Stay …
As soon as you walk through the doors of The Rose Hotel on Venice Beach, you know you’re exactly where you need to be: near the ocean in a place that feels like a home away from home. It is the kind of place that will have you mentally planning your move to the West Coast, and reaffirming with renewed vigour your lifelong promise to one day become a bonafide surf rat, thanks to the surfboards available for free loan from the hotel. With bones dating back to 1908, the building is an important part of Venice’s history and has lived many lives (flophouse, gang headquarters, and motel). Its current incarnation is the handiwork of fashion photographers and longtime friends Glen Luchford and Doug Bruce. Together, they have curated an experience that is laid back and effortlessly cool, with the look and feel of a refined surf shack that perfectly incorporates the hues of the beach—natural woods, beiges, greens, and blues. “We never set out to create the perfect hotel,” the duo notes on the site’s homepage. “But it’s not like any other hotel. And we like it just like it is.”

Taste …
After you’ve enjoyed a croissant or two at the hotel, stroll up the street to Rose Café, a Venice staple known for its unfussy Southern Californian food served with a smile. The Gold’s Standard breakfast is a must but you can’t go wrong no matter what you order. Another must is Gjusta, the low-key sister restaurant to “Los Angeles’s most talked-about restaurant,” Gjelina. If there is one restaurant you visit whilst in Venice, make it this one. Go for dinner with a few friends so you can eat family-style, sampling as many dishes as your stomach will allow. Take a bottle of wine (it is BYO).

Take …
Pack light: sunscreen, sunglasses, a swimsuit, wide-brimmed hat, relaxed throw-overs, and a good book. You won’t need to pack a beach towel as the hotel has that covered.

See …
You can’t go to Venice without taking a stroll along the boardwalk. The people-watching there is unmatched—from skater kids and bronzed rollerbladers (the 90s is alive and well in Venice) to foreign tourists and artsy characters selling their creations from hole-in-the-wall shops.