Lifestyle
13 L.A. places that’ll induce nightmares any time of year, rated by spookiness
For Halloween lovers, there is only one major problem with spooky season: it ends. But in a city where the change in seasons is more of a shift in mindset anyway, it doesn’t have to. Where there is a will to celebrate Halloween all year long in Los Angeles, there is a way.
There’s a unique, distinctly SoCal character to what haunts Los Angeles. A place as youthful and as sunny as L.A. shouldn’t have so many ghost stories to tell. Yet few would deny that something dark and eerie pulsates just below the balmy surface of the city of Angels. Some might argue it stems from L.A.’s history as “the serial killer capital”, giving rise to such dark true-crime legends as the Night Stalker and Hillside Strangler (to name a few). Others blame the city’s notorious inability to preserve its iconic history and local communities, with countless landmarks and neighborhoods often bulldozed for the sake of a new highway or commercial development, leaving citizens with only the fading memory of their bygone golden ages. Most put the blame on Hollywood, which is not only a notoriously cutthroat and exploitative industry, but also the birthplace of so many collective nightmares thanks to decades of horror films.
Yet as the entertainment industry faces yet another existential crisis threatening to turn Tinseltown into a ghost, it seems that what truly haunts L.A. are echoes of the same sad story repeated again and again through the ages. The meteoric rise of a few titans of industry inevitably ending in a catastrophic downfall, while the city caught in the wake of their ruin is left to pick up the pieces.
Regardless of its root cause, at the heart of every great haunting is one essential element that Los Angeles has always had in spades: great storytellers.
The Queen Mary
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times )
What is more quintessentially weird L.A. than a 90-year-old WWII ghost ship permanently docked in, of all places on Earth, Long Beach? The Queen Mary is the crown jewel for history and lore lovers alike in the SoCal area, with a mythic legacy that spans from the tragic mass death casualties she caused in the fog of war to, decades later, being mishandled by the House of Mouse as a failed Disney attraction. After millions of dollars of repairs over the last eight years, the Queen is back and better than ever, with year-round ghost tours like the more family-friendly Haunted Encounters and more in-depth Paranormal Ship Walk. The truly daring should also test their resolve with “57 Ghosts” (a live theater performance exploring the documented deaths on the ship through a seance) and the Grey Ghost Project (where you can participate in a genuine evidence-based paranormal investigation that’s been underway since 2020). The masochistic scare-seeker can now even book an overnight stay at the recently reopened room B340, which legends claim to be the most haunted hotel room — though, as the tour guides explain, this reputation initially stemmed from it being rigged for scares under Disney’s stewardship.
Even after removal of all the smoke and mirrors, though, reports of terrifying hauntings continue to this day. This spooky season, the ship will be celebrating the return of its Dark Harbour Halloween festival (which had been replaced by Shaqtoberfest), Haunted Cocktails in the Art Deco-style Observation Bar, and a two-hour-long Graveyard Tour. But there are advantages to visiting the ship in its off-seasons, whether to avoid the hellish hours-long traffic jam for parking or to experience events like the Transatlantic Vacation or New Year’s Eve bash where big band dance parties transport guests back into the ghosts’ timeline.
1126 Queens Highway, Long Beach 90802, queenmary.com
Spooky Meter: 5/5. Those seeking out scares on the Grey Ghost will never leave disappointed.
Hollywood Forever Cemetery
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
As the resting place of so many famous Los Angelenos, from Judy Garland to Griffith J. Griffith, it’s only natural that myths of restless spirits abound at this 1889 cemetery. But in typical L.A. fashion, Hollywood Forever Cemetery is less a place for mourning the dead and more a place for experiencing gratitude for the living, or rather, for the people who have come from all walks of life to make this city great.
