Free, family-friendly educational programs in Venice Beach.

Our programs are designed to inspire joy and wonderment of our ocean and its shoreline. They’re family-friendly, fun and free. We look forward to exploring with you!

Our weekly pop-up Marine Science exhibit draws thousands of locals and visitors.

Our oceanographic display includes rare specimens, shark jaws, and historical artifacts. Be a Citizen Scientist and help us gather gather ocean data from our water testing kits. Observe grains of sand and seawater samples under our microscopes. Read ocean-inspired poetry, draw, and learn about the sea life just beneath the pier. We have new enlightening programs every week.

The pier juts 1000 feet out over the open sea, with saltwater breezes and spectacular coastline views! Besides our marine specimens, you’ll see migratory birds perched on the pilings, dolphins, interesting catches reeled in and local surfer species. 😉

Explore the hidden-in-plain-sight treasure trove on Venice Beach.

Uncover and identify the bounty washed ashore by the sea. A fun and informative guided Beachcombing Field Trip explores the wondrous sea life beneath and surrounding the Historic Venice Fishing Pier.

Meet at the entrance to the pier, in the parking lot at the end of Washington Blvd. This is FREE event for the whole family. No registration necessary - just show up and join the fun!

This lecture-series fundraiser is an intimate gathering limited to 25 people in a lovely garden setting in Venice.

No. It’s not an urban legend or a submarine race!

The event depends on tides and the times that are most convenient for families to gather on the beach at night. Join our email list to be notified of all the details.

This unique phenomenon only happens along the coast of Southern California and Baja, Mexico. In Spring and Summer for a few nights during the full and new moons, hundreds of shimmering fish come ashore to spawn. To be clear, they don’t actually run - more like slither, but it is thrilling all the same.

Our local beach has an abundant grunion population. Venice Oceanarium hosts a fun, interpretive party during grunion season, drawing thousands of curious late-night beach goers. Our founder, Tim Rudnick, is a self-described grunion geek. Check out a video he made during COVID-19, keeping our Grunion Party tradition going.

NOTE: Grunion are protected and require a fishing license to catch. There are also NO HUNTING seasons.

Grunion photo thanks to YoVenice!

Moby-Dick Reading on Venice Beach
November 23 & 24, 2024

Every year since 1995, the Venice Oceanarium has set up camp on the beach at the Venice Breakwater for our weekend-long, marathon reading of Herman Melvilles’s, Moby- Dick. Students, literati, celebrities and beach bums alike take turns reading passages from the novel. Join Captain Ahab and the crew of the Pequod on their voyage to hunt the White Whale. Witness the obsessive drive to conquer “the ungraspable phantom of life.”

It’s an awesome Venice tradition. Always at the end of November to acknowledge the start of the California Gray Whale migration. It’s FREE and family friendly! Drop by for a few chapters or stay a while. 

“The experience is transformative.” says Venice Oceanarium founder, Tim Rudnick. “Retelling this amazing tale on the sand, with waves crashing nearby and salty sea breezes is multi-sensory performance art.” 

In 2020, due to COVID-19, we took the reading virtual. Readers from all over the world read chapters: children, students, bookworms, thespians and some celebrity readers too! Be sure to check out readings by John Lithgow, Nate Corddry and Eric Lange!

Join us in-person on the beach or virtually through your device. Sign-ups begin the first week of November. Check back or sign up to be notified.

Check out the virtual reading on YouTube.

The tidepools at the Venice Beach Breakwater are teeming with wildlife (to be enjoyed with your eyes only).

Thousands of people swim, surf, frolic and jog by this large pile of rocks just at the end of Windward. There are dozens of rare and beautiful sea creatures living in the nooks and crannies of the breakwater which reveal themselves during low tide.

We’re thrilled to lead safe, informative guided tours of the stunning flora and fauna. Sea stars, crabs, Please note: The rocks are very slippery and sharp and the crashing waves are deceivingly fierce. If you explore on your own, please use extreme caution and children should always be supervised.

Watch this video to enjoy this little peek at what you’ll discover on our tours.

Tidepool Talks are held at low tide. Check back for more details or join our email list to be notified of our tours.

Just a few blocks from the beach is a spectacular and complex wetlands habitat.

Experience one of L.A.’s hidden treasures on our guided informative and fun exploration. Surrounded by dense residential neighborhoods and a bustling business district, is an ancient lagoon marshland.

This vital ecosystem hosts many wildlife species, including migratory birds, endemic marine life and native plant species. The Indigenous Tongva peoples lived off the abundance of these lands for centuries. 

Thanks to the tireless efforts of many individuals and our colleagues at Friends of The Ballona Wetlands this precious ecological resource was preserved from further destruction by encroaching development. We can’t wait to share our appreciation of this all-too-rare environment.

Check back for more details or join our email list to be notified of our tours.

The Venice Oceanarium has been nourishing the minds of local kids since 1992.

We bring our Museum Without Walls concept to schools, youth recreation centers, day camps and afterschool programs.

One of most popular is a field outing to the beach. Our “Magic Bucket” activity is a fun, hands-on learning opportunity. Kids become amateur naturalists gathering once living treasure that the sea offers them; shells, feathers, bits and pieces from native crustaceans, kelp and whatever other loot they scavenge. Our team helps them identify their finds and they're all placed in a big bucket. By the end, the bucket is filled to the brim with cool marine life and the kids are brimming with new knowledge.

Their joy and wonderment is what keeps us inspired to continue our work. Contact us to book our Museum Without Walls.