Things to Do Alone in LA (And How to Find People to Join You)

Los Angeles is one of the best cities in the world for doing things alone. The hiking is world-class, the museums are free, the beaches are open year-round, and the food scene rewards the solo diner. But here's the thing most "things to do alone" guides won't tell you: almost every solo activity in LA is significantly better with even one or two other people — and finding those people is easier than you think.

This guide covers the best solo-friendly activities in LA. But it's also about the shift from "I'll just go alone" to "I'll go, and maybe I'll bring someone." Because the city is full of people who want to do the same things you do. They're just waiting for someone to make the plan.

Hike Runyon Canyon

Runyon Canyon is the most social hiking trail in Los Angeles, and it's free. The 160-acre park sits between Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley, with three main trail options ranging from easy to moderately strenuous. On any given afternoon, you'll share the trail with hundreds of other hikers — dog walkers, fitness influencers, tourists, and locals who've been coming for years.

Why it's great solo: The trails are short enough (the full loop is about 3.3 miles) that you don't need to coordinate a schedule with anyone. Show up, hike, leave. The views of the Hollywood sign, downtown, and the ocean on clear days are reward enough on their own.

Why it's better with people: Hiking is one of the easiest activities to do with someone you've just met. The side-by-side walking format takes pressure off eye contact, and the shared physical effort creates a natural bond. A group Runyon hike at golden hour followed by smoothies on Franklin Avenue is one of the best low-effort hangouts in LA.

Check out the Runyon Canyon guide for trail options and the best times to go.

Explore the Getty Center

The Getty Center is a $1.3 billion hilltop art campus in Brentwood with free admission, world-class collections, and panoramic views stretching from the mountains to the Pacific. It sees over 1.8 million visitors per year, making it one of the most-visited museums in the United States.

Why it's great solo: You can move at your own pace. Linger in front of Van Gogh's Irises for ten minutes. Skip entire galleries without guilt. The Central Garden is a meditative space that's perfect for solo contemplation. And the cafe terrace offers some of the best views in LA — a solo lunch here feels like self-care, not loneliness.

Why it's better with people: Art is meant to be discussed. Standing in front of a painting and saying "what do you see?" opens a conversation that's more real and interesting than any small talk at a bar. The Getty's sheer size also means a group visit becomes an exploration — you discover things together that you'd walk past alone.

More details in the Getty Center guide.

Spend a Day at the Beach

LA County has 75 miles of coastline and more than 30 public beaches. Santa Monica draws over 8 million visitors annually. Venice Beach has the boardwalk, the skate park, and Muscle Beach. Manhattan Beach has the volleyball nets. On any given weekday, you can find a quiet stretch of sand with nobody around for 50 yards in either direction.

Why it's great solo: A solo beach day is one of the most restorative things you can do in LA. Bring a book, a towel, and a cooler. That's it. No coordinating arrival times, no debating which beach, no waiting for someone who's running 45 minutes late. Just you and the Pacific.

Why it's better with people: Beach days with a group have a completely different energy. You play volleyball. You share food. You take turns doing a water run. A solo beach day is peaceful; a group beach day is fun. Both are good, but they're not the same thing.

Explore beach options in the Santa Monica Beach guide and Venice Beach guide.

Visit The Broad

The Broad is a contemporary art museum in downtown LA with always-free admission and a collection of over 2,000 postwar and contemporary works — Basquiat, Warhol, Kusama, Koons, Lichtenstein. It's compact enough to see in 90 minutes but dense enough that you'll want to come back.

Why it's great solo: Contemporary art is personal. Your reaction to a Basquiat painting is yours, and experiencing it without someone else's commentary can be powerful. The Broad's Infinity Mirrored Room by Yayoi Kusama is designed as a solo experience — you step in alone, and for 30 seconds, you're surrounded by infinite light.

Why it's better with people: Contemporary art is also polarizing, which makes it incredible for group conversation. "I love this" and "I don't get it" are both valid responses, and debating them over coffee afterward is one of the best post-museum experiences in LA.

See the The Broad guide for reservation tips.

Wander a Farmers Market

LA has farmers markets nearly every day of the week. The Hollywood Farmers Market (Sunday) is one of the largest in California, attracting over 160 vendors. The Santa Monica Wednesday Market is where many of LA's top chefs shop. The Silver Lake Farmers Market (Saturday) has a neighborhood feel with live music and craft vendors.

Why it's great solo: A farmers market is built for wandering. You sample stone fruit, try a new hot sauce, grab a breakfast burrito, and leave with a bag of produce you'll actually cook. There's no itinerary and no pressure. It's one of the few public spaces in LA where moving slowly is encouraged.