A number of events are held at the Cathedral Mausoleum, Masonic Lodge, and Fairbanks Lawn, most popularly the Cinespia outdoor film screenings, which have expanded beyond just summertime to include an entire month dedicated to horror classics in October, with the 2024 lineup starting Oct. 5 with 1974’s “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.” On Oct. 26, the cemetery will also host its 25th Annual Dia de Los Muertos celebration, touted to be the largest one of its kind in the United States, with over 100 altars erected by members of the community as well as musical performances by Grammy-winning artists. On any given morning, you can catch one of the free daily yoga classes offered on Fairbanks Lawn, join locals walking their dogs, and admire the free-roaming peacocks flaunting their stuff. If you’re lucky, you can even spot an adorable member of the feral cat colony, which is lovingly looked after by the cemetery’s groundskeeper.
6000 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles 90038, hollywoodforever.com
Spooky Meter: 3/5. There’s no better way to test your mettle as a horror movie aficionado than to attend a nighttime screening while feet away from the corpses who helped bring those scares to life on the silver screen.
Greystone Mansion and Gardens
(Iris Schneider / Los Angeles Times)
This stunning Tudor-style Beverly Hills estate turned public park might be the lesser known of Doheny’s L.A mansions, but it’s the one where shots rang out one fateful night in 1929 that left two men dead, a mystery for the ages, and according to many, some very restless spirits. Oil tycoon Edward Doheny, who served as the loose inspiration for “There Will Be Blood” (which used the Greystone as a filming location), found himself embroiled in a scandal that threatened prison time. Soon after, both his son and his son’s secretary were found dead in the guest bedroom in what the police deemed a murder-suicide, though many believe the official narrative to have been a cover-up.
Today, the Greystone’s opulent gardens and jaw-dropping city views are open to all from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with self-guided tours of the first floor offered once a month. If you’re looking for an audio guide with all the scandalous details, theories and ghost stories about the case, check out the BBC’s eight-episode “Oil in Blood” series from the “Assume Nothing” podcast. The city of Beverly Hills hosts many other lovely events year-round, from screenings of films that feature the mansion to play readings and even gardening classes.
905 Loma Vista Drive, Beverly Hills 90210, beverlyhills.org/greystonemansion
Spooky Meter: 3/5. It isn’t just death that haunts this place. It’s the dark shadow of the American dream, which cost Doheny everything in the end.
Heritage Square Museum
(Richard Harbaugh / Getty Images)
Tucked away in a corner of Montecito Heights are eight pristinely preserved Victorian-era structures, each with their own story to tell about the Southern Californians who lived in them during our first century of statehood. Though the Cultural Heritage Foundation that preserves this living history acknowledges the many “tales of interesting paranormal occurrences that have happened at our museum,” it still insists that none of their buildings are haunted per se, but rather “‘visited’ from time-to-time by their original owners.”
Yet increasingly, Heritage Square Museum is becoming a hot spot for the occult-curious thanks to regular events like the Magic Market Pop Up (which, after Oct. 6, will return to the location in spring 2025), ghost tours, outdoor movie screening nights (most recently featuring Guillermo del Toro’s gothic “Crimson Peak”), and seasonally-themed performances ranging from horror operas, ballets and spooky immersive live theater. But the overall vibe is best encapsulated by the spirit of Belle Boy, the museum’s late and beloved orange cat, who reportedly still haunts his favorite room in the Octagon House, and which some visitors claim to have felt brush past their legs in a cold gust of air.
3800 Homer St., Los Angeles 90031, heritagesquare.org
Spooky Meter: 2/5. The stained-glass church outfitted with a wooden altar inside is by far the most cursed corner.
