NEW KDHamptons Travel Diary: Martha McCully's Very Venice Lifestyle!

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More KDHamptons Travel Diaries keep rolling in and I’M LOVING IT! It’s so much fun to see where Hamptonites are venturing to in the off-season! This week I heard from East Hamptonite, Martha McCully, a longtime friend from our days working at Allure magazine together, who spends her winters in Venice, California.

 

Martha is a beauty lover, consultant, and writer~ currently working on a book proposal called “Forget Younger,” which is all about loving your age [I like the sound of that!]. Martha tells KDH, “There are actually a lot of similarities between Venice and East Hampton; I feel so lucky I can see one ocean or another every day of the year.” Enjoy Martha’s KDHamptons Travel Diary below:

 

 

I often start my day by walking to the Venice Beach Pier. If you go before 9 am the pot smokers are not out yet

 

 

Martha shares: In Venice Beach there’s a panic in the winter. The same day Nemo hit the east coast, we experienced what the News calls a “coldstorm.” Not a rainstorm, a snowstorm, or a real blizzard, but a coldstorm [see photo below]. The temperature dropped to 52! The good weather is a cliché when it comes to LA. GQ magazine naming Abbot Kinney in Venice the “coolest block in America” is also a cliché, so is the seedy boardwalk, Muscle Beach, Gold’s Gym, the skateboarders, pot smokers and gangs.

 

 

The good news is that what made Venice so Venice is still here: The proximity to the ocean, God-affirming Palm trees, ubiquity of green juice, farmers’ markets, amazing restaurants like Gjelina, Barnyard, Axe and The Tasting Kitchen, and people wearing sneakers and ski hats who seem to have nothing to do all day except go to these restaurants, drink coffee like it’s water, then switch to wine. I haven’t reached that level of, um, luxury yet. But when I broke up with New York City five years ago, I knew I had to try the opposite kind of environment. A second-rate Manhattan would never cut it. And so, here I am in my fifth winter in Venice, amongst the posers and the yogis, the Show runners and the drifters, and now, the bloggers taking pictures up and down Abbot Kinney. I love it here, and it makes the summer in East Hampton even better.

 

 

The “coldstorm” approaching, as seen from my car. Yes, taken while driving.

 

 

 

My street has these amazing Palm trees, not great in an earthquake I imagine. But I have a photo from 1926 of my neighborhood when these were about 10 feet tall so they’ve survived till now.

 

This gives you an idea of the boardwalk. Some of the best real estate in the country is somehow devoted to renting bikes. So happy East Hampton doesn't have this!

 

 

Venice Beach is way more than the boardwalk, which is touristy and seedy. There really is a lot of sand here, too.

 

 

Dog passenger seat on Abbot Kinney!

 

 

Good morning Pacific!! There's a skateboard park right on the ocean.

 

 

Inside GTA. I don't eat wheat. But I cheat every day.

 

 

The Guanciale pizza at Gjelina is so good. I was so embarrased to take a food photo inside, I didn't realize that Luke Wilson was sitting on the banquette next to me. When we left, Owen Wilson was next door at GTA.

 

 

Liseanne Frankfurt is the jewelry designer of the LFrank Collection and store. If I could, I would buy everything in the store. She is mega-talented.

 

 

My trainer Ky at Studio MDR. This is the hardest workout I’ve ever done, on the Reformer. Every time I go I swear I’m never going back.

 

 

 

 

There’s a Farmers’ Market every day of the week [above & below] someplace close. My favorite is the Wednesday Santa Monica one where all the local chefs shop, and Friday mornings in Venice is pretty good too.

 

Santa Monica Farmers' Market.

 

 

Sampling inside Strange Invisible Perfumes just before Valentine's Day. They have the most amazing natural fragrances like Epic Gardenia and Urban Lily.

 

 

Tortoise is a Japanese store on Abbot Kinney, great for gifts and design.

 

 

The Art Luna Hair Salon is about a mile away in Santa Monica. I am here all the time, I still have not given up a good blow-dry !!

 

 

There is a gorgeous garden in the back of the Art Luna salon, which makes sense since he is also a landscape designer.

 

 

 

My little bungalow is right behind Abbot Kinney. There’s no insulation in any of these cute places, so it actually is really cold in the mornings.

 

 

Ironically I bought these prints in Amagansett. And in East Hampton my house is filled with things from Venice. Go figure!

 

 

I rescued my cat Mia from living unders the cars here two years ago. Her street name was Miso and she was a mess. Now she is a total Princess and travels back to East Hampton with me in the summer.

 

 

On a good day you can see all the way from Venice to Malibu, especially after it rains. Which, by the way, it does a lot of in January and February.

 

 

 

Want to learn more about Martha? Follow her on Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest @marthamccully