I grew up in Venice Beach, California. I love the beach; it is one of my favorite places to be. The boardwalk always was packed with people leisurely strolling along, looking at the cheesy souvenir shops, the tattoo and piercing parlors, and the snack shops filled with all sorts of deep-fried delights. When I was younger, when we'd go to the beach, my cousins and I would run straight into the ocean and stay in there playing for a long time. And it's no surprise that we hung out there for as long as we did, because I remember that the water felt really clean and looked really blue.