A Man, A Plan, A Canal...Venice!

I've always had sort of a love/hate relationship with Venice, my neighbor to the southwest. On the one hand, my wife works there and loves the neighborhood. I have several good friends who live there. The whole canal thing is pretty cool, it's got some interesting history to it, and it's, of course, by the beach. These are good things, right?

On the other hand, it's filled with people who live in Venice.

OK, hold on, there. I'm not saying that all people who live in Venice are subject to my scathing derision. I'm not even saying that most people who live there are. It's just that I think we can all agree that there's a certain...I don't know, vibe to the place. I've heard many terms that seem applicable: "bourgeois bohemians." "Trustafarians."Privileged jerks who don't deserve to live that close to the beach and smell the salty sea air." And so on.

Whatever. I'm no class warrior, and as long as I don't have to sport a pair of hemp capris as I ride my beach cruiser or longboard to the next Happy Hour, I'm cool. Venice has some good places to go out, it's walkable, and the proprietors of its many establishments seem to vie healthily for my business.

To wit, we rolled into the Canal Club with an unusally strong contingent of HappyHourLA-ers, so I felt like I got a pretty good line on this place. Roomy yet confortably packed, with a wide array of specials to choose from (sushi AND burgers), I felt like this was place I could get behind. Sure, there were some indiosyncratic touches that made me scratch my non-Do-Ragged head a couple of times, but in all, not a bad place to waste the gloaming hours on a Friday night.

The Vitals: Canal Club has a pretty extensive menu for your Happy Hour perusal and enjoyment, both food- and libation-wise. There's a healthy array of drink specials for $5 (giant beers and ginger martinis -- yes, it's better than it sounds -- topped our personal lists) and the food is well-priced, if not necessarily apt to win any Michelin stars. The sushi was average and the fries had sort of a Velveeta/chipotle thing going on, but the slider (note: slider is singular) was a tasty burger. Service was also pretty decent, and the drinks were, if not spectacular, solidly made and not watered down, as so many Happy Hour drinks can often be.

And of course, there was ample beach cruiser and longboard parking. Put on your best flip-flops and roll on down.