Why it's better with people: Farmers markets are natural conversation generators. Sampling food together, debating which peaches look best, splitting a $12 bottle of local honey — these are tiny shared decisions that build connection fast. And the walk-and-talk format means you're never stuck in an awkward face-to-face silence.

See a Show at the Hollywood Bowl

The Hollywood Bowl is the largest natural amphitheater in the United States, seating over 17,500 people. The LA Philharmonic's summer season runs from June through September, with ticket prices starting as low as $1 for bench seats. The venue hosts everything from classical to jazz to pop, and the picnic-before-the-show tradition makes it one of the most social venues in the country.

Why it's great solo: Nobody at the Hollywood Bowl is paying attention to whether you came alone. The open-air seating, picnic culture, and pre-show socializing create an environment where solo is completely normal. Grab a bench seat, bring your own food and wine, and enjoy the show under the stars.

Why it's better with people: The Hollywood Bowl's communal bench seating means you're literally sitting shoulder to shoulder with your group. The shared experience of hearing a symphony or a legendary artist in an outdoor amphitheater under a warm LA night is one of those memories that bonds people. Plus, the picnic tradition is infinitely better when you're sharing food.

Explore Silver Lake

Silver Lake is one of LA's most walkable neighborhoods — a rarity in this city. The Silver Lake Reservoir walking loop is 2.2 miles and offers views of the Hollywood sign, the Griffith Observatory, and the San Gabriel Mountains. The surrounding streets are lined with independent coffee shops, bookstores, boutiques, and some of the best restaurants on the east side.

Why it's great solo: Silver Lake's coffee shop density is unmatched. You can spend an entire afternoon hopping from Intelligentsia to Dinosaur Coffee to Dayglow, reading a book at each one. The reservoir loop is a meditative walk. The neighborhood rewards aimless exploration — every block has something interesting.

Why it's better with people: A Silver Lake neighborhood crawl — coffee, reservoir walk, lunch, vintage shopping — is one of the best group activities in LA. It's low-key, walkable, and flexible. If someone wants to break off and browse a bookstore while the rest of the group gets coffee, that works perfectly.

Explore more in the Silver Lake guide.

Watch Sunset at Griffith Observatory

Griffith Observatory is the most visited public observatory in the world, with an estimated 7 million visitors since 1935. Perched on the south slope of Mount Hollywood, it offers 360-degree views of LA — from downtown's skyline to the Hollywood sign to the Pacific Ocean on clear days. Admission to the observatory and its exhibits is free.

Why it's great solo: There's something genuinely moving about watching the sun set over a city of 13 million people from a quiet hilltop. The observatory's exhibits on space and astronomy add a layer of cosmic perspective. Solo sunset at Griffith is a top-five LA experience.

Why it's better with people: Sunsets are shared experiences by nature. The collective gasp when the sky turns pink, the scramble to take photos, the lingering conversation as the city lights come on — these are moments that are amplified by company. The hike up from the parking lot (or from the Fern Dell trailhead) is a great warm-up conversation.

Go Coffee Shop Hopping

Los Angeles has one of the best coffee scenes in the country, with over 3,000 independent coffee shops. The city's specialty coffee culture was pioneered by shops like Intelligentsia, Blue Bottle, and Verve, and the next generation — Maru, Dayglow, Kumquat, Go Get Em Tiger — has raised the bar even further.

Why it's great solo: A laptop, a cortado, and a window seat. That's the solo coffee shop experience, and it's one of the most productive and peaceful ways to spend a morning in LA. Each neighborhood has its own coffee personality — Venice is beachy and bright, Silver Lake is artsy and intimate, DTLA is industrial and buzzy.

Why it's better with people: A coffee crawl — hitting three or four shops in one neighborhood over a few hours — is an underrated group activity. You compare lattes, debate which shop has the best vibes, and get to know a neighborhood block by block. It's a low-cost, low-commitment hangout that feels more intentional than "let's get coffee."

Browse a Bookstore

LA's independent bookstore scene has had a renaissance. The Last Bookstore in DTLA is a 22,000-square-foot wonderland built inside a former bank. Skylight Books in Los Feliz is a neighborhood institution. Book Soup on Sunset Strip specializes in art, film, and music. Vroman's in Pasadena is the oldest and largest independent bookstore in Southern California, open since 1894.

