A first date in Downtown Los Angeles comes with options most cities cannot match. You can eat dinner 71 floors above street level, browse 22,000 square feet of rare books, or find a speakeasy hidden behind a 100-year-old sandwich counter. The neighborhood rewards effort and punishes laziness in equal measure. Picking the wrong spot does not ruin everything, but picking the right one can set a tone that carries the whole night forward.
DTLA packs a dense collection of restaurants, bars, museums, and oddities into a walkable grid. The best dates here tend to involve movement—going from one place to another, letting the conversation shift with the scenery. What follows is a breakdown of where to go and what to expect when you get there.
Skyline Tables and First-Date Pressure
Downtown Los Angeles has restaurants where the view does half the work. 71Above sits almost 1,000 feet up in the U.S. Bank Tower, offering 360-degree sightlines and a prix-fixe dinner at $103 per person. Perch LA, a French-inspired rooftop bistro spanning the 15th and 16th floors, adds two outdoor fireplaces and live music to the equation. These spots carry a certain weight, and the dress codes enforce it: no athletic wear, no flip-flops, no baseball caps after 4pm.
The setting matters less than the conversation, but some people find it easier to talk when the room feels intentional. Dating a rich man might land you at places like these more often, though the food and the company still determine how the night goes. Both 71Above and Perch draw an after-work crowd that skews professional, so expect a room full of people who showed up dressed for something.
71Above operates Monday through Sunday with varying hours, closing at 9pm on weekdays and 10pm on weekends. Perch runs a happy hour from 4pm to 6pm on weekdays, and the rooftop terrace on the 16th floor stays open late with DJ sets and live bands. Both require reservations for dinner service.
Food Halls and Low Stakes
Grand Central Market has operated since 1917, and it remains one of the easiest places to take someone when you do not know their taste yet. Over 40 vendors fill a 30,000-square-foot space, selling tacos, ramen, Thai food, egg sandwiches, and fresh produce. The market runs from 8am to 9pm every day.
The setup works well for a casual afternoon date. You can walk the aisles, order from different stalls, and share plates at communal tables. The noise level runs high, which either helps or hurts, depending on how the conversation is going. Nobody dresses up here. The crowd skews younger on weekends and more local on weekday mornings.
Books and the Bank Vault
The Last Bookstore occupies a former bank at 453 South Spring Street. The main floor stretches 22,000 square feet, filled with used and new books, vinyl records, marble pillars, and high ceilings. A tunnel made of books sits on the second floor, along with sections for rare editions and a reading room that stays quiet even on busy afternoons.
The store opened in 2005 and expanded to a second location in Studio City in December 2024. DTLA hours are 11am to 8pm daily. As a date spot, it works best when paired with something else—coffee before or drinks after. You can spend 30 minutes here or two hours, depending on how much you both like to browse.
Art Without Admission Fees
The Broad offers free general admission and holds 2,000 works of postwar and contemporary art. The building, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, sits on Grand Avenue. Inside, you will find pieces by Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jeff Koons, and Yayoi Kusama, including two of Kusama’s mirror rooms.
The A current exhibition, Robert Therrien: This Is a Story, opened in November 2025 and runs through April 2026. The museum also broke ground on a major expansion in April 2025.
Hours are Tuesday through Friday from 11am to 5pm, with late hours until 8pm on Thursday. Saturday and Sunday run 10am to 6pm. Closed Mondays. Reserve timed tickets in advance online. The museum fills up quickly on weekends, and showing up without a reservation usually means waiting outside.
The Arts District Dinner Circuit
Bestia opened in 2012 in an industrial warehouse and has held its reputation since. The menu covers pasta, pizza, and large charcuterie boards. Reservations fill weeks in advance. Bavel, from the same team, serves Middle Eastern food a few blocks away. Both restaurants run efficiently and pack their dining rooms most nights.
The Arts District itself sits east of downtown, and the Hauser & Wirth art complex anchors the neighborhood at 901 East 3rd Street. The building, a restored industrial structure from the 1890s, opened in 2016. You can walk through the gallery before or after dinner without paying admission.
Little Tokyo After Dark
Little Tokyo covers five blocks and holds more restaurants per square foot than most neighborhoods in Los Angeles. The area was established in 1855 and remains one of three Japantowns left in the country.
Sushi Gen appears on most local sushi guides and still operates like a neighborhood spot despite the attention. Expect a wait without a reservation. Beyond sushi, the blocks contain curry specialists, noodle shops, and streetwear vendors. The neighborhood works well for a walking date where you stop multiple times.
Hidden Bars and Speakeasy Formats
The Varnish used to sit behind an unmarked door at the back of Cole’s, a 100-year-old sandwich spot. The cocktail menu changed, and the bartenders knew what they are doing. The room was small, so seats filled up fast on weekends.
Seven Grand is a whiskey bar with a secondary room called Bar Jackalope, where you can order rare pours and smoke cigars on the patio. The Obscure, located in the ArtsDistrict, runs a guided cocktail service lasting 90 to 120 minutes. The format involves candlelight and themed presentations.
These bars work better later in the night, after you have already eaten somewhere and want to keep the evening going. They do not suit early dates where neither person knows what the other drinks.
Movies on a Rooftop
Rooftop Cinema Club DTLA operates on the fourth-floor terrace of the Level Hotel at 888 South Olive Street. The setup includes personal headphones, a large screen, and a view of the skyline. Programming covers new releases, older films, and themed nights like Wine Wednesday.
The timing works in your favor if you arrive for sunset. You can watch the light fade over downtown before the movie starts. Bring a jacket—the evenings cool off more than you expect.
How to Structure the Night
The best DTLA dates tend to involve two or three stops. Start at Grand Central Market or The Last Bookstore, move to dinner in the Arts District or Little Tokyo, and end at a bar like dearly departed Varnish. Alternatively, start with drinks at Perch, have dinner at 71Above, and walk the downtown blocks after.
The neighborhood rewards planning. Reservations matter at most sit-down restaurants. Parking is easier in structures than on the street. Walking between spots is usually faster than driving, and most locations sit within a 15-minute radius of each other.
Pick places that give you something to talk about. A view helps. A book tunnel helps. A good cocktail menu helps.
Dating in DTLA works best when you treat the neighborhood as part of the experience rather than just a backdrop. The mix of views, food, culture, and walkability allows a date to unfold naturally instead of feeling locked into one setting. Whether you keep things casual or lean into something more elevated, the right sequence of stops can shape the entire night. Plan ahead, stay flexible, and let the city do what it does best—give you plenty of reasons to keep the conversation moving.