Old Zoo picnic area and hike
(Jess Joho / Los Angeles Times)
Rusting cages and graffiti-ravaged enclosures are all that remain of the abysmal failure that was the Griffith Park Zoo (now known as the Abandoned or Old Zoo) ever since it opened in 1912. The infamous Griffith J. Griffith — who in a bout of paranoia once shot his wife in the eye— all but forced the city to accept his “gift” of a dilapidated ostrich farm. Despite being refitted for 15 animals (including bears, lions, monkeys, elephants and reptiles), it was still criticized as an ugly, underfinanced eyesore. Legend has it you can still hear the growls and roars from inside the decaying cages of the mistreated. The picnic area captures that distinct uncanniness of L.A.’s hauntings, with a beautiful expanse of lawn juxtaposed against the dilapidated remnants of a mogul’s dying empire. While you can walk straight up to the site via a flight of stairs from the small parking lot adjacent to Merry Go Round Lot 2, you can also reach it from above by hiking the easy 1.5 mile loop that diverges from the Fern Canyon Trailhead near Merry Go Round Lot 1.
Merry Go Round Lot One, off of Springs Drive/Griffith Park Drive, Los Angeles 90027, laparks.org/griffithpark
Spooky Meter: 3/5. A lovely (if still unsettling) picnic spot by day, there’s a reason the annual Haunted Hayride utilizes this location to terrify after dark.
Philosophical Research Society
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
The not-a-cult Philosophical Research Society located in a Mayan-style courtyard in Los Feliz may seem mysterious from the outside looking in. But from the inside, this nonprofit arts and culture organization appears to be nothing more than a diverse community of inquisitive minds happy to spend an entire Saturday listening to lectures about death and dying at the Memento Mori Festival hosted in their 200-person auditorium. PRS boasts a packed calendar of esoteric events, like a monthly Death Cafe meetup (complete with tea), mystical workshops, obscure film screenings, theatrical readings of literature and folktales, macabre puppetry, magic lantern shows and much more. The library (open Thursday-Friday) is a purple-hued treasure trove of rare tomes spanning a wide range of thought-provoking topics, while the bookstore (open Tuesday-Friday) is attended to by volunteers who welcome your questions and curiosities.
3910 Los Feliz Blvd., Los Angeles 90027, prs.org
Spooky Meter: 1/5. No ghosts, according to reporting by The Times’ Deborah Netburn — but the PRS does have the skull of a German mass murderer somewhere.
Clifton’s Republic
(Jess Joho / Los Angeles Times)
There’s no doubt that Clifton’s is “cursed,” if you ask current owner Andrew Meieran, whose multiple attempts to reopen this iconic redwood-themed 1930s DTLA landmark have been thwarted by flooding from burst pipes, the neighborhood’s struggling economy, and a whole global pandemic. “This is what happens when you, politely speaking, piss off the spirits here,” Meieran explained, pointing to a bizarre 7-inch mound warping the hardwood floor in his office. Apparently, he’d made the mistake of moving furniture around the room right before their scheduled summer 2024 relaunch, and inexplicable equipment malfunctioned beneath the antique bar cabinet. This new mishap left only the historic Pacific Seas tiki bar ready for limited weekend reservations. “This place has a life of its own. It’s alive, fully aware, and responsive,” Meieran claims.
Ghosts permitting, the grand reopening of the Monarch Bar and Gothic Lounge is now set for Oct. 18, along with a year-round Spirits & Spirits experience that pairs historic cocktails with haunted tales. There’s an undeniable, intoxicating mystique embedded into every inch of the five-story building, which once primarily served as a cafeteria and community hub frequented by some of the city’s greatest creatives, from sci-fi author Ray Bradbury to Walt Disney. Meieran used to write off some of the more sensationalist legends about Clifton’s, like rumors of a mistress’ remains being scattered in the ballroom. Until, that is, he confirmed that he himself had swept up said ashes without realizing it at the time. Now, he lets the haunting call the shots, as it guides him to reviving the building however it sees fit. “I know when it’s happy, and I know when it’s not,” he says. “It loves people. It loves to be inhabited. It loves to be explored. It loves playfulness.” And he learned the hard way that Clifton’s also refuses to let any of its spirits be forgotten.
648 S. Broadway, Los Angeles 90014, sevenrooms.com
Spooky Meter: 4/5 The ballroom on the second floor is reportedly the most active spot, thanks to the specter of a woman who is reputed to show up in photos.
