Ten WhatsApp groups moderated by long-term LA residents. Whoever you are, whenever you arrive, a community is already waiting. You will never stay alone in LA.
Back in late 2021, a group of us sitting on a Silver Lake patio realised something simple: this city is famous for being hard to make friends in, and it did not have to be. So we started a WhatsApp group called "New to LA" and added anyone we met who had just moved here.
Within weeks it was 80 people. By early 2022 it had hit 250 - the WhatsApp group limit at the time - and we had to split it. Beach people wanted sunrise-run talk. Entertainment-industry transplants wanted coworking meetups. Parents wanted pediatrician recommendations. The one group became three, then five, then ten.
Ten WhatsApp communities, each capped around 250 members, each moderated by 2 to 4 long-term Angelenos. When you reach out, a human reads your message, checks which group fits, and adds you. We do not use bots, we do not sell numbers, we do not run ads in the chats.
It is a labor of love, paid for by the occasional restaurant that sponsors a members-only dinner and by a small number of members who buy us coffee when they can. That is it.
A rotating team of 12 moderators across Venice, Los Feliz, Malibu, Santa Monica and West Hollywood. Half of us have been in LA 5+ years, half arrived in the last 18 months. We are not a business. We do not have an office. We meet for dinner every 6 weeks in different neighborhoods to keep sane.
Communities
Active members
Running since