L.A. is hungry for connection. How to find — and keep — true friends amid the flakes

Los Angeles has a bad reputation when it comes to building meaningful friendships. The urban sprawl is filled with plenty of sunshine but too many empty promises of “Let’s hang soon� and the kind of soul-crushing traffic that makes you not want to meet up.

So when you find people who nourish you, are quick to lend a hand, don’t mind a drive or are always down, it feels thrilling. You’ve struck diamonds in a pile of cubic zirconias. Then people move away to buy a house in Joshua Tree or work on a long-term show in Atlanta or get busy with kids or caring for an ailing family member. And you have to start diamond mining all over again.

In this limited series, we explore friendships in Los Angeles, from the superficial to the life-changing. We provide suggestions on how to make friends and where to spend time hanging out as well as share refreshing stories of how the pandemic deepened relationships, both new and old.

We all need connection more than ever. Let’s be friends.