30 Dates Of Nights: 4

30 Dates Of Nights: 4

The L.A. Times released this article about eight dates under $25 in Los Angeles. While I was a bit surprised that I had already done a couple from that list without knowing it was such a normal date thing to do, I wasn't happy that they would only offer up eight ideas. So I'm making my own list. So far we've gone through 3 options of economically friendly fun dates. Some of these are things I've done and enjoyed. Some are just ideas of things that would be great date options.

Kogi And The Pier

If there's one thing I have admitted to being addicted to, it's Tacos. I love my street food like no ones business. There's something special about food being cooked right in front of you. As for health concerns, seriously, don't worry. They're there to try to make a living. Repeat customers are what they want. So while it may not look as clean, you shouldn't ask how sausage is made.



The Santa Monica Pier is a bit of a cliche date but it's cheap and has a lot of fun date potential. Parking is about $5 in the beach side parking or you could just park on Ocean somewhere and walk down the ramp onto the pier. It has been going through a lot of changes lately.

On the Pier you'll find an old style Arcade with plenty of fun games for the two of you to enjoy. Ski Ball and Air Hockey. Tickets dispense in that old fashion way after games but who's going to spend all that money for a plastic comb or fake mustache? Best to just enjoy the friendly competition with each other. Make a bet on the games. It'll add a little kick to things.



I'm a sucker for Photo Booths. They're great and their dirt cheap. $3 for a couple of silly faces. The arcade has one and it's typically forgotten by the youth today. It's really cliche, I know. But it's cute in a way. So let yourself go and you'll have a picture that captured the evening.

Also on the pier is Bubba Gumps. A really generic chain restaurant but it has a good advantage - It serves alcohol without a cover. Head on over after or before (if you want to make ski ball even more interesting) the arcade experience and you'll put a little sauce into your systems.

To round out the evening you can take advantage of what a pier is all about, extending land over ocean and walk to the end of it. Look over the edge and see nothing, then look over at the smile on your date and things will be pretty peachy.



While you're in the Santa Monica area, the second part of this date is more of a game of Where's Waldo in search of the Kogi Taco truck. Kogi is a Korean Taco truck that was so good I had to write about them. They're sweeping the scene as a new hip 2.0 taco truck. Not many taco trucks can say they have their own website and not many taco trucks offer something completely different and good all at the same time.

To sum them up, they make tacos with a Korean kick. Using short ribs and spicy chicken and pork the taste is out of the world. Finding them is also an adventure in itself as they have a few spots they go to. It's sort of like a puzzle you'll have putting together. If you want some clues you can follow their exploits on twitter to find their latest locations.



Once you do track them down, for the sake of this date, I'd advise for the Venice location most nights after 10pm at the Brig, you'll have a good time trying to come up with how you're going to tackle the meal. Get your order in, get your food and go sit by the curb, you'll be surprised how good hot food on a cool night with a beautiful date can be.

You wont even care if the breath smells of kimchee from the kimchee quesadillas. The food will hit the spot and since this is an up and coming craze, you'll both share something that will eventually be as big as, say In-N-Out. Ok, maybe in 40 years time. But hey, it's the time shared and the good food and moments treasured



A walk on the boardwalk and some new fusion tacos. Total cost comes to a low price depending on if you get the alcohol on the pier or not. Taco truck shouldn't be more than $15 and the games on the boardwalk are a couple of bucks. You'll treasure the late night moment together and have filled bellies.

30 Dates Of Nights: 1

30 Dates Of Nights: 1

The L.A. Times released this article about eight dates under $25 in Los Angeles. While I was a bit surprised that I had already done a couple from that list without knowing it was such a normal date thing to do, I wasn't happy that they would only offer up eight ideas. Call me creative but I think I could come up with a lot more than eight. Hell, give me a minute and I'll book you up for an entire month.

Perhaps it's because the L.A. Times is just facing hard times and laying off many that their employees could actually use the list of $25 and under dates. That's not bad at all. I think with the economy the way that it is and the fact that you don't want to just go around pissing money away, $25 and under dates can be fun if they're creative enough. Maybe I'm just a half way decent planner and a bit creative but here's 30 dates you could go on.

Why 30 dates? Well, I needed a witty title and theme for the blog and all I could think of was the comic book 30 days of night and the idea that Jesus did his desert wandering for 40 days. I picked the one that had more believability to it.

Also, I do not like Valentines Day. I think it's rather silly to put that much effort into one day when everyone else is putting the same amount on the very same day. It loses meaning when everyone else is doing the same exact thing. But that's a subject for another day. So please, don't do any of these on Valentines Day. Not because it's cheap but because I'd rather you do nothing on Valentines Day to rebel against the Hallmark Holiday. If you're going to use these ideas at least do them when they're least expected. The surprise will go a long way on actually surprising them.


Beach Bonfire

It's not the safest thing in the world to do but if you're so inclined to play with fire, may I suggest you take it away from the Parks and Forest areas and keep it near water? In this case, the beach is a wonderful place to keep these potentially out of control blazes confined to.

It's not very known but you there is a couple of beaches on the Southern California coast that actually allow you to have a bonfire. Dockweiler Beach in Playa Del Rey is one of them. West and East of Balboa Pier in New Port Beach is another good location with less airplane noise but more OC smugness.



For your outing you will need the following items:

Some fire wood - $5 for a few bundles
Bag of Marshmellows - $2.00
Some Chocolate bar to cut up - $1.00
A Box of Graham Crackers - $2.00
Various small amounts of meat to grill up - $5
Some Hot Chocolate/ Drinks - $5
Beach Parking - $5 (unless you want to make it a "romantic" walk from the free road parking)
Total = $20-25

With any Beach location you're going to have to get their a bit early to stake your claim on the often in demand concrete fire pit. Bring some chairs or just use a log to sit on, a beach towel or blanket to keep you warm if the fire doesn't and you have yourself the view of the ocean on one side, lights on a hill on the other and the ever so often noise of a plane flying by. Believe me, it wont effect the mood.

The key here is that it's all covered in the fire pit there. Your food will cook over the open flame which also provides some essential warmth. The key to the food is trying to come up with some sort of contraption to hold up whatever meat you picked to cook. Remember, it's a date. So you shouldn't need more than a pound or two of whatever to cook up.



Setting up the firewood is the key here. Pretend they're like Lincoln logs and just stack them up and light the middle. All you have to do is simply learn how to start a fire and keep it going. It's so easy a caveman can do it. Well, maybe they couldn't get the whole fire thing down for a couple centuries. But once they did they stopped having to drag their potential wives by their hair and just let the s'mores do the talking.

Eventually the camp fire burns out and you're left there on the beach with the stars above you, the ocean sound constantly in the background and an evening spent talking about anything, complaining together about the sand getting everywhere and happily stuffed with s'mores and other treats all for an inexpensive but very rewarding and enriching adventure.