Downtown Culver City is basically wall-to-wall restaurants, so you can’t really go wrong. We end up doing brunch at Esme or Culver & Main. One of the best dinners we’ve ever had was at Bacari. Emma also once casually spotted Sir Ian McKellen at Grand Casino Bakery & Cafe, which immediately elevated the place to "legendary" status. For those rare creatures who enjoy exercising on vacation, Emma can bring guests to Mighty Pilates and there’s a wonderful yoga studio tucked beside The Museum of Jurassic Technology. And if you’re feeling sentimental, you can even recreate our first date: Nick took Emma to Public School 310 for breakfast (followed by a full day at the Natural History Museum). It clearly worked out.
This is a cabinet of curiosities and an absolute must if your first name is Daniel and/or your last name is Kearney. Recommended for eccentrics who like places where the line between real and imaginary are intentionally vague. Emma's fav is the meta staircase and Nick's fav is the astronomy room of unhinged theories. They also serve free tea and crumpets from their rooftop bird sanctuary, and it's arguably one of the coolest hidden gems in LA. Pro tip: Get tickets in advance.
If you’d rather keep things simple and enjoy a mellow neighborhood stroll, head down Washington to this little alcove of restaurants and boutiques is reliably delightful. Our go-tos are Boba Guys, Loqui, and Roberta’s Pizza—you really can’t go wrong with anything in there.
Father’s Office A craft beer selection so solid you’ll become “that beer person” and their burger routinely cracks LA’s top lists. Pasta Sisters A staple in our Uber Eats rotation—order the homemade tortellini. It looks small, but somehow becomes two meals. Magic, maybe.
Missed leg day? Or maybe you just want a solid neighborhood hike without signing up for a full-blown expedition. Whatever your motivation, this spot delivers. There are trails for every ambition—from the bunny hill to a full black diamond of personal overestimation. Some people even pack a picnic to watch the sunset from the scenic overlook, which is extremely wholesome of them.
At this point you'll need transportation to get to these other places. There are the usual pub trans suspects (the Metro E train, the Culver Bus, Uber/Lyft) but why not go in style? It would be irresponsible of us not to recommend it. So what is Waymo? Thanks for asking, we'd love to tell you. Waymo is like any ridesharing service except it's a driverless car, with spinning cameras on all sides. You’ll see them everywhere—about as common as Teslas, and this is California, so that’s saying something. Consider it a rite of passage. At least try it once so you can casually drop into conversation later that, yes, you did in fact travel by autonomous spaceship-car.
There are so many farmers' markets in LA, it's practically a sport. We like to go to this one on Sundays in the neighborhood of Mar Vista, which is just east of Venice. Great for people watching with a ton of awesome and affordable food vendors. We recommend Bun Wong or The Tamale Fiesta (by the kids art tent). Nearby Recs: Lil Fatty and Fatty Mart (one’s a restaurant, the other a market) Run by the same genius chef, we eat from these Taiwanese soul-food spots all the time—seriously, nothing on the menu is bad.
This is our old stomping ground. Nick grew up just down the street from the three-story walkup Emma lived in when she first moved to LA, so this area is basically our shared nostalgia headquarters. You can hang out on the beach, stroll down the boardwalk (Emma saw Brad Pitt on his bike), catch a proper California sunset, or grab a bite at some of Emma’s favs—Fig Tree and Great White. Venice Canals and shopping, food or nightlife are mere steps away. On Abbot Kinney Avenue, Vogue called this the coolest street in America Tucked away is Nick’s childhood go-to, Abbot Pizza. Rose Ave is a bit further down but also features a great mix of funky restaurants. Notable mentions are Flake (affordable breakfast), Gjusta (Emma saw Tom Hanks here) or Café Gratitude, which is peak California hippie in the most endearing way possible.
If you want to feel like a true local, this unassuming Santa Monica spot is Nick’s favorite restaurant. He’s been coming here forever, and it was also the hangout of choice for the OG skateboarding pioneers in Lords of Dogtown back in the '70s. Order the crispy chicken tacos, rice and beans, carnitas tacos, diablo salsa, or honestly any breakfast—nothing here disappoints.
No trip to LA is complete without tipping your hat to the film industry. This relatively new museum has epic exhibitions—Emma and her mom saw the Studio Ghibli one and it was unforgettable. If you can, catch a screening here—you never know who might pop in. Tim Curry once showed up unannounced for Rocky Horror, just to keep things interesting. Pro tip: Get tickets weeks in advance. See also: Cinespia (in Hollywood) The Secret Movie Club (in DTLA)
It’s not a big deal or anything, but the opening weekend of the long-awaited George Lucas museum happens to be the time you're all here. I’m not sure when tickets will be released, but once they are, they’ll almost certainly sell out immediately.
We love hiking in the mountains. It’s free, there are thousands of trails to choose from, and yes, you should definitely get the AllTrails app and download your maps beforehand. Most areas have terrible reception, and getting lost in the middle of nowhere would definitely not be the party we had in mind. The higher the altitude, the more plant life you'll see—just be sure to watch out for snakes! Eagle Rock Trail in Topanga Canyon is one of our favs. It boast a scenic drive up the coast and the canyon and the trail also runs into the PCT if you feel like going the distance. To make a day of it, stop by Endless Color (Emma saw Bonnie Wright here) for some good vibes and post-hike carbs—you will have earned them.
Crossing the 405 is slang for going to the other side of town and the east side is like stepping into Brooklyn. Back in our millennial heyday, Silver Lake and Echo Park were the places to be in LA if you were young and hip. Then gentrification did what gentrification does and now the cool new hangouts have migrated to Highland Park, Los Feliz, and Eagle Rock. Top Recs: Highland Park Bowl A vintage-lover’s dream—basically everything we adore about the Chicago Athletic Association but with bowling shoes. Walt’s Bar (in Eagle Rock) This is the go-to spot for vintage pinball. Emma even spotted Christopher Mintz-Plasse (yes, McLovin) there once, which feels like a very on-brand celebrity sighting. They serve $5 hot dogs.
Whether you’re five, a hardened cynic, or somewhere in-between, this place will surely leave a mark. A true Los Angeles cultural icon, puppets with more charm than you might expect are where core memories are practically manufactured with craftsmanship worth marveling at.
Whoever said LA is ugly clearly hasn’t been to The Huntington. About a 45 minute drive from Culver City, this place is a delightful hodgepodge—think The MET, botanical gardens, conservatories, and Versailles all rolled into one. This place is absolutely worth the distance. We're members here. It gets hot by midday, so a boba tea in the Chinese Garden is strongly recommended—it’s basically survival fuel. Get tickets in advance. This is right next to Pasadena, which is basically the SoCal stand-in for Emma’s hometown of Oak Park. The houses here are legitimately cool and worth a casual stroll just to admire them. After a day venturing this far east, we always hit our melting point literally and spiritually. So per tradition, we stop for ice cream at Afters Ice Cream—a charming vintage gas station turned ice cream stand.