![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_0234-1200x675.jpg\")
Credit: Courtesy of Jessica Henwick<\/p>\nJessica Henwick may have been born in the English countryside, but L.A. has long felt like home. It is clear when speaking with the actress, best known for her roles in Game of Thrones and Silo, that although she now lives in London, her affection for Los Angeles rivals that of any local.<\/p>\n
For Henwick, Los Angeles is a city that continues to grow alongside her, and the key to making it here is finding the right community.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a group of friends for every single person out there. It\u2019s so diverse. As soon as you find your tribe, you crack the city,\u201d Henwick said. She advises anyone planning a move to the City of Angels to join a club or hobby group before making the plunge. An avid free diver herself, Henwick said there\u2019s a place for everyone in Los Angeles \u2014 it just takes time to find it.<\/p>\n
Though Henwick is back in London, she previously lived in neighborhoods across L.A. and visits regularly. She joined Los Angeles magazine on Zoom to discuss why the city continues to hold such a special place in her life.<\/p>\n
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.<\/p>\n
When you land, and you\u2019ve been away for a bit, what\u2019s the first place you\u2019re hitting in Los Angeles?<\/p>\n
Honestly, I try to go straight to the beach if I can \u2013 and it\u2019s a combination of two things. One is I\u2019m trying to stay awake and get on local time, and the other is it\u2019s just so grounding and so peaceful. Los Angeles beaches are so polar opposite of what I can access here in London, so I usually go straight to the water. I used to free dive down towards Palos Verdes, so that has a place in my heart.<\/p>\n
Credit: Courtesy of Jessica Henwick<\/p>\n
Scroll to continue reading<\/p>\n
Do you have a favorite neighborhood that you feel like really embodies who you are?<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve had different neighborhoods in different parts of my life. When I first moved to LA, I was out in Monterey Park, which is like just huge Asian diaspora, and that was perfect for that time of my life. I just wanted to eat Asian food all the time, and then Marina Del Rey does feel like a place that you mature into. I\u2019ve had my years where I lived in Hollywood and lived in Thai Town. I\u2019ve never really gone north, except sort of in the Burbank area\u2026 I\u2019ve lived everywhere.<\/p>\n
Do you have a neighborhood that you feel most fits this current phase of your life?<\/p>\n
This phase of my life, Beachwood Canyon.<\/p>\n
You have a day off in L.A. \u2013 where are you spending it?<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll go to Sawtelle for food and to go see the Giant Robot Store<\/a>, which is a little art gallery\/shop. I love that place. I\u2019ll probably go work out at The Yard<\/a>. I\u2019ll end the night usually back on the Westside, watch the sunset, go eat at Little Fatty<\/a>. Great, amazing fusion food. Maybe go for a little hike, go for a walk around the reservoir\u2026 A day off in LA \u2013 it\u2019s like the world\u2019s your oyster. You can do whatever you want. There\u2019s so many options.<\/p>\n What restaurant is a must-try for you in the city?<\/p>\n I have to stick with the Little Fatty. I gotta be loyal. If you\u2019ve never had Korean barbecue, for sure, go to Quarters<\/a>. But for me, Little Fatty is comfort food. I love it. I\u2019m obsessed. Any Asian person reading this is going to be like, \u201cExcuse me?\u201d But I\u2019m half, so I can say whatever I want, and I\u2019ve already acknowledged that it\u2019s fusion. I order the walnut shrimp; that is the best walnut shrimp you\u2019ll ever have in your life.<\/p>\n Is there a place that reminds you of home in Los Angeles?<\/p>\n Because I\u2019m from the countryside, it\u2019s got to be the hikes. I haven\u2019t been since the fires, but I used to do the Topanga hike a lot. Anything out in the wilderness is kind of comforting to me.<\/p>\n I think home is just a state of mind. It\u2019s people. I think that\u2019s what I love the most about L.A. is that everyone there \u2013 well, sorry, most people there \u2013 are transplants, and they\u2019ve come chasing a dream. There\u2019s something really beautiful about that \u2013 that sense of hope and possibility, and I feel home amongst those people, other sort of dreamers.\u00a0<\/p>\n When you people come to visit, what are you showing them? What is the spot that you\u2019re taking others to that you feel best represents what L.A. is?