LA Weekend
10 Best Things to Do in LA
This Weekend.
Smorgasburg Sundays, Griffith sunsets, Runyon mornings, and the rooftop everyone keeps texting about. Plus how to find someone great to share them with.
Quick answer: The LA weekend that actually works is one iconic view (Griffith), one morning move (hike or beach), one food thing (Smorgasburg or Grand Central Market), and one night out (rooftop or Bowl). Everything below is sorted so you can pick three or four without crossing the city twice.
LA is a city of neighborhoods, not a city of one downtown. A good weekend here is less about a bucket list and more about picking a side of town and committing to it. The water, the hills, the food, the sunsets, the people. The challenge is not finding something to do. It is choosing what to do and finding someone great to do it with.
This is the Plus 1 weekend playbook for LA, refreshed every Friday. We launched Plus 1 in LA in October 2026 after proven runs in Miami and NYC, and these are the ten plans our verified members are actually posting right now.
1. Smorgasburg LA at ROW DTLA (Sundays)
Neighborhood: Arts District / Downtown. Best time: Sunday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., get there before noon. Smorgasburg started in Brooklyn, found a home at ROW DTLA, and is now the single most reliable Sunday in LA. Ninety-plus vendors, open-air, dog-friendly. The Plus 1 angle: it is one of the few LA plans where you can post "meet at the entrance at 11:30, we'll graze for two hours" and your +1 request fills in an hour. Post the plan, invite a +1.
2. Grand Central Market
Neighborhood: Downtown. Best time: Saturday lunch or late weekday breakfast. A hundred-year-old food hall with Eggslut, Sari Sari, Ramen Hood, and about thirty other reasons to come hungry. It is tourist-adjacent but still a real LA institution, and it is right across from Angels Flight. Pair it with a walk up Bunker Hill to The Broad if the standby line is reasonable.
3. Griffith Observatory at sunset
Neighborhood: Los Feliz / Griffith Park. Best time: Arrive 90 minutes before sunset, stay for the city lights. The free view that put LA on a thousand postcards. Park at the lot if you get there early, or take the DASH bus from the Red Line to avoid the circling. The lawn in front of the observatory is one of the easiest places in the city to post a Plus 1 plan: "Griffith sunset Saturday, meeting at the Astronomers Monument at 5:45" and you'll fill a +1 by Thursday.
4. A classic LA hike (Runyon, Temescal, or Fern Dell)
Neighborhood: Hollywood Hills / Pacific Palisades / Los Feliz. Best time: Saturday or Sunday, 7 to 9 a.m. before it bakes. Runyon Canyon is the social, see-and-be-seen option (dogs, influencers, a view of the sign). Temescal Canyon is longer and more wooded with an ocean payoff. Fern Dell is the easy, shaded, family-friendly walk into Griffith Park. All three are busy enough on weekend mornings that posting a hike plan on Plus 1 is one of the most natural ways to meet someone new without it feeling like a date.
5. A beach day: Santa Monica, Venice, or El Matador
Neighborhood: Westside / Malibu. Best time: Saturday 11 to 4. Santa Monica is the easy pick with the pier and the bike path. Venice is the chaotic, art-filled, people-watching option (walk the canals, not just the boardwalk). El Matador up in Malibu is the dramatic one, with sea stacks and tide pools and a forty-five-minute drive that pays off on camera. Bring a cooler and post the extra spot on Plus 1.
LA is better with a +1.
Pick something on this list and post it as a plan on Plus 1. Verified locals see it, request to join, and you approve who comes. No group chat wrangling, no going alone, no spending Saturday scrolling.
Post your weekend plan →6. Melrose vintage shopping
Neighborhood: West Hollywood / Fairfax. Best time: Sunday afternoon. The Melrose Trading Post flea market at Fairfax High runs Sundays 9 to 5 and is the big one. Then wander west on Melrose for the standalone vintage shops: Jet Rag, Wasteland, Crossroads, American Rag. Second coffee at Alfred, dinner at Night + Market. A perfect low-pressure first-meet plan.
7. Downtown Art Walk (second Thursday)
Neighborhood: Downtown LA. Best time: Second Thursday of every month, 6 to 10 p.m. Twenty-plus galleries open their doors with free wine, DJs on the street, and more actual conversation than any bar in the city on a Thursday. The crowd is a mix of locals, artists, and curious transplants. If your weekend starts Thursday (and in LA it does), this is where to start it.
8. The Rooftop at The Hollywood Roosevelt
Neighborhood: Hollywood. Best time: Friday or Saturday, 7 to 10 p.m. The 1927 hotel across from the Chinese Theater. The rooftop pool bar is open to the public with a reservation, and it is one of the few actually-good Hollywood Boulevard moves. Drinks are not cheap, but the view and the room are worth it. Check our best rooftops in LA guide for more.
9. A Hollywood Bowl night
Neighborhood: Hollywood Hills. Best time: Summer and early fall (season runs through October). Picnic on the lawn, LA Phil or a touring act under the stars, and the Stack Park-and-Ride is the move. Bowl tickets almost always have one extra seat that goes unused, posting that seat on Plus 1 is the cheapest way in the city to turn a solo night into a shared one.
10. An Erewhon run (Studio City flagship)
Neighborhood: Studio City. Best time: Saturday mid-morning. Yes, it is a grocery store. Yes, it is a $19 tonic. But the Studio City flagship with its tonic bar and juice counter is also one of the most reliable people-watching corners in LA, and treating a smoothie run as a plan is more LA than almost anything else on this list. It is also an actual thing people post as a Plus 1 meetup.
The +1 question
Most of these are better with someone. That is the whole reason Plus 1 exists. We built it in Miami, scaled it in NYC, and launched in LA this October because this is a city where a good weekend plan is one-third logistics and two-thirds "who's coming with me." You post the plan, you get matched with a verified member who is into the same thing, and you show up. No swiping, no DMs into the void.
If you are new to the city, also read our 30-day playbook for making friends after a move to LA.
FAQ: LA weekend plans
What is the best thing to do in LA this weekend?
A sunset at Griffith Observatory is the single most reliable LA weekend move. It's free, it's walkable from the parking lot, and the view of the city at golden hour is the shot. Pair it with dinner in Los Feliz or Thai Town after.
Where can I meet new people in LA on a weekend?
Smorgasburg LA on Sundays at ROW DTLA, Downtown Art Walk the second Thursday of the month, and sunrise hikes at Runyon or Temescal are the three highest-density ways to meet people. Post a plan on Plus 1 to show up with a verified +1 instead of alone.
What should I do in LA for a Saturday night?
The Rooftop at The Hollywood Roosevelt for a drink, a show at the Hollywood Bowl in season, or a late dinner on Sunset. For something lower-key, Melrose vintage shopping into dinner in Silver Lake works any Saturday of the year.
Is LA worth visiting for a weekend?
Absolutely, if you plan tight. Pick one beach, one hike, one iconic view, and one neighborhood dinner. Don't try to cross the city twice a day. The 10-item list above is built so any three or four of them fit a real weekend.
What free things are there to do in LA this weekend?
Griffith Observatory, Runyon Canyon, Fern Dell, Venice Beach boardwalk, Downtown Art Walk, and most Smorgasburg browsing are all free. The Erewhon tonic bar is not free, but window-shopping the Studio City flagship absolutely is.