The Wolves
(Jess Joho / Los Angeles Times)
Standing where the historic and purportedly haunted Hotel Alexandria’s ballroom once saw her glory days hosting the likes of Charlie Chaplin, this Belle Epoch-style Parisian cocktail bar isn’t afraid of leaning into spooky antiquity. Staff and patrons report feeling cold spots and hair-pulling near a painting that hangs in the back, and co-owner Isaac Mejia even had three different mediums confirm that the women’s bathroom is haunted by a little girl. According to one medium, the ghosts are also happy to see how their antiques that decorate the bar are still admired and lovingly cared for via regular polishing by Mejia. With fancy period-themed drinks like the 1920s Cocktail and one of the best burgers in Los Angeles, it’s a place any soul, living or dead, would be happy to haunt forever. It’s also ideally situated for a spooky bar crawl, with goth karaoke bar the Veil and the historic (and haunted) speakeasy Rhythm Room L.A. just a block away.
519 S Spring St., Los Angeles 90013, thewolvesdtla.com
Spooky Meter: 4/5 This is the only location on our list where the reporter experienced potentially paranormal activity, when a martini glass slid across the table seemingly of its own volition. Though, to be fair, it could’ve just been the result of a sweaty cup from the heat wave.
SugarMynt Gallery
(Jess Joho / Los Angeles Times)
Situated right next to the original Pasadena home featured in John Carpenter’s “Halloween,” this horror media-focused art gallery by local SaraRose Orlandini feels like stepping into one of your scary movie slumber parties of yesteryear. The current exhibit, “Nostalgic Nights in Haddonfield,” features a cozy VHS corner that invites viewers to curl up with an ’80s/’90s-kid memory of experiencing these life-changing classics for the first time. The gallery’s permanent collection spotlights the special FX artists, set designers and behind-the-scenes photographers who have defined the essence of Halloween for not just Angelenos, but the world over. Aside from original scripts, screen-used costumes and a dedicated “Hocus Pocus” room, you’ll also find antiques like the 1920s Dennison‘s Party Magazine that’s credited with originating many of America’s modern-day Halloween traditions. Those who can’t get enough during business hours can even stay overnight at the gallery’s ScareBnB.
810 Meridian Ave., South Pasadena 91030, sugarmynt.com
Spooky Meter: 1/5. Like a warm blanket on a cool autumn night, you’ll be lulled into a sense of security that doesn’t end in a jump scare here.
Cobb Estate, a.k.a. the Haunted Forest Trail
(Jess Joho / Los Angeles Times)
Not much remains of the once-grand 1910s Cobb Estate, aside from the gated entrance, a couple of crumbling stone walls, one staircase and beautiful mountainside views along the breezy hourlong hike colloquially referred to as the Haunted Forest Trail. Despite tales of seances, secret societies, satanic rituals and murder, the Altadena Historical Society traces rumors of its supposed haunting to after the Marx brothers purchased it in 1956, before demolishing the decaying mansion in a failed bid to rezone it for a cemetery. In all likelihood, reports of screaming, chanting and strange lights can be attributed to the sight becoming a popular destination for mischievous teens and vandals. The 1.5-mile loop forks to the left of the Sam Merrill Trailhead and ends at the covered reservoir.
Cobb Estate Trailhead, 3302 Lake Ave., Altadena 91001
Spooky Meter: 2/5. Allegedly, the staircase is haunted by the angry spirit of Charles H. Cobb, who pushes or even yells at trespassers to leave.
Mystic Museum
(Jess Joho / Los Angeles Times)
A perfect date spot for oddity-inclined couples and friend groups, the Mystic Museum is your one-stop shop for witchy wares, occult necessities, cursed antiques, horror movie merchandise and human bone collections. Its immersive exhibit in the back is worth checking out, with an intricately designed interactive maze that changes seasonally but currently showcases scenes from classic teen horror campus movies. The caffeine and sugar addicted might want to stop by the nearby Horror Vibes Coffee too, where the staff is friendly, the patrons are gothy, and the themed drinks are far tastier than they sound.
