Quote from: Spinachcat;719813Compared to the SF Bay Area, the LA gaming scene sucks donkey balls. The great weather, the innumerable entertainment options and the transient nature of SoCal all contribute to much flakier, less coherent gaming groups. It's a big complaint among GMs I know, but I know a couple whose crews are all natives who have been together for decades. But they are much more rare than in NorCal.

That's a shame - then again LA does have a lot of stuff to do. I still need to see Thrilling Adventure Hour live at Largo.

My wife has a lot of nerd-type friends down there - I'll probably just run a game for them.

Mine would be a re-imagining of my favorite comic book store from my kidhood.
It's kind of dark and musty... funky colored walls with black-lite posters and old rock music blaring (though one room has jazz). A colorful clientele who support a WIDE variety of merchandise. For those willing to dig through the voluminous shelving (it takes up several store fronts) just about anything from the past several decades can be found... comics, movies, music, games, miniatures... maybe a smattering of porn and drug paraphernalia.
There's no immediately discernible system to how things are organized... it will take several visits before you begin to discover half of what the place has to offer.

It's not all on the same level... parts are up on wooden platforms reached by rickety stairs. Different parts of the store have a distinct vibe to them.
There are lots of couches and chairs scattered around the place.

The front area near the cash register is carpet in thick green shag carpeting.
The place is run by a wizened old hippie guy who is only in the store on Wednesdays, the rest of the time it's manned by a German dwarf and his girlfriend who is a tall blond woman who is always wearing a black tank-top and a tattoo on her arm that says 'Jimmy' (not the name of the dwarf).

It opens at noon and closes at 10pm.
Discerning people fly in from all over the world to shop there.
There's a place across the parking lot that makes amazing Indian street food and another that has the best eggplant Parmesan sandwich I ever ate.

Quote from: Haffrung;718986My local seems to be doing pretty well. 13,000 square feet standalone building. Stocks multiple copies of every RPG book, euro game, wargame, CCG, and miniature published in North America. Fantasy and SF novels. Has tens of thousands of out of print items. Enough table space for 70 or 80 gamers. Place is packed every weekend.

Testimonial video

Sentry Box tour

If you're looking for the gold standard of FLGs, that's it. Hint: own the building.

That's a thing of beauty. And probably the only way to get me to no longer order everything online.