Laura Dave Knows the Best Place in LA to Overhear a Juicy Conversation

Laura Dave follows up her blockbuster The Last Thing He Told Me with the sequel The First Time I Saw Him (Scribner), which the Santa Monica writer wrote “in coffee shops with the Pacific Ocean always in view, a constant reminder of where the story was headed.” A month later, the second season of the Apple TV adaptation, based on the thriller that sold more than five million copies and starring and executive produced by Jennifer Garner, premieres on February 20. Dave’s ability to chart her characters’ emotional geography—mapping love and loss—and the way she explores their intimate connections help explain her popularity; propulsive pacing doesn’t hurt, either.

Born in New York, Dave has lived a more sedately paced life than her characters in LA—where the new novel is partially set—for more than a decade. She and her Academy Award–winning screenwriter husband, Josh Singer, adapted the novel for the screen and are executive producers alongside Garner and Hello Sunshine’s Reese Witherspoon. Here are the haunts in Tinseltown she’s taken a shine to:

Hotel: The Hotel Bel-Air is hilly and luxurious and super private. You won’t believe you’re still in the middle of Los Angeles, less than a mile from Sunset Blvd.

For breakfast: Gjusta in Venice. My order: Their freshly baked sourdough bread, toasted, with heirloom tomatoes, salt, and their homemade mayo. It’s perfect.

For a caffeine fix: Caffe Luxxe. I’m partial to the location on 26th Street in Santa Monica. In addition to having great coffee, they’ve fostered the sweetest of communities. Everyone knows each other, and the baristas are the greatest.

For dessert: Proof Bakery’s chocolate espresso cake. Check the daily menu before you go. They don’t always have it, but when they do, you’ve hit the jackpot.

Theater: The Hollywood Bowl. (Does that count as a theater?) There’s nothing better than packing up a picnic basket and heading there to hear live music under that incredible sky.

Bookstore or library: Mystery Pier Books is a hidden jewel. The owners are wonderful, and they curate a remarkable collection of first editions. A book from them is my favorite gift to get for someone I love.

To buy flowers: Hudson Grace is great. When I’m sending an arrangement, I always reach out to Hill and Oak.

Tourist trap I love anyway: Disneyland. I can’t help it.

photo: Getty