3204 W. Magnolia Blvd., Burbank 91505, themysticmuseum.com
Spooky Meter: 3/5. The exhibit is not quite up to par with the craftsmanship of Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights, but it’s still full of Instagrammable moments.
Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel
(Jess Joho / Los Angeles Times)
As one of the few famously haunted Hollywood hotels still left standing and mostly intact, the Roosevelt is a gorgeous relic worth treasuring. Offering respite from the tourism raging right outside its front doors on the Walk of Fame, when you step into the Roosevelt you feel transported to the Golden Age of Hollywood. Guests can be found dancing to the weekly free jazz nights hosted in the lobby, which is across from the ballroom that hosted the first-ever Oscars ceremony. The lively Spare Room speakeasy on the mezzanine has two bowling alleys available for reservations, while classic film screenings and shows take place at the Cinegrill Theater. Staff acknowledge that, as part of their onboarding, they do learn all of the hotel’s lore and ghost stories, especially tales of Marilyn Monroe, who had her own penthouse at the hotel and reportedly can still be seen applying her makeup in the mirror hanging on the mezzanine staircase. But many also claim to have had their own paranormal experiences, especially the security and cleaning staff, who say that the activity is most present during the quiet hours of early morning.
7000 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles 90028, thehollywoodroosevelt.com
Spooky Meter: 2/5. The real terrors are kept outside, on this notoriously hellish stretch of Hollywood Boulevard.
Museum of Death
(Erek Michael / Los Angeles Times)
While this recommendation comes with every disclaimer and trigger warning imaginable, we couldn’t not include this relic of kitschy Hollywood Boulevard shock tourism. Despite moving to a new location on Selma Avenue, its guts remain the same unrelenting parade of human horror and depravity turned into a spectacle for your entertainment. Amid displays of everything from violent crime scene photos, cannibalism, serial killer artwork and real autopsy footage, you’ll find the bathroom situated beside a wall of human skulls rotating in protective cases like rotisserie chickens. You don’t come to this museum for education, contemplation or anything redeeming whatsoever. But there is a certain honesty in its confrontation. “Here are your monsters, L.A.,” the Museum of Death seems to say, with exhibits often showcasing the Los Angeles Times’ own headlines. This is what we inflict on each other — if not literally, then through the morbid fascination that’s led to an entire cottage industry of exploiting the worst crimes against humanity.
6363 Selma Ave., Hollywood 90028, museumofdeath.net
Spooky Meter: 5/5. It is impossible to leave this place feeling undisturbed by the experience.
You want to see some real fashion ingenuity? Watch the N.F.L. draft.
I’m not saying it’s all good, but where else are you going to see someone in a double-breasted suit made by a company better known for making yoga pants? Or an Abercrombie & Fitch suit jacket so short that it exposes the belt loops on the pants beneath?
On the whole, the style on display at the N.F.L. draft last night was very overeager senior formal: a lot of suits in colors beyond basic blue. The quarterback Ty Simpson wore a custom suit by the athleisure label Alo, which, I have to say, looked better than I would have envisioned had you said the words “Alo Yoga suit” to me.
I thought it might have been from Suitsupply, but the conspicuous “Alo” pin on his right lapel put that idea to rest. Simpson, smartly, unfastened that beacon before appearing onstage as the 13th pick to the Los Angeles Rams. He had, perhaps, satisfied his contractual obligations by that point.
Earlier in the evening, as the wide receiver Carnell Tate threw up his arms in exaltation after being picked fourth by the Tennessee Titans, his cropped Abercrombie & Fitch jacket revealed a swatch of rib cage. He looked like a mâitre d’ who had just hit the Mega Millions.
