14 Unique First Date Ideas In Los Angeles To Woo Your Potential Boo (2024)

As a resident of sunny Los Angeles, California, you’ve got a mind-boggling number of options available to you for a first date. You can choose from activities, destinations, museums, arts and culture events, and so much more. If you love the outdoors, you live near an ocean, desert, and mountains—all just a quick drive away. And if you’re more excited about trying new dishes and new cuisines, the city’s array of amazing restaurants is sure to blow your mind. Not to mention the entertainment choices, which are some of the country’s best (it’s what the City of Angels is best known for, after all).

In addition to listing 14 exciting first date ideas in Los Angeles, we’re also including several examples of Peerspace listings that would be a good fit for the setting of a first date. Peerspace is the internet’s largest marketplace for renting venues on an hourly basis, with tens of thousands of spaces across hundreds of cities around the world, not to mention thousands of listings (more than 2,600, to be exact) in Los Angeles alone! If this sounds like it might work for your first date, check out some of Los Angeles’s best venues and other creative spaces on Peerspace.

Now, let’s get to that list of first date ideas in Los Angeles! 

1. If you do go for coffee, go somewhere good

Some people prefer a lower stakes activity like going for coffee for their first date, and if that describes you and your date, that’s fine—we’d just recommend elevating the coffee date experience by going to one of Los Angeles’s best coffee bars together. We wouldn’t dare recommend just one destination, considering how many amazing coffee bars there are in this city (and how many strong opinions there are on which are the best). Instead, we’ll point you to Eater Los Angeles’s list of 19 outstanding coffee bars in LA. 

2. Put together a picnic and enjoy it at one of LA’s picturesque public parks

You live in a city that’s known for its amazing weather, so a lot of our suggested first date ideas in Los Angeles are going to involve outdoor activities. One of our favorite ways to enjoy great weather is with a picnic. Find a beautiful outdoor space, pack an array of your favorite foods and drinks (and ask your date for requests to impress them from the start!), and have a picnic for your first date. If you need suggestions for public parks to visit, we recommend referring to Time Out’s comprehensive list of their top 26 LA parks.

3. Or have your picnic at an outdoor Peerspace venue

Perhaps you haven’t found a park that really appeals to you, or you’d prefer to have more control over the space where your first date is taking place. In that case, renting an outdoor Peerspace venue (like a garden or a rooftop—here’s a list of the 8 best rooftops in LA to get you inspired) might be a better choice for your picnic. 

Curious about what’s out there? Here are some of our favorite outdoor Peerspaces in Los Angeles: 

• This enchanting rainforest event space in the city known as the WithInn, which has an instantly transportive effect: as soon as you step into this 6,000 square foot backyard, you’ll feel like you’ve been whisked away to the rainforest, despite your proximity to everything the city has to offer.
• This lovely resort-style backyard, where your picnic can also be a pool party—there’s a heated pool, a water slide, and mini golf, not to mention an idyllic koi pond to top everything off.
• This beautiful private outdoor gathering space, which has plenty of comfortable dining tables and seating as well as a stunning garden of succulents and cactuses. 

Peerspace has hundreds of outdoor event spaces in Los Angeles to choose from, so there’s sure to be a space that works for your needs.

4. Explore the 19,000 works of art at the High Museum of Art

As the largest museum of its kind in the southeast, the High Museum of Art is worth a visit for any occasion, including as a destination for a first date! Check out their current and upcoming exhibitions to see if there’s anything that might interest the two of you.

Love the idea of taking endless photos with your boo-to-be? Then check out these Instagram photoshoot ideas in Los Angeles to discover your new go-to spaces!

5. Go for a hike on one of LA’s best hiking trails

Condé Nast Traveler’s list of the 13 best hikes in Los Angeles is a great starting point as you decide where you and your date would most enjoy taking in the natural beauty and the fresh air.

6. Visit the animals at the Los Angeles Zoo

See some adorable animals at the Los Angeles Zoo.

7. Transport yourselves to Italy at the Venice Canals

One of LA’s most unique features is the Venice Canals, which are named after their better known Italian counterparts, and make a picturesque walking location for a first date.

8. Visit one of LA’s best arcades and get competitive

For this first date idea in Los Angeles, you’ll have tons of arcade options to choose from. You can go for more of a nostalgia-fueled retro gaming or a modern, immersive tech like VR. Or even try a combination of the two for a truly exciting and engaging first date!

9. Explore the gardens of the Getty Center

Some of the most beautiful sights in LA can be found at the Getty Center, which presents an impressive collection of art from ancient to modern in a stunning setting with impressive views of the city and perfectly tranquil outdoor garden spaces.

10. See a movie at one of LA’s best movie theaters

As the home of Hollywood, it makes sense that LA would also be known for its movie theaters. If you don’t have an automatic pick for your movie theater first date, here’s the LA Times’ list of the best movie theaters in the city.

Check out our unique movie viewing party ideas to make your first date even more memorable!

11. Take surfing lessons together at spots like Malibu Surf Shack

Another one of the many benefits of living in LA is your proximity to tons of stunning beaches. This means there’s also means there’s a thriving surf culture. If the two of you are adventurous, you and your date might opt to get to know each other with a surf lesson from Malibu Surf Shack, one of the top surf schools in the area.

12. Learn more about underwater life at the Aquarium of the Pacific

The Aquarium of the Pacific is Southern California’s largest aquarium, with more than 12,000 animals from the Pacific Ocean on display. One tip for planning a first date here: the aquarium offers evening events, many of them exclusively for adults, which would provide more suitable ambiance for a first date than going during the day when it’s busy.

13. Prepare a delicious meal for your date at a Peerspace with a kitchen

There’s something so romantic about cooking a meal for another person. If you have cooking skills you’d like to show off, consider doing so for your first date. If you can pull it off, you could very well convince them to plan a second date!

Peerspace offers numerous Los Angeles listings with kitchens, which would make ideal locations for homemade meals with your potential boo. Check out these examples to get you started:

• This Spanish house with a gorgeous boho kitchen in Glendale, which combines 1920s Spanish architecture with mid-century modern touches and features a recently remodeled Scandi/Boho chic kitchen. There’s also a large backyard with a modern gazebo and a dining area where you can enjoy your meal together, as well as a gravel seating area with a firepit where the two of you can sit and talk. (If you’re not yet convinced, check out its uniformly glowing reviews, which emphasize how wonderful this space and its host are.)
• This classic spacious kitchen with character in La Brea, which has an open layout that includes a working oven and stove top, both from the 1950s, as well as a large marble countertop for easy food preparation. 
• This beautiful bungalow cottage-style home with its own garden oasis, which is full of lemon, orange, and grapefruit trees and also has a pond and an outdoor fireplace. The host bills it as ideal for dinners, and when you look at the photos of this space, it’s easy to imagine enjoying a relaxed meal there.

14. Take in the panoramic views at Griffith Observatory

Some might call this suggestion “touristy,” but there’s a reason tourists and LA residents alike flock to enjoy the view from the Griffith Observatory—it’s one of the best in Los Angeles!

First date ideas in Los Angeles: conclusion

Regardless of which date idea you end up choosing, your date is certain to appreciate the fact that you’re making an effort to plan a fun date for the two of you, and reading articles like this one to get inspiration! Don’t forget that your options include renting one of the most popular venues in Los Angeles courtesy of Peerspace if you’d like to plan something extra special for your first date.

Find unique date venues in Los Angeles on Peerspace