US News Metro Long Island Politics

Sports NFL MLB Olympics NBA NHL College Football College Basketball WNBA

Entertainment TV Movies Music Celebrities Awards Theater

Lifestyle Weird But True Sex & Relationships Viral Trends Human Interest Parenting Fashion & Beauty Food & Drink Travel

Health Wellness Fitness Health Care Medicine Men’s Health Women’s Health Mental Health Nutrition

Science Space Environment Wildlife Archaeology

Today’s Paper Covers Columnists Horoscopes Crosswords & Games Sports Odds Podcasts Careers

Email Newsletters Official Store Home Delivery Tips

Switch between CA and NY editions here.

The dating apps are failing. Here’s what LA singles are trying instead

See more of our coverage in your search results.

Dating apps are failing, and Angelenos like me are seeking alternatives.

On a Thursday evening, I walked into a bookstore in Culver City to participate in an old-school dating activity — the singles mixer. 

The bookstore event was packed to the shelves, and it’s not hard to see why.

These mixers, after all, are not a cure-all to the modern dating malaise –– but they’re a start.

Consider how bad things have gotten on the apps.

Bumble, initially designed to empower women by giving them the exclusive power to make the first move, recently abandoned that strategy, making the app a clone of the rival it had tried to distance itself from — Tinder. 

Some singles have become so flustered with dating apps that they’ve even resorted to LinkedIn to make a “connection.” 

Meanwhile, a new crop of dating apps have started using AI-powered matchmakers, a concept seemingly lifted from the script of the dystopian TV series, “Black Mirror.”

Then there’s Thursday. 

Founded in 2021, Thursday was initially a dating app that was only available on — you guessed it — Thursday. The scarcity model was designed, per company spokesperson Emma Louise-Maw, “to create a bit of urgency and actually get people off the app and onto a date.” (Fun fact: The app was initially christened with the unfortunate name of “Honeypot.”)

Since then, the London-based startup has since evolved from an app model to planning face-to-face mixers and events in 150 cities worldwide, not least of which include Los Angeles. 

The Culver City mixer deviated from traditional speed dating, where........

© New York Post