During the N.B.A.’s extended fashion awakening, its draft has become a sandbox for luxury brands to cozy up to would-be endorsers. The Frenchman Victor Wembanyama broke a kind of cashmere ceiling when he wore Louis Vuitton to go first overall in the 2023 N.B.A. draft.
The N.F.L. draft has none of that. The brands you see are often not brands at all, but custom tailors that reach the league’s neophytes through a whisper network among players. The draft is also a platform to raise the curtain on longer-term brand deals that better suit these rookies. We may, for instance, never see Simpson in a suit again. Nearly every photo from his time at Alabama shows him in a T-shirt or hoodie. It makes sense for him to sign with Alo.
Football is the most mainstream of American cultural entities. And it’s one that still hasn’t, in spite of the league’s best efforts, taken off overseas. Few players, save some quarterbacks and a tight end who happens to be engaged to a pop star, feel bigger than the game itself. If you’re a new-to-the-league linebacker, you’ll most likely never harness the star power to grab the attention of Armani, but you might have just the right pull for Abercrombie.
The N.F.L. draft is therefore one of the few red carpets where the brands worn by the athletes may also be worn by those watching at home. How many people watching the Oscars will ever own clothes from Louis Vuitton or Chanel? People may comment online about Lady Gaga wearing Matières Fécales to the Grammys, but how many of those fans and viewers could afford to buy clothes from it?
The Japanese designers changing fashion
Yesterday, I published a deep dive into how a newish crop of Japanese designers are soaking up all the attention in men’s fashion right now. This was a piece I was writing in my head long before I sat down and finally started typing. I remember sitting at a fashion show in Paris over a year ago — I believe it was Dior — and being asked by my seatmate if I’d made it over to a showroom in the Marais to check out A.Presse. That Tokyo-based brand is now part of a vanguard of Japanese labels that, on many days, seems to be all anyone in fashion wants to talk about. I spent months talking with designers, store owners and big-time shoppers to make sense of why these brands have kicked up so much buzz and, more than that, what makes their clothes so great. You can read the story here.
Other things worth knowing about:
Thirty years ago, comedian and actor Tig Notaro didn’t have a clear direction in life, so she followed some childhood friends who wanted to get into entertainment to Los Angeles. Secretly wanting to do stand-up, Notaro decided to try her luck at various outlets in town, which became the start of her successful career.
“I stayed on my friends’ couch near the Hollywood Improv on Melrose, and a couple months later, got my own studio apartment in the Miracle Mile area,” Notaro says. “I love all the options for everything in L.A. — the entertainment, the restaurants. I like to stay active. So many people love the hiking options in Los Angeles, and I’m one of them.”
In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.
Notaro appears in Season 3 of Apple TV’s “The Morning Show” and is a series regular on Paramount+’s “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy,” as she was on “Star Trek: Discovery.” She’s also a touring stand-up comic and hosts “Handsome,” a comedy podcast, with Fortune Feimster and Mae Martin. The trio will be taping a live show May 4 at the Wiltern with the cast of Netflix’s “The Hunting Wives.” The live shows include interviews, but also “incorporate some ridiculous things,” she says. For example, upon hearing that some of the hosts always wanted to learn to tap dance, Notaro “hired a tap instructor to come to our live show in Austin and teach us how to tap dance in front of the audience.”
Notaro lives near Hollywood with her wife, actor Stephanie Allynne, their 9-year-old fraternal twin boys, Max and Finn, and three cats, Fluff, Linus and Skip. When she’s not touring, her ideal Sundays include sampling vegan restaurants, wandering through bookstores or museums, and doing something physically active with the family.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for length and clarity.
6 a.m.: Up with the kids
Because we have active children, we still wake up at 6 a.m. or 6:30 a.m. on Sunday, but there’s not as much of a rush to get going. Stephanie and I will often have coffee and chat in the living room together. I love that part of the day. Stephanie may cook breakfast, but Max and Finn are pretty self-sufficient and can make certain little meals for themselves. Max is really starting to take an interest in cooking, so he’d make breakfast for himself. Our family is vegan, but he eats eggs, so he makes himself an egg sandwich with avocado a lot of times.
