Playa del Rey offers beautiful beaches overlooking the Pacific Ocean just a few miles north of Los Angeles International Airport. With downtown Los Angeles 19 miles northeast of here, this community and its neighbors, Westchester and Marina del Rey are desirable places to live and that means bargains in housing are hard to come by. 

The residential community is built along streets that dead-end into a lagoon near the ocean and run on top of towering bluffs that have sand beach and ocean views. There's a bridge which passes over a river channel feeding into the ocean. It provides access to the Venice Beach and Marina del Rey to the north, but driving requires backtracking from the dead-ends and can take 10 to 15 minutes.  The beach ends at a rock jetty and channel for boats entering the Pacific Ocean from the Marina del Rey harbor. 

As lovely as Venice Beach, Playa del Rey seems less expensive to park at and appears to be one of those neighborhood beaches where locals might prefer fewer people knowing about their slightly tucked away treasure. Less visible than Venice Beach which has a pier, concessions, restaurants and skate and bike rentals, the photo above, right, provides a flavor of what this beach is like.  A man dressed in designer slacks lies on the sand, taking a noon time siesta. Children from a local parochial school wander over to the beach for volleyball games and other students sit in a park by the lagoon, enjoying lunch at picnic tables.