Although there are millions of fish in the Los Angeles sea, it still seems harder than ever to connect with someone in a digitally-dominated dating world.
To fight back against screen and swipe fatigue, dating platform Paloma is hosting the inaugural Date Week LA, a Westside-concentrated series of events designed to bring singles together organically. Beginning Friday with a pre-party at the Penmar in Venice and a Saturday singles bash at Venice’s Hotel Erwin, Paloma partnered with businesses across Santa Monica, Venice and the Westside on the endeavor.
"There has been a huge uptick in desire for people to meet in real life, to meet through an activity, to get out there … in the real world," Paloma Founder and CEO Luba Yudasina said. "We thought that it’s a huge opportunity for local businesses and organizations to collaborate and put on singles events."
With the rise of what Yudasina called "swiping culture" dominating the past decade of dating, she added that people are starting to tire of the lack of "authenticity and realization" within the digital age.
"It propagated some negative things with behaviors such as treating everyone like a swipeable option … but it feels really tiring to sift through all the profiles and filters," she said. "Dating feels like a chore, it feels like a full-time job that you need to have and do outside of your regular job."
The Paloma team brainstormed ideas for events outside the typical speed dating scene, eventually picking several Santa Monica spots. On October 7, SoulCycle Santa Monica hosts a Singles Spin Class, a 45-minute class that creates a lively social atmosphere. Other physical activities include "Reps & Romance" at Barry’s on October 8, multiple classes at Coreology, sessions at F45 and DMN8, and a "singles circuit" at Fitstop.
For those not feeling a workout, singles meetups will be happening throughout the week at places like Tavern on Main, June Shine, Lanea and 1212. Venice’s events also add to the variety, including a special "Dating In LA" comedy show at The Rose Room on October 10.
Yudasina stated that part of LA’s dating culture is that it is hard to coordinate dates with people living in different parts of the city, making it important to keep the events in one concentrated space.
"I feel like the Westside is kind of the popular site to have a lot of social activities … that’s just been the case with my own experience … so we’ve just intentionally prioritized one area to be more compact," Yudasina said.
The wide breadth of events, she added, is to cater to everyone’s hobbies and interests, rather than the seemingly never-ending cycle of speed dating events that pop up in the area.
"There is oftentimes a lot of pressure of [doing] icebreakers [to] connect, and it sometimes seems inorganic," Yudasina said. "But meeting people through an activity where you’re doing something together, the pressure is kind of off."
To view the complete list of Date Week events, visit the site here.
thomas@smdp.com
