Silicon Beach / Venice Beach

Venice and Playa Vista make up Silicon Beach, the Westside region of the Los Angeles metropolitan area that is home to over 500 tech startup companies. Major technology companies have opened offices in the region including Google, Yahoo!, YouTube, BuzzFeed, AOL, EdgeCast Networks, and MySpace. The region is considered the second- or third-largest tech hub in the world, according to various reports. This has had major impacts on the type and availability of office space and on home prices in Santa Monica, Venice, Playa Vista, and Westchester as these areas have become more desirable due to this influx. The effects are also spilling over into Marina del Rey which is attracting tech firms.

Silicon Beach is also home to a number of start-up incubators and accelerators, such as Launchpad LA, Amplify.LA, Science, and StartEngine. Several world-class universities, such as Caltech, University of Southern California (USC), University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), the Claremont Consortium institutions (Pomona College, Scripps College, Claremont McKenna College, Harvey Mudd College, and Pitzer College), several campuses of the California State University (including Long Beach, Los Angeles, Northridge (CSUN), and Fullerton), Pepperdine University, Azusa Pacific University, and Loyola Marymount University are situated within the region. RAND Corporation too is a long-standing member of this intellectual community. In the first six months of 2013, start-ups in Silicon Beach raised over $500 million in funding, and there were 94 new start-ups and nine acquisitions.

Venice Beach, which receives millions of visitors a year, has been labeled as "a cultural hub known for its eccentricities" as well as a "global tourist destination." It’s led many lives, from turn-of-the-century resort, Beat artist colony, hippie paradise and tech hub.  It includes the promenade that runs parallel to the beach (also the "Ocean Front Walk" or just "the boardwalk"), Muscle Beach, the handball courts, the paddle tennis courts, Skate Dancing plaza, the numerous beach volleyball courts, the bike trail and the businesses on Ocean Front Walk. The basketball courts in Venice are renowned across the country for their high level of streetball; numerous professional basketball players developed their games or have been recruited on these courts. Today, it’s one of the hottest “new” residential communities in LA. Venice historian Dr. Arnold Springer called it “one of the most unique, exciting and stubborn communities” in LA.

The Neighborhoods of Venice