Playa Del Rey, Los Angeles, CA

Playa Del Rey is the Los Angeles beach neighborhood between Ballona Creek and LAX, where sand dunes, a lagoon and a short village strip on Culver Boulevard set it apart from the busier coast to the north. Marina del Rey sits across the creek, and Westchester rises on the bluffs to the east. Homes in Playa Del Rey climb the dunes, with ocean-view houses on the bluff streets well above the beach. South of the bluffs lies Surfridge, a fenced-off grid of empty streets whose homes were cleared for LAX, now a habitat for the endangered El Segundo blue butterfly. Del Rey Lagoon is a park with a saltwater pond and lawns a few steps from the beach. The Ballona Creek Bike Path ends at the jetty and links to the Marvin Braude Bike Trail along the sand, and the Ballona Wetlands spread out to the northeast. Dockweiler State Beach runs south along Vista del Mar. Culver Boulevard's short strip covers most of the food. Tanner's Coffee across the street is the default coffee shop, and Prince O'Whales is the neighborhood dive. Groceries mean a drive to Westchester or Marina del Rey, since the neighborhood has few stores of its own. Commutes run up Culver Boulevard or along Vista del Mar and Jefferson. Planes from LAX pass overhead, and jet noise is part of daily life on the southern streets. The lagoon, the creek mouth and the sand all sit within a short walk of Culver Boulevard, so a coffee run can end with feet in the sand.