Sunday Funday in L.A. with Adam Conover: birdwatching, soccer and no cars
Good Sunday #GoodSunday
In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.
Adam Conover has ruined weddings, the suburbs, sitcoms, college, personality tests and TurboTax. Now the investigative comedian and host of “Adam Ruins Everything” is out to ruin another thing: the assumption that you need a car to live a fulfilled life in Los Angeles. Conover hated driving since the day he moved from New York to L.A. in 2014, but his disdain reached a breaking point when he nearly hit a bicyclist. “People were honking at me and I got all frazzled and I was like, ‘This is ruining my life,’” he says.
He decided to see if it was possible to take public transportation to work, and it was. (A DASH bus ride costs less than a buck.) Today, Conover walks or takes public transit just about everywhere. He’s an evangelist for programs like Metro Micro, an L.A. country-run service that’s similar to Uber and Lyft but only costs $1 per ride. (In a review of the experience on TikTok, he says, “The best part is I didn’t get nauseous riding around in the back of some weird Uber dude’s Kia Sorento.”)
Here’s how Conover would spend his ideal Sunday in L.A. His responses have been edited for length and clarity.
7:15 a.m.: Practice slow mornings
I wake up, put on a couple records and start slowly with some tea. I read the Sunday L.A. Times in paper format and listen to Sunday morning music. I like these two musicians, Sam Wilkes and Sam Gendel. They make this sort of wobbly, quiet kind of relaxed jazz that has a wonderful beat to it. It’s really good “getting your day started” music.
7:45 a.m.: Make breakfast
I’ll make a frittata for myself and my girlfriend in a big cast-iron type of thing. Or I’ll make some oatmeal in a rice cooker.
9 a.m.: Go birdwatching
A habit I started developing during the pandemic was going on long runs. I live a couple of miles away from the L.A. River — the Glendale Narrows part. I run to the Sunnynook Bridge across the river. I bring a pair of mini binoculars with me. Birdwatching in that spot is incredible. It’s a spot that people think of as industrial and not very pretty, but I’ve seen dozens and dozens of bird species there: great blue herons, great egrets, snowy egrets, black-crowned night herons. I was very excited because I once saw a wood duck there, which is a very beautiful kind of duck.
The most exciting bird I saw recently was a kestrel, which is a small bird of prey. And it was perched on a branch for a long time and it took me a long time to identify. It’s really remarkable to me that there are so many species within a very close distance of my house in this river that a lot of people think is, like, not even a river.
1 p.m.: Get a haircut
The Metro Micro stops just a couple blocks from my house, and I can take it to my barbershop and back for a dollar each way. And, you know, I’ll be honest: I like to get a little bit high before I go to my barber and just sort of chill out and watch the city roll by, get to look out the window. You know what I mean?
3 p.m.: Catch a soccer game (next season!)
I’m a season-ticket holder at LAFC. I have two tickets, and I invite a different friend every week. I honestly couldn’t have cared less about soccer until I started following this team.
What I like about it is that you can take public transportation to the game. And then when you get off the train, you walk through Exposition Park, this beautiful rose garden. And then as you get close to Banc of California stadium, you start hearing the drums and the cheering and everything. And then it’s just like you’re in the happiest place in L.A. The vibes are so good. That stadium is just so well done. The seats are so good. The food is good. It’s just a night out done right. You never feel ripped off. You never feel like cattle. If you were an alien who came to L.A. for the first time and you went to an LAFC game, you’d say, “Oh, this is the most popular team in Los Angeles. Look how excited people are!” You go to a Dodgers game and there are a lot more people there, but no one is quite at that level.
6 p.m.: Take the subway home
A nice thing about soccer games is they’re only 90 minutes long, plus halftime. It’s a nice, short experience.
6:30 p.m.: Try something spicy for dinner
My favorite place to eat in L.A. is, hands down, Sichuan Impression in Alhambra. It’s the best food I’ve ever had and the best food in Los Angeles, I think. They have stir-fried lamb with cumin, which is incredibly flavorful. And there’s a stir-fried chili chicken dish — breaded chicken pieces in really spicy chiles. And then there are these dumpling wontons in red chili sauce that are really incredible. You get a lot of that numbing sensation, that peppercorn flavor, and it’s just heaven.
8:30: Take an evening stroll around the neighborhood
My girlfriend and I will walk our dog around the neighborhood, which is really nice. Sometimes we’ll walk up to Jeni’s Ice Creams in Los Feliz. One of the things I love about Los Feliz is that it’s a really walkable neighborhood. And for L.A., there’s a lot of street culture. Like the other day, we were walking around and someone had a mariachi band in their front courtyard, and we got to watch them play a little bit. And there are just people hanging out and having a good time. It’s a really nice neighborhood for that kind of thing.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.