Single in the City

Forbes (by way of jozjozjoz) declares Los Angeles the nation's sixth-best city for singles. Just Denver/Boulder, Washington/Baltimore, Austin, Atlanta and Boston fare better.

I'd have to agree that L.A.'s nightlife has dramatically improved in recent years. But let's face it, it's still tough to meet people in a town where chance encounters are tough to come by. (Of course, that didn't stop Maria and me... as you may or may not know, we met completely by chance at the Good Luck Bar in Los Feliz.)

Here's a sampling of Forbes' write-up on L.A.:

Credit a slightly more reasonable cost of living and a slightly juicier job market. Yes, buying a house is more outrageously expensive than ever, but renting is relatively cheap: a bungalow in, say, Venice that would sell for $700,000 to own can be rented instead for just $1,400 a month. That should leave you with enough dough to lose yourself in the Sunset Strip's welcoming (and smoke-free) bar scene. (Ugh -- "Sunset Strip's welcoming bar scene?" Maybe in 1995. Move east, Forbes, east!) "Aspiring actor" may be code language for "waiter" but it also frequently translates as "young, beautiful Angelino who goes out a lot." And there's a massive infrastructure to support them: Only New York has more bars, nightclubs and restaurants. If you want to escape the overly hip and huddled masses, the Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall, home to the L.A. Philharmonic Association, opened its doors last year. Tickets are hard to get, but fortunately, the Hollywood Bowl is still doing its classical and jazz concert series each summer. Gas here is expensive and traffic delays plentiful, but you needn't be a slave to your car if you're jockeying a desk downtown. Find an apartment in gentrifying neighborhoods near downtown, like Silver Lake and Koreatown. Or discover the city's light rail service to Manhattan Beach.