A short list of things worth leaving the house for, picked every week by Buffet. Each one comes with a small group to go with.
Morrison Burbank · 3821 W Magnolia Blvd, Burbank, CA 91505
Burgers, wings, fries and drinks at a Magnolia Park gastropub that keeps winning Burbank's best happy hour. It is a Buffet hangout, not a ticketed event. Come at 5 to catch happy hour before it ends at 6, then stay for dinner with the group.
Heritage Square Museum · 3545 Pasadena Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90031
Street Food Cinema's Halloween double feature, Sinners then Blade, on a big screen among the Victorian houses of Heritage Square. Food trucks, three bars, a haunted walkway, adult trick-or-treating and a costume contest. Doors 5:30, first film 6:45. 21 and over. Use the Pasadena Ave entrance.
The Music Center · 135 N Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012
One free day when 14 arts institutions along Grand Avenue open their doors: The Broad, MOCA, LA Phil, LA Opera, REDCAT, the Central Library and more, with workshops, performances and tours from 11 to 4. Meet the group at the Music Center plaza and wander down Grand together.
Red Lion Tavern · 2366 Glendale Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90039
Steins, pretzels and German beer at one of LA's classic beer gardens, a Silver Lake institution since 1959 that runs Oktoberfest on weekends through the fall. No cover; you pay for what you drink. Meet the group on the rooftop beer garden.
Noah's NY Bagels Westwood · 10910 Lindbrook Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90024
Bagels and iced coffee in Westwood Village, an easy way to start Sunday. It is a Buffet hangout, not a ticketed event. Grab a bagel sandwich, find a table together and take your time.
Los Angeles Zoo · 5333 Zoo Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90027
The L.A. Zoo dressed up for Halloween: pumpkin treats for the animals, a corn maze, costume characters, a vulture talk at noon and photo spots across the park. Included with regular admission, about $27. Meet the group at the front entrance and walk it together.
Buffet is an app for meeting people in real life. The list above is the “what” and the “when”; the app is the “who”.
Open the app, find the pick you like, and take a seat. Nothing to organise, nobody to chase.
Once three people have claimed a plate the group is real and the chat opens. A table never grows past six.
A place, a time, and people who chose the same night you did. The hardest part of going out, already done.
Hangouts members have voted in for the weeks ahead. The full list for each week lands in the app on the Monday.
No. Every event on this list is public and the address is right there; go however you like. Buffet is the part where you don’t have to go alone: claim a plate in the app and you’re in a group of up to six for that night, with a chat that opens once three people are in.
Buffet is free to download and free to use. The price on each card is what the event or venue itself charges, from Free to $$$, and you pay them directly. Buffet takes nothing on top.
That is the point. Nobody at the table knows each other yet; everyone there chose the same thing on the same night, which is a better start than most introductions get. The group chat opens before you go, so you arrive already knowing who you’re meeting.
By hand, every week, by the Buffet team in Los Angeles: a short list of around six things, two a night, rather than a feed of everything. The app also runs a ballot every Monday where members vote on the hangouts they want added.
A new lineup goes into the app every week ahead of the weekend, and this page updates with it. The dates on each card are the dates that count.
Why the city is hard to make friends in, and what actually works. Plus the rest of what we’ve written about going out and meeting people.