9 a.m.: Daily morning walk
After breakfast, we usually have a morning walk around our neighborhood. That’s a daily thing I like to do, regardless of what’s going on. Now that I’m not touring as much, tennis is back on the schedule. So I’d go to Plummer Park in West Hollywood and play for a while, then join the family for lunch.
11:30 a.m.: Hike with a side of chickpea sandwich
I love Trails, a cafe in Griffith Park, where you can eat outdoors. It serves simple food, and has good vegan options. I usually get their chickpea salad sandwich. The food there is great. Afterward, we’d visit Griffith Observatory, where there’s lots to see. There are lots of great trails in the park, so we’d go for an hour hike before leaving.
3 p.m.: Browse the shelves for rock biographies
Bookstores are fun, so we’d head downtown for the Last Bookstore, which is in a historic building with lots of vintage books. I really love all things plant-based, and I’m a very big music fanatic. So I love to look for vegan books, nutrition books, rock biographies and autobiographies. It’s just fun to browse around the stacks.
If we didn’t go to the bookstore, we’d probably go to LACMA. Our sons are huge fans of art and want to go for each new exhibit. They love Hockney, Basquiat and Picasso, to name a few.
4 p.m.: Cuddle with cuties at a cat cafe
We’d then make a quick stop at [Crumbs & Whiskers], a kitten and cat cafe on Melrose for coffee, snacks and to pet the cats. It’s best to make reservations in advance. There’s cats all around the place that need to be adopted. You can visit and pet them, or find a new roommate. I’d love to take some home, but we already have three.
5:30 p.m. Italian or sushi, but make it vegan
We’re an early dinner family. One restaurant we like is Pura Vita in West Hollywood. It’s the greatest vegan Italian food, and for non-vegans, nobody ever knows the difference. It’s the first 100% plant-based Italian restaurant in the United States. They make an incredible kale salad and I love the San Gennaro pizza. It’s got cashew mozzarella, tomato sauce, Italian sausage crumble and more.
Then there’s Planta in Marina del Rey. It’s right on the harbor and you can sit outside and look at the boats coming in and out. They have sushi, salads and other plant-based entrees. They’ve got a really great spicy tuna roll that’s made out of watermelon. They are magicians.
Or there’s Crossroads Kitchen in West Hollywood. They play the best classic rock, and the atmosphere is upscale, fine dining. The appetizers that we always get are called Moroccan Cigars, which are vegan meat substitutes fried in a rolled batter. I really like the grilled lion’s mane steak, their mushroom steak with truffle potatoes, or the scallopini Milanese, that has a chicken or tofu option. I get the chicken with arugula on top. I always love to have a decaf espresso with dessert, which is either a brownie sundae or banana pudding.
7:30 p.m.: Comfort watch or word games
After dinner, the kids often like to watch an episode of “Friends,” a show that all ages enjoy, sports or “The Simpsons.” Or we’d play a game where each of us will add a word to a sentence and create a weird or funny long sentence until one of our sons says period. Then they’ll try and remember the whole sentence and repeat it back.
9:30 p.m.: Bubble bath then bed
The boys usually go to bed at 8:30 p.m. and bedtime for us is 9:30 p.m. Stephanie and I would read or chat. I like to take a bubble bath, if people must know. The best Sundays for me mean finding a good balance of relaxing and being active. I feel very lucky that my family and I can do those things together.
When Marian Sherry Lurio and Jonathan Buffington Nguyen met at a mutual friend’s wedding at Higgins Lake, Mich., in July 2022, both felt an immediate chemistry. As the evening progressed, they sat on the shore of the lake in Adirondack chairs under the stars, where they had their first kiss before joining others for a midnight plunge.
