CURRENT MISSION

Happiness only real when shared.

ABOUT ME

Kristi and I live together on Venice Beach. We are steps from the boardwalk, bike path, surfing, volleyball, Santa Monica Pier, 3rd Street Promenade, Muscle Beach, the new Venice Skatepark, fashionable Abbot Kinney, countless yummy restaurants and the Main Street Bars...all without needing a car! It's true that LA has smog and traffic and plastic surgery...but Venice and Santa Monica feel quite different from the rest of the city. Most days are sunny and the beach/boardwalk is always a lively and entertaining place to relax (or not) in Southern California without spending your precious traveling dollars.

NOTE: We receive many awesome couch surfing requests and appreciate every single one. Unfortunately our place is not that big and we also need some time to ourselves. Usually we host people on the weekends (with maybe an extra Monday/Friday). Usually the request is a week or 2 in advance. Usually the requester is interested in something about us and not just a bed. Of course there are exceptions, but that is the trend. Happy surfing!

Interests

We like to stay pretty active with stuff like Kite-Surfing, Snow-boarding, Scuba-diving, Rock Climbing, Mountain Biking, Backpacking, Camping, Beach Volleyball, Paragliding and most other ways to get the adrenaline pumping. Conversely, we love to tinker with computers and audio-visual technology to find new ways of being creative. We also love finding strange loud music to make us dance till dawn. And of course, TRAVEL!

• arts
• culture
• architecture
• fashion
• modern art
• burningman
• dancing
• dining
• wine
• wine tasting
• clubbing
• shopping
• technology
• movies
• traveling
• billiards
• music
• blues
• cycling
• hiking
• backpacking
• camping
• surfing
• scuba diving
• snowboarding
• sports
• rock climbing
• volleyball
• paragliding
• beaches
• parks
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

We love delicious music like:
Aphex Twin, Radiohead, Sigur Ros, Jonsi, Telefon Tel Aviv, Bjork, The Books, Portishead, Broken Social Scene, Air, Basement Jaxx, Justice, Daft Punk, Passion Pit, Phoenix, Billie Holiday, Boards of Canada, Blonde Redhead, Modeselektor, Kraftwerk, Philip Glass, Burial, DeerHoof, DJ Shadow, Elliot Smith, Frou Frou, Flaming Lips, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, The Glitch Mob, Grizzly Bear, Goldfrapp, Hans Zimmer, Gogol Bordello, Hot Chip, Imogen Heap, Danny Elfman, Thomas Newman, James Horner, Ravel, Jack Johnson, Jimi Hendrix, Jose Gonzalez, Bonn Iver, Manu Chao, M. Ward, M.I.A, m83, Massive Attack, MGMT, Mike Snow, Mum, Nina Samone, The Notwist, Pantera, Korn, Deftones, Norah Jones, Outkast, A Perfect Circle, Tool, Postal Service, Ratatat, Rage Against the Machine, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Sufjan Stevans, Team Sleep, Thom Yorke, Tosco Tango Orchestra, Tricky

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Living in Southern California gives us easy access to so many amazing things. Here are just a few that make this place so cool:

Backpacking in Yosemite, Snowboarding in Lake Tahoe or Mammoth Mountain, Driving the coast on the PCH, Hiking sand dunes in Death Valley, visiting ghost towns in the desert, BURNINGMAN!!, wine tasting in world class vineyards and getting lost among the giant sequoias in the Big Basin or Redwood national parks. If your timing is right, maybe you can join us on one of these adventures!

Teach, Learn, Share

LA is a great place to live, but can be a hard place to visit. Here are some tips on how you can increase your chances of enjoying your time in LA:

1) Tourist Stuff - Hollywood and Highland is the location of the walk of fame and the hollywood sign. These are amusing for a minute but are generally disappointing (especially considering the traffic required to get there). If you definitely want to see this stuff, I suggest also seeing a movie at the Chinese Mann's theatre or Disney's El Capitan theatre (even if it is overpriced and not your favorite movie). The experience of sitting in a world famous theatre is kinda cool. Universal Studios although a bit expensive and cheesy, can give you a slightly better glimpse into the movie making sets of famous movies from the past.

2) Beaches - I strongly reccomend spending some solid time at the beach. Santa Monica and Venice feel quite different from the concrete hustle of greater Los Angeles. I suggest renting a bike in Venice and pedaling the supremely easy-to-ride bike trail from South Venice through Santa Monica past the pier and up to the Pacific Palisades. This could take you about 3 hours roundtrip with a yummy food stop at On The Waterfront for a giant pretzel or some frozen yogurt at Pinkberry. You could also rent a surf board in Santa Monica and get a lesson from a local. They will show you the basics and keep you out of trouble.

3) Night life - do your homework and find out what is on in LA the nights you are here. Check the Hollywood Bowl, Avalon, Edison, Echoplex, The Standard (rooftop pool!), Viper Room, Troubadour, Spaceland, Greek Theatre, Wilturn Theatre, House of Blues, Key Club, etc. Obviously Thursday, Friday and Saturdays will have the rowdiest fun.

4) Shopping - 3rd street promenade in Santa Monica has all the standards brands but is a pleasant atmosphere with surprisingly good street performers. Melrose Ave. has lots of funky independent trendy shops to grab some Socal fashion. Rodeo drive in Beverly Hills will make you vomit at the price of a handbag but could leave a lasting impression on your sense of materialism.

5) Culture - LA has a surprisingly cool array of museums. The MOCA is usually featuring a cutting edge modern artist. The LACMA is an enormous 3 story building dedicated entirely to modern art. Some pretty interesting and bizarre stuff in there. The Getty has some world famous art inside and is located on a stunning cliffside and boasts some beautiful architecture and gardens. Griffith Observatory has humungous telescope (reservations required) and 1 of LA's biggest parks.

6) Sports - see if you can catch a Lakers, Dodgers or Kings game. Sometimes college teams like UCLA and USC can be even more fun.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Belize, Canada, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Guatemala, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Poland, Puerto Rico, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, Virgin Islands, U.S.

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States

•