socal78
Well-known member
A word of advice for the people considering Venice Beach or Santa Monica Pier area and Santa Barbara, too. Please be very careful. There have been warnings put out about interacting with the homeless population. We were staying at a nice hotel near the waterfront in Santa Monica close to the pier. We were advised to stay on lit paths near the hotel. We did that and we STILL got accosted by very aggressive homeless people. One man in particular was demanding money and refusing to let us go by physically blocking my husband's way on the sidewalk and forcefully shoving a money container into his stomach after we already said we no and that we had to go. And this was in front of our children while we were just walking back to our hotel after dinner. It was very scary. It looked like he was about to draw a knife when luckily another group of tourists walked up to us. We also had a problem with one acting completely inappropriately with my little boy on the waterfront shuttle in Santa Barbara. (Some of them spend all day riding the shuttle.) Just be aware that both of these are like Mecca for the homeless. Very, very homeless-friendly cities. There's a big concentration of them near the pier and on the beach. Be very careful. There are fun things to do in the area, just got to know which areas to avoid and when.