<\/p>\n I feel like I\u2019m going to repeat myself, but Sawtelle. I feel like people don\u2019t really know about it. It\u2019s really concentrated; it\u2019s walkable. It\u2019s one of the few walkable places in central L.A. I gravitate to that so much. I think that\u2019s why I like Beachwood as well \u2013 there is a bit of a walkable community there. But Sawtelle, you can walk, go to the grocery store, go to a nice restaurant, go out for drinks, have a good time, go to an art gallery, go shopping, and it\u2019s all within a couple blocks. I bump into my friends there all the time. Yeah, I think I have to double down on Sawtelle.<\/p>\n How would you describe your relationship with L.A.? It\u2019s probably changed a lot, but what is it like right now?<\/p>\n It\u2019s really interesting. I\u2019m trying to figure out what my relationship with L.A. is. It\u2019s such a wonderful place. It feels a bit like a playground sometimes. You can do anything. Every cuisine is there, every shop that you want is there, every type of person. But moving forward in my life, I\u2019m really trying to figure that out. I\u2019m getting to the age where I\u2019m thinking about if I want a family, and if I do, where in L.A. would I want to take them? It\u2019s very early to be thinking about anything like that, but yes, I do feel like you go through phases with L.A., and I suppose I\u2019m looking at what the next phase of L.A. would be for me.<\/p>\n You mentioned you had a list you prepared of favorite spots. Can we hear it?<\/p>\n Well, art was Giant Robot<\/a> in Sawtelle. Clothing is Mohawk<\/a> in Silver Lake. Oh gosh, sorry. That was a very short list\u2026 Where else? Where else do I shop? Oh, then the plant nursery in Sawtelle<\/a>. There you go \u2013 I\u2019m sticking with those three.<\/p>\n Oh, best food market! I put Wat Thai<\/a>. It\u2019s probably the worst time of year to go, it\u2019s going to be baking hot, but it\u2019s very fun and just fascinating, beautiful culture, great, delicious food. Another thing I wrote down was my favorite food stall, outside of Wat Thai, is Singapore\u2019s Banana Leaf<\/a> at The Grove.\u00a0<\/p>\n If you had to describe L.A. in one word, what would it be?<\/p>\n That\u2019s really hard. I would say \u2013 this is a bit of a strange word \u2013 but the first thing that came to my head was sticky. There\u2019s a lot of stuff to get stuck into, a lot of hobbies. There\u2019s a lot of bad shit that you can get into as well, but there\u2019s wonderful stuff, and it\u2019s sticky. It leaves a residue on you. Once you\u2019ve seen L.A., it is kind of hard to go back home. I remember the first time going home and just being like, \u201cOh my god, I love L.A.,\u201d and England seems so gray by comparison. The sun, the water, the food, the people \u2013 it\u2019s just sticky. It stays with you.\u00a0<\/p>\n Any final words about the city?<\/p>\n One last thing. When I came to L.A. a couple months ago, I went down to the water and I posted a video of the seals, and people were like, \u201cWhere are you?\u201d And I went, \u201cWhat do you mean? You don\u2019t recognize L.A.?\u201d So, I\u2019m going to give a little shout out to the seals in Marina del Rey. They\u2019re adorable. They\u2019re very fun to watch, lounging in the sun. I could while away hours over there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jessica Henwick may have been born in the English countryside, but L.A. has long felt like home. It…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":425740,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[114308,169711,48,52,51,169712,47,50,49,169713,169714,169715],"class_list":["post-425739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-beachwood-canyon","tag-jessica-henwick","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-little-fatty","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-mohawk-general-store","tag-quarters-korean-bbq","tag-wat-thai-temple"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425739","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=425739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425739\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_0123-900x1200.jpg\")
Credit: Courtesy of Jessica Henwick<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_5064-900x1200.jpg\")
Credit: Courtesy of Jessica Henwick<\/p>\n![\"Mohawk](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/mohawkgeneralstore_121.jpg\")
Credit: Mohawk General Store<\/p>\n