GloboMaestro beta Travel on the Inside

One of the best ways to get to know Santa Monica is on two wheels — whether you want to pedal or you just want to cruise. Earlier this year Pedal or Not opened shop with a fleet of California-made Pedego electric bikes that they use to give small group tours of the area. The bikes have options for all riders: full electric motor power that you can switch on with a twist of the wrist; six gears that allow you to pedal yourself; or the best of both worlds — pedaling with a dash of lithium power to assist.

Electric bikes allow for long, leisurely tours (roughly three hours), starting downtown and heading toward Venice. The groups are kept small (no more than five people) and the tour guides are self-professed storytellers, filling the ride with history about Santa Monica’s landmarks. You’ll stop at the former beach house of black-and-white film star Marion Davies — a 110-room mansion built for her by William Randolph Hearst. You’ll also visit the only church ever to win an Academy Award (as the tour guides like to put it): St. Monica Church, which was featured in Bing Crosby’s film “Going My Way,” based on a pastor at St. Monica. (The film won Best Picture in 1944.)

But if you’d rather see Santa Monica’s highlights the good old-fashioned way — pedaling all the way — there’s Legends Beach Bike Tour, which has been operated for years by Perry’s Café. Perry’s has the largest bike rental fleet in the state, from Schwinn cruisers to tandems, tricycles to choppers. Groups are typically limited to 15, but each rider gets a headset through which they hear the insights of guide Bob Street, a local resident for 27 years, a history buff and all around renaissance man.

The tour kicks off from Blazing Saddles at Santa Monica Pier and heads to the Venice canals, covering similar territory. Along the way you’ll pass the “Ink Well” — a beach where African-Americans primarily hung out from the 20s through the 50s; famous Muscle Beach; even the house where Marilyn Monroe cavorted with JFK. You’ll learn how surfing and skateboarding were popularized here. And once you get to the Venice canals, you can choose to explore this quaint neighborhood on your own or continue on with Bob. Maybe you’ll catch a street performer and spot the next Jim Morrison. The Doors’ frontman lived along the canals during the 60s.

• Beach
• Biking
• Green
• History
• Outdoors
• Romantic
• Sports

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