Venice is a district on the Westside of Los Angeles, California, United States. It is known for its canals, beaches and circus-like Ocean Front Walk, that features performers, fortune-tellers and vendors. Throughout the summer months, the boardwalk is actively entertaining, and this tradition continues on weekends in the winter. It is an important tourist attraction in Southern California, and has retained its popularity in part because it is an attractive location for walking and bicycling. It was home to some of Los Angeles' early beat poets and artists and has served as important cultural center of the city.

Venice is bordered by the Pacific Ocean on the southwest, by the unincorporated Marina Del Rey on the southeast, by Culver City on the east, by the Los Angeles neighborhood of Mar Vista on the northeast, and by the city of Santa Monica on the north. Venice is today one of the most vibrant and eclectic areas of Southern California and it continues a tradition of liberal social change involving prominent Westsiders. The Venice Family Clinic is the largest free clinic in the country.

Many of Venice's houses have their principal entries from pedestrian-only streets, and have house numbers on these footpaths. (Automobile access is by alleys in the rear). However, like much of Los Angeles, Venice is also well-known for traffic congestion. It lies 2 miles away from the nearest freeway, and its unusually dense network of narrow streets was not planned for the demands of modern traffic. Mindful of the tourist nature of much of the district's vehicle traffic, though, its residents have successfully fought numerous attempts to extend the Marina Freeway (SR 90) into southern Venice.

The Venice Beach Recreation Center is in Venice. The center includes unlighted outdoor basketball courts, a children's play area, unlighted handball courts, unlighted tennis courts, and unlighted volleyball courts. The Westminster Off-Leash Dog Park is in Venice. The Oakwood Recreation Center is in Venice. The center, which also acts as a Los Angeles Police Department stop-in center, includes an auditorium, an unlighted baseball diamond, lighted indoor basketball courts, unlighted outdoor basketball courts, a children's play area, a community room, a lighted American football field, an indoor gymnasium without weights, picnic tables, and an unlighted soccer (football) field.

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