skidder

Ditto the above from TrojanHorse. I've ridden it from San Luis Obispo to Orange County on a multi-day trips (multiple times), and separately from Orange County to downtown San Diego on single day rides, and never really experienced and problems with people. I'd just assume every community has their share of harmless oddballs. Venice Beach is just weird, but the only place I was worried about was going through was the Los Angeles/Long Beach harbor area, but if you time your trip so you go through there on a weekend you'll miss the heavy truck traffic coming into/going out of the harbor area. I'd suggest doing it in the fall after all the tourist season is over; the weather will still be nice and the prices of hotels usually drop.