Create meetup in Los Angeleschevron_right
Select a place on the map to change the location.
I want to meet
Verified required?
explore Los Angeles Guides
bar_chart Trends in Los Angeles
Personal lens question: why LA?
The first thing that got me was the scale, not the glamour. You can drive from the chaos of Koreatown to the silence of the desert in under two hours, and that range of escape is something no other city I've lived in offers. I stay for the canyons, honestly, the smell of sage after a hike in Runyon or Temescal beats any beach day.
I wouldn't leave, but the difficulty is the impermanence. Friends move back east for family, or up to Portland for cheaper rent, and you're constantly rebuilding your social circle. That plus the fact that everything is a 45 minute drive, even the stuff that looks close on a map, wears you down.
For a first timer, skip the Santa Monica Pier chaos and hit the Getty Villa instead, it's quieter and the gardens are unreal. Or do a late night at the Original Farmers Market, grab a pastrami sandwich at Langers, it's a different city after dark.
Moved here from New Orleans about six years ago for a job, figured I'd stay two years tops. What keeps me is the absolute weirdness hiding in plain sight, the city rewards you for knowing where to look. A punk show in a converted warehouse in Lincoln Heights, a Korean spa in Koreatown at 2am, a random jazz set in a Leimert Park backyard. It's not a museum city, it's a dig site.
I won't leave because the creative energy here is unmatched, everyone's working on something and that rubs off on you even when you're not. The hard part is the isolation in a crowd, you can go days without a real conversation if you're not intentional about it. For your trip, skip the Hollywood sign hike and do the Wisdom Tree trail instead, you get the same view with a fraction of the crowd. And grab breakfast at the Original Pantry downtown, it's been open since 1924 and the pancakes are the size of your head.
Ten years here and honestly it's the weather doing a lot of heavy lifting. I know that sounds basic but when it's February and I'm eating lunch outside in a t-shirt, I forget about the rent. The tradeoff is you never really feel settled, everyone's always chasing something and the city does not care about your plans.
I would not leave though, I've tried twice. Both times I came back within a year because everywhere else felt like it had a curfew. The thing people don't warn you about is the quiet, you can be surrounded by millions and still feel like
load 1 more reply
How can I find mobile hot dog vendors for a private event?
honestly the SGV has a ton of licensed cart operators who mostly do private stuff now. look up "hot dog cart catering San Gabriel Valley" on Yelp and you'll get a handful that are fully permitted, which matters if your venue needs a health permit on file. expect around $400 to $700 for a few hours plus a per person minimum, usually 50 or so. the ones based in Alhambra and Rosemead tend to be cheaper than Pasadena because they're not paying that rent.
fwiw the county health dept keeps a public list of permitted mobile food operators, its searchable by city on the LA County Public Health site. filter for "pushcart" or "MFF" and you'll get vendors cleared for SGV zip codes, which saves you the headache of a venue asking for paperwork later. also worth checking with the Old Town Monrovia or Alhambra farmers market folks, the carts there are usually booked solid but they know who's free and they'll pass along names. just dont wait till the last week, good ones book out 2 to 3 weeks in teh summer.
You could try hitting up the folks who set up outside Home Depot or the DMV in El Monte on weekends, a lot of those carts are owner operated and they'll do private gigs if you ask. Just walk up and grab a card, they usually have one taped to the cart.