Beachy KeenIf you can say one thing...

Beachy Keen

If you can say one thing about Abbot Kinney Boulevard, it’s that it’s certainly one of a kind. The strip of 1920s beach cottages is home to stores with an idiosyncratic bent. Our favorites include Urbanic Paper Boutique, where you’ll find thick, colorful sheets of writing paper and address books. Check out Tumbleweed & Dandelion, which has rustic benches and peeling shutters for sale, all the better to decorate your country cottage. For midcentury modern, including a low-slung nubby-green couch, try Surfing Cowboys, or for a French twist go across the street to French 50s-60s, where the furniture screams Serge Gainsbourg. For artisan chocolates that have few equals, swing by the peaceful garden at Jin Patisserie. Stop in front of the red phone booth at Brick Lane, which specializes in fashion from the UK and carries labels such as Pringle of Scotland and Orla Kiely. Crazy for vinyl? Equator Books is opening a record shop featuring the collection of former Rolling Stone writer Grover Lewis, including one of 7,500 copies of “The Complete Pacific Jazz Studio Recordings of the Chet Baker Quartet.” Finally, for unusual gifts, visit Just Tantau, which turns old typewriter keys into jewelry.

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ONE THING TO DO

Beer and Sun Go Down Easy

Watch the sun sink into the Pacific from a patio seat at On the Waterfront Cafe. Getting there is half the fun. Park on Windward Avenue and amble down Ocean Front Walk, past muscle men, the self-professed “singing wino,” sidewalk poets, musicians, graffiti artists and street kids holding signs saying “Will Work 4 Marijuana.” The cafe is a ramshackle affair with an open front and wooden benches off to the side for overflow. It specializes in Swiss cuisine and German beers, including creamy, golden Erdinger. Happy hour is a sweet deal: From 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. weeknights the price of a pint plummets from $6 to $3. 205 Ocean Front Walk, (310) 392-0322.

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MY FIND

Groundwork Coffee Co.’s flagship store carries nearly four dozen varieties of organic and sustainably sourced beans. (The outfit roasts about 1 million pounds of beans yearly.) Its Venice blend, with hints of milk chocolate and tart fruit overtones, is $9.95 per pound. 671 Rose Ave., (310) 396-9469.