Why it's great solo: Bookstores are sanctuaries. You browse at your own pace, discover something unexpected, and leave with a new perspective (and a book). The Last Bookstore's labyrinth of book tunnels and art installations makes it a destination in its own right.

Why it's better with people: Browsing a bookstore with someone and then comparing what you each found is a surprisingly intimate activity. It reveals taste, interests, and curiosity in a way that small talk never will. "Why did you pick that one?" is one of the best questions you can ask someone you're getting to know.

Eat at Grand Central Market

Grand Central Market in downtown LA has been operating since 1917 and now houses over 30 food vendors spanning cuisines from Thai to Mexican to vegan to Jewish deli. It draws over 2 million visitors per year and serves as DTLA's de facto communal dining room.

Why it's great solo: The communal seating and counter-service format make Grand Central Market one of the most solo-friendly dining experiences in LA. Nobody sits alone at a table wondering if people are staring. You grab your food, find a spot, eat, and go. The people-watching is world-class.

Why it's better with people: Grand Central Market's superpower for groups is that everyone can eat something different and still sit together. One person gets ramen from Ramen Hood, another gets tacos from Tacos Tumbras a Tomas, another gets a pastrami sandwich from Wexler's. The "try a bite of mine" dynamic turns lunch into an event.

The Shift: From Solo to Social

Every activity on this list is worth doing alone. But if you've been doing them solo and wishing you had company, the gap between "alone" and "with people" is smaller than you think.

The problem in LA isn't a lack of people who want to do things. It's a lack of structure for connecting them. Everyone wants to hike Runyon at sunset. Everyone wants to check out that new exhibit at The Broad. Everyone wants to try the new ramen spot in Silver Lake. They're just doing it alone — or not doing it at all — because they don't have someone to go with.

That's the gap WashedUp fills. You pick an activity. We find people who want to do the same thing. You show up. It's that simple. No awkward mixers, no speed-friending events, no networking happy hours. Just real activities with real people in small groups.

The best solo activity is the one that turns into a group one.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the best things to do alone in Los Angeles? The best solo activities in LA include hiking Runyon Canyon or Griffith Park, visiting the Getty Center or The Broad (both free), spending a day at Santa Monica or Venice Beach, exploring neighborhoods like Silver Lake and Los Feliz, seeing a show at the Hollywood Bowl, and eating at Grand Central Market. LA's warm weather and outdoor culture make it exceptionally solo-friendly.

Is it weird to do things alone in LA? Not at all. LA is one of the most solo-friendly cities in the country. Solo diners, solo hikers, solo museum-goers, and solo concertgoers are everywhere. The city's spread-out geography means many people naturally do things alone as a matter of logistics. At venues like the Hollywood Bowl, farmers markets, and coffee shops, going solo is completely normal and common.

How do I meet people in Los Angeles? The most effective way to meet people in LA is through repeated, small-group activities rather than large events or apps. Join a climbing gym, attend a pottery class, become a regular at a farmers market, or use platforms like WashedUp that match you with small groups for specific activities. Consistency and shared experiences build real connections faster than networking events.

What are free things to do in LA this weekend? LA has extensive free options every weekend: hiking in Griffith Park or Runyon Canyon, visiting the Getty Center or California Science Center, walking Venice Beach or the Santa Monica Pier, exploring the Arts District murals, browsing the Melrose Trading Post flea market (Sundays), attending free yoga in Grand Park, and watching sunset from Griffith Observatory.

Is LA good for solo travelers? Los Angeles is excellent for solo travelers. The city has abundant free attractions (Getty Center, Griffith Observatory, beaches), a food scene built for counter-service solo dining, world-class hiking accessible without a guide, and a culture that embraces individual exploration. The main challenge is transportation — renting a car or using rideshares is nearly essential for getting between neighborhoods.

What neighborhoods in LA are best for walking around alone? Silver Lake, Los Feliz, Venice (Abbot Kinney Boulevard), West Hollywood, and the Arts District in DTLA are the most walkable and solo-friendly neighborhoods in LA. Each has a concentration of coffee shops, restaurants, bookstores, and shops within a few walkable blocks — rare for a car-centric city. Silver Lake's reservoir loop and Venice's boardwalk are particularly good for solo walks.

How do I make friends as a new LA transplant? Focus on two things: consistency and proximity. Pick one or two recurring activities — a weekly hiking group, a climbing gym, a regular farmers market visit — and show up every week. Friendships form through repeated low-pressure interaction, not one-off events. Platforms like WashedUp are designed specifically for this: matching you with small groups for activities you already want to do, creating the repeated exposure that turns strangers into friends.