Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Saturday, Oct. 21. Here’s what you need to know to start your weekend:
- Speed dating is having a revival. How to take advantage in L.A.
- A warm, wet El Niño winter is in store for California
- 8 takeaways from Britney Spears’ new memoir
- And here’s today’s e-newspaper
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Young people are making speed dating cool again
It might seem unexpected that speed dating is seeing a revival in L.A., but as our reporter Kailyn Brown writes, it has a long history here.
The first documented speed dating event took place in 1998 at a Peet’s Coffee & Tea in Beverly Hills. Orthodox Rabbi Yaacov Deyo and a few of his friends came up with the method, which they thought would be a fun and efficient way for Jewish singles to find partners.
A lot has changed in the dating world since then, especially with the rise of apps like Tinder and Bumble. A recent Pew Research Center study found 1 in 5 partnered adults under 30 had met their partner on a dating app or site. Though they may seem ubiquitous, the experience of using a dating app is still less than ideal. Three in 10 U.S. adults say they have ever used a dating site or app. But when the coronavirus shut the world down in March 2020, “people who swore they’d never online date were converted overnight,” Damona Hoffman, an L.A-based certified dating coach, told Kailyn.
The Pew study also found that 45% of people who used them said dating apps left them feeling more frustrated than hopeful. “The rate at which people download and delete dating apps is second only to online gambling,” the Guardian’s Annie Lord reported.
Now, people who had zero interest in speed dating are trying it.
Tantra Speed Date events let singles connect through methods including yoga, improv and eye gazing — online as well as in person.
(JJ Geiger / For The Times)
Every month in Los Angeles, you can find local events for several age groups, gamers, queer folks, anime enthusiasts, various relationship dynamics, people within the BDSM community and more.
Tantra Speed Date offers one of several styles of mixers that have found a foothold here. With the Tantra experience, singles can get to know each other through connection exercises from various practices, such as meditation, partner yoga, improv acting, eye gazing and dance. The activities can be done both in person and online.
Then there’s ice bath speed dating. (Yes, people really do this.) Instead of meeting at bars, the novel speed dating experiment at IcePass L.A. in Venice allows people to take three-minute plunges into tubs of ice, and ask each other questions like “What does love mean to you?” and “When do you feel most alive?”
Ice bath mixers in Venice pair singles off in tubs of freezing water for three minutes of deep questions, like “When do you feel most alive?”
(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
These ice bath events, also known as cold water therapy, have benefits beyond bonding speed daters. There are theories about ice baths reducing stress and increasing dopamine, which can improve one’s mood, but there are also dangers for those with heart issues.
Speed dating might not be the answer to all your dating woes. But since it’s having a resurgence, strike while the iron is hot (or while the ice is cold).
If you’re nervous or still on the fence about going to a speed dating event in L.A., Kailyn has some tips for how to make it a fun experience.
The week’s biggest stories
Palestinian casualties continue to climb in the Gaza Strip from Israel’s ongoing bombing since Hamas’ attack two weeks ago.
(Ali Jadallah / Anadolu via Getty Images)
War in the Middle East
Politics
Climate and environment
More big stories
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Column One
Column One is The Times’ home for narrative and long–form journalism. Here’s a great piece from this week:
(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
A 19th century massacre, mostly forgotten, clouds plans for a shimmering tribal casino. Does the flashy new gambling hall, hotel and entertainment center honor or desecrate the past?
More great reads
How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com.
For your weekend
Transport from modern-day L.A. to Japan’s Edo period with a visit to a rebuilt farming village residence on the Huntington grounds in San Marino.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Going out
Staying in
L.A. Affairs
Get wrapped up in tantalizing stories about dating, relationships and marriage.
(Illustration by Keith Alexander Lee / For The Times)
My date with a genius became a lecture series with no escape in sight. She met a scientist on eHarmony and thought there might be a connection. But his affinity for all things mathematical was a turnoff.
Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Elvia Limón, multiplatform editor
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters
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