Barbara's place is right off the beach, we took Lime's (electric scooters) all over Venice and Santa Monica which are ubiquitously located and very affordable compared to Uber; they are super fun and tons of people use them so drivers are used to them in the roads. The beach was amazing, of course- purple sunsets! Surfers! Night life, coffee and restaurants. A stroll through the canals are not to be missed and are only a few blocks from Barbara's place, go at night for a romantic ambiance. :)
Some things we really liked about Barbara's place:
-private easily accessible entrance with secure, electronic lock
-location A+ (entrance is down an alley which made it very quiet for the most part)
-Barbara was very responsive to inquiries but also left us to be tourists
-stocked with all the essentials, including a hair flat iron and french press- what?!
-cubbies to put our stuff/clothes so we didn't have to use our suitcase the whole time
-well organized; small but highly efficient use of space
-lots of information about the surrounding area available in unit