Moving to Santa Monica next week, suggestions ? - Page 2

If you are into books, design/architecture, the Hennesey Ingalls on Wilshire and 2nd around the promenade is great. http://www.hennesseyingalls.com/

Used CDs and DVDs available at 2nd Spin Records on Wilshire.

Agree with everything mentioned above. Will add that traffic sucks pretty bad, especially on the weekends. If you have a bike, ride it. You'll see quite a few on fixies and cruisers.

Stunning California sunset views at the end of Ocean Park Blvd at the beach And don't ignore the parking signs. Feed the meters. Can't stress this enough. And don't jaywalk. Big fine and they love to ticket. True for all of LA.

Really?

As the song says, nobody walks in LA and I don't either but still this is surprising.

I got a jaywalking ticket in Santa Monica in '06.

Any bear bars?

Bars for Cal students?

I can only think of one gay bar in Santa Monica. It's off PCH and it has a nautical theme. There are a ton of gay bars on Santa Monica Blvd in West Hollywood, but not in Santa Monica.

I'm a member of Spectrum too, so be warned, it is MUCH more expensive than other gyms. Much nicer, too, but still. This could be good or bad, since increased prices means fewer people and less of a wait for equipment during the busy hours. That said I haven't been to the Santa Monica location. All the locations I've been to are VERY nice and way better than any Bally's or 24 Hour Fitness I've been to. Spot on recommendations here. I don't know anything about art supply stuff. The only art thing I know is the Downtown Artwalk which is Downtown(obv) and not very close to Santa Monica.

Lots of galleries on abbott kinney.

Also there you will find 3 square, primitivo, axe, gjelina, tasting kitchen, intelligentsia, urth cafe.

Coras cafe by the viceroy is good as is huckleberry, so is chinois on main.

Father office is a beer bar. Great spot on Montana. Named the best burger in LA but the chef will not make any changes to the burger no matter what you ask for. Really cool local, loud spot with lots of young people.

UGH. as far as art goes, there are still a lot of galleries but not very good ones. the santa monica museum of art still has a solid program though and you can check out the occasionally decent shows at bergamot. i'd skip them and just head to culver city for an art excursion. as far as bars go, my gay friends liked rooster fish but that was a few years ago. not sure what it's like now. probably the same. +1 on whoever said bay cities.

Tons of drawing groups. Look on Meetup.com or go to Otis College and check the board. Also...take a cab or even bus down to Abbott Kinney on the First Friday of the month (hard to park). Its very cool...50 gourmet food trucks lined up on the street, all the stores stay open late with DJs, art shows, sales and tons of people and people watching. http://www.abbotkinney1stfridays.com/

The Santa Monica one is quite a bit smaller than all the others (I usually go to the South Bay location but if traffic on the 405 is bad I hop on the 10 and go to Santa Monica). Main draw is the lack of having to wait for equipment and the towel service. The membership there includes access to the Howard Hughes location too...which is larger and has a pool.

They did just put new 24" HDTVs on many of the cardio equipment which is cool.

If you're working in the water gardens or any of the nearby buildings, the convenience can't be beat really.