“Why LA?” is a question we’ve fielded a lot of late: when Jason first moved here from London, when Annabel joined him a few years later, when we decided that this is where we wanted to get married.
LA’s detractors typically lean on lazy stereotypes that betray their ignorance and mistake the city’s features for bugs. Take its sprawl, for one. Yes, it can take 90 minutes to inch 15 miles across town during rush hour. But the city’s great expanse is what makes it an affordable place for real artists and musicians to live, which in turn makes its cultural scene so rich and diverse. And, unlike in more connected cities, people in LA are rarely looking over your shoulder for a better plan on a night out—whether one exists or not, you’re not getting there! As transplants from London and San Francisco—two cities dominated by finance and tech monocultures, respectively—LA’s often strange and sometimes shallow hodge-podge makes for unexpected social connections, and experiences that are surprising, challenging, and new.
For an excellent championing of LA’s weirdness and walkability, we encourage you to read Janan Ganesh’s piece LA: The Great Walking City.
This guide contains just a few of our favorite places. In true LA form, more than a couple are in strip malls and parking lots.If you want tips on hikes, thrifting, or something more niche, text us!
Whatever you do, make sure to go outside at golden hour—the light’s like nowhere else in the world.