The two learned that the following weekend Ms. Lurio planned to attend a wedding in Philadelphia, where Mr. Nguyen lives, and before they had even exchanged numbers, they already had a first date on the books.
“I have a vivid memory of after we first met,” Mr. Nguyen said, “just feeling like I really better not screw this up.”
Before long, they were commuting between Philadelphia and New York City, where Ms. Lurio lives, spending weekends and the odd remote work days in one another’s apartments in Philadelphia and Manhattan. Within the first six months of dating, Mr. Nguyen joined Ms. Lurio’s family for Thanksgiving in Villanova, Pa., and, the following month, she met his family in Beavercreek, Ohio, at a surprise birthday party for Mr. Nguyen’s mother.
Ms. Lurio, 32, who grew up in Merion Station outside Philadelphia, works in investor relations administration at Flexpoint Ford, a private equity firm. She graduated from Dartmouth College with a bachelor’s degree in history and psychology.
Mr. Nguyen, also 32, was born in Knoxville, Tenn., and raised in Beavercreek, Ohio, from the age of 7. He graduated from Haverford College with a bachelor’s degree in political science and is now a director at Doyle Real Estate Advisors in Philadelphia.
Their long-distance relationship continued for the next few years. There were dates in Manhattan, vacations and beach trips to the Jersey Shore. They attended sporting events and discovered their shared appreciation of the 2003 film, “Love Actually.”
One evening, Mr. Nguyen recalled looking around Ms. Lurio’s small New York studio — strewed with clothes and the takeout meal they had ordered — and feeling “so comfortable and safe.” “I knew that this was something different than just sort of a fling,” he said.
It was an open question when they would move in together. In 2024, Ms. Lurio began the process of moving into Mr. Nguyen’s home in Philadelphia — even bringing her cat, Scott — but her plans changed midway when an opportunity arose to expand her role with her current employer.
Mr. Nguyen was on board with her decision. “It almost feels like stolen valor to call it ‘long distance,’ because it’s so easy from Philadelphia to New York,” Mr. Nguyen said. “The joke is, it’s easier to get to Philly from New York than to get to some parts of Brooklyn from Manhattan, right?”
In January 2025, Mr. Nguyen visited Ms. Lurio in New York with more up his sleeve than spending the weekend. Together they had discussed marriage and bespoke rings, but when Mr. Nguyen left Ms. Lurio and an unfinished cheese plate at the bar of the Chelsea Hotel that Friday evening, she had no idea what was coming next.
“I remember texting Jonathan,” Ms. Lurio said, bewildered: “‘You didn’t go toward the bathroom!’” When a Lobby Bar server came and asked her to come outside, Ms. Lurio still didn’t realize what was happening until she was standing in the hallway, where Mr. Nguyen stood recreating a key moment from the film “Love Actually,” in which one character silently professes his love for another in writing by flashing a series of cue cards. There, in the storied Chelsea Hotel hallway still festooned with Christmas decorations, Mr. Nguyen shared his last card that said, “Will you marry me?”
They wed on April 11 in front of 200 guests at the Pump House, a covered space on the banks of Philadelphia’s Schuylkill River. Mr. Nguyen’s sister, the Rev. Elizabeth Nguyen, who is ordained through the Unitarian Universalist Association, officiated.
Although formal attire was suggested, Ms. Lurio said that the ceremony was “pretty casual.” She and Jonathan got ready together, and their families served as their wedding parties.
“I said I wanted a five-minute wedding,” Ms. Lurio recalled, though the ceremony ended up lasting a little longer than that. During the ceremony, Ms. Nguyen read a homily and jokingly added that guests should not ask the bride and groom about their living arrangements, which will remain separate for the foreseeable future.
While watching Ms. Lurio walk down the aisle, flanked by her parents, Mr. Nguyen said he remembered feeling at once grounded in the moment and also a sense of dazed joy: “Like, is this real? I felt very lucky in that moment — and also just excited for the party to start!”
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