Over the past few weeks, I\u2019ve been driving all over Los Angeles doing something I haven\u2019t done in a long time: playing pretend.<\/p>\n
I pretended I was in a medieval castle at a French cafe in Miracle Mile and that I was looking for trolls on a fern-filled hike in Griffith Park. I imagined that Tolkien\u2019s elves built the creekside restaurant where I met a friend for brunch in Topanga and that I was eating alongside real witches in a forest-themed dining room in North Hollywood. <\/p>\n
In a Whittier tea room, I poured a glittering potion that said \u201cDrink Me\u201d into a glass of Champagne and in Beverly Hills, I stared awestruck at the platonic ideal of a witch\u2019s house, half expecting a bent old lady with a wart on her nose to come out and turn me into a toad.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a rough start to 2026 and these brief moments of make-believe have served as a joyful balm in sad and scary times. I\u2019m not looking to bypass reality, but taking a break from it every once in a while can be a welcome reprieve. Fortunately, Los Angeles is especially good at creating transporting experiences that drip with fairy-tale ambience. This is the home of Hollywood after all, the land of artifice, the spot where Walt Disney dreamed up the Happiest Place on Earth. Seeking and finding moments of happily ever after, even if they last just a few minutes, is part of the city\u2019s collective DNA.<\/p>\n
So grab your broom and make sure to leave a trail of bread crumbs behind you. L.A. has plenty of magic to share. All you need to do is open your mind and explore. <\/p>\n
About This Guide<\/p>\n
Our journalists independently visited every spot recommended in this guide. We do not accept free meals or experiences. What should we check out next? Send ideas to guides@latimes.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Over the past few weeks, I\u2019ve been driving all over Los Angeles doing something I haven\u2019t done in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":240693,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[108230,108227,14489,23130,108231,12143,108228,108232,108233,48,52,51,1510,47,50,49,63,108229,7495,108226,28754],"class_list":["post-240692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-artifice","tag-brief-moment","tag-brunch","tag-champagne","tag-elf","tag-escape","tag-fairy-tale-vibe","tag-fern-filled-hike","tag-forest-themed-dining-room","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-land","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-magical-l-a-spot","tag-north-hollywood","tag-real-witch","tag-walt-disney"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240692\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}