyGirl]

02:12 PM on 04/23/2011

Wear a bullet proof vest in Venice, especially on the weekends with all the poor trash and homeless who flock to the boardwalk.

[abbeyroad]

03:45 PM on 04/23/2011

Venice Beach is a carbon copy of a gas station toilet.

[hazyafternoonsunshine]

01:17 AM on 04/24/2011

Is it still Dogtown? I thought it had been gentrified? I lived in Venice in 1986, and it was Dogtown for sure then. Loved it. I visited in 2009, and it seemed pretty tame and touristy. No more gunfire every night, and crazy new years'. And the homeless helped me carry my groceries to my apartment when I was pregnant. I return, I bought them food. It was a good arrangement.

[CaroleK1970]

02:02 PM on 04/23/2011

LA is the best for bike riding, especially the path on the beach that goes from Malibu to Torrance/Palos Verdes - Viva LA!

[hazyafternoonsunshine]

02:51 PM on 04/24/2011

Yeah, that is a great path, and the air and scenery are great too!

[DanSc]

01:25 PM on 04/23/2011

Step one: gentrify Echo Park.

[Michael Ludin]

11:44 AM on 04/23/2011

The first thing to do to prevent yourself from dying, is wear a helmet!

[dna user]

04:03 AM on 04/24/2011

Yes. I've been an EMT in LA, I concur and fav your recommendation. Believe me, as an LA resident and bike raider, road accidents are a much greater danger than gangs or anything else people imagine happens here.

[marshallastor]

12:03 PM on 04/24/2011

Riding crosstown, I see so many people sans helmet that I'm tempted to start buying cheap ones and giving them out as I ride.

[JScott]

09:52 AM on 04/23/2011

Jeez seems to me from the comments everyone watches Fox News and they are always scared, fine don't ride a bike stay home and keep watching Fox News---it's not safe to go anywhere.

[RT916]

03:59 AM on 04/23/2011

If you think it's scary for a white person to ride their bike along the outskirts of south central, you should try being a black person riding a bike through Orange County.

[Estevan Benson]

10:00 AM on 04/23/2011

I'm black and I'm scared of south central and orange county.

[TheOuroborus]

02:28 PM on 04/23/2011

Any neighborhood with extreme poverty and clinical depression is dangerous. There are places in Cracker America way more dangerous to outsiders than any hood in LA.

[RT916]

03:56 AM on 04/23/2011

Isn't the whole reason hipsters moved to rough parts of LA is to take life risking bike rides and brag about it on their facebook updates?

[jess D]

03:51 AM on 04/23/2011

Believe it or not, I am a young white girl that uses this route frequently, and I've always found it the safest way to go between Echo Park and Venice. I've never been shot, or approached by gangs...the most dangerous part of riding through LA is the horrible drivers. I definitely recommend 4th street as the best east-west route, and it's really nice while riding through Hancock Park. I take that all the way to Cochran and take that straight south to Venice...less turns.

[onlyahumanshell]

10:48 PM on 04/23/2011

Yeah, Hancock Park is nice, but I am not a young White girl, so I get a different feel when I ride my bike starting on 4th and Vermont all the way through to LA near Fairfax and then on to Venice Beach. The drivers are another problem, so it is best to hit this route during non-rush hours.

[HBHB]

02:16 AM on 04/23/2011

A teenager was shot and kiIIed by a gang on the corner of Benton and Council in February. Great directions!

[JScott]

09:49 AM on 04/23/2011

right near where the ex police station is

[Puzzles]

12:44 PM on 04/23/2011

Several teenagers were shot at Columbine and any number of other safe white places. What is your point?

[marshallastor]

12:07 PM on 04/24/2011

His point is that he can make poor arguments based on anecdotes and presumptions about misplaced causality.