{"id":463055,"date":"2026-09-14T03:10:39","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T03:10:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/463055\/"},"modified":"2026-09-14T03:10:39","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T03:10:39","slug":"how-to-have-the-best-sunday-in-l-a-according-to-jimmy-smits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/463055\/","title":{"rendered":"How to have the best Sunday in L.A., according to Jimmy Smits"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"la-sf-Jimmy-Smits-drop-cap-yellow-T.png\" <\/p>\n

Throughout his 40 years in Los Angeles, one piece of advice on where to live still rings true for Jimmy Smits, known for starring in \u201cL.A. Law,\u201d \u201cNYPD Blue\u201d and \u201cSons of Anarchy.\u201d Long ago, producer Steven Bochco, who helped launch Smits\u2019 TV career, encouraged the native New Yorker to stick around.<\/p>\n

\"Sunday <\/a> <\/p>\n

In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said, \u2018I think you\u2019re going to be working at Fox or around here for a while,\u2019\u201d Smits recalls. \u201c\u2018Don\u2019t be a schmuck. Stay near, so you can get to work on time. Get the s\u2014 house in the best ZIP Code you can.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

And so, from West Los Angeles to Santa Monica to Brentwood, Smits and his wife, actor Wanda De Jesus, have made the Westside their home base.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven when I lived in Brooklyn, we were near water,\u201d Smits says. \u201cIt\u2019s not Coney Island, but it\u2019s the Santa Monica Pier. We have this New York-L.A. thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

When he\u2019s not working, Smits prioritizes relaxation and his spiritual life. Most Saturday evenings, there\u2019s a Mass to attend. All physical activities are done near water.<\/p>\n

Beyond acting, the Emmy and Golden Globe winner is an advocate for education and the arts. This year is the 30th anniversary of the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts, which he co-founded to support emerging talent in the performing arts.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a look at his ideal Sunday, with a bit of a New York-L.A. state of mind.<\/p>\n

This interview was edited for length and clarity.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

6:30 a.m.: First, the news<\/p>\n

I still love reading the newspaper, tactile-wise. I keep the entertainment sections for weeks at a time for both the L.A. Times and New York Times. I recently had to go digital with the New York Times because my wife was like, \u201cwe can\u2019t have all these newspapers around here!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

8 a.m.: People watching over breakfast<\/p>\n

We\u2019re not real foodies. Food is more like fuel for me. I love to experiment with different types of cuisines, but going to restaurants is more about the atmosphere. For breakfast, we\u2019ll go to the Brentwood Farmers Market off San Vicente or the Coast Beach Caf\u00e9 at Shutters on the Beach. You can people watch there. Or, they have an enclosure in the back that\u2019s more chill. You can feel the ocean breeze on the water. If I\u2019m really hungry, I\u2019ll have the brioche French toast with some scrambled eggs and turkey bacon. But most of the time, it\u2019s a pressed juice, English breakfast tea with warm milk and honey and a blueberry muffin.<\/p>\n

9:30 a.m.: Beachside workouts<\/p>\n

Part of the day will always have some kind of physical thing, and it\u2019ll always relate to the water. Biking, brisk walking or wogging on the beach is ideal. If we\u2019re biking, we\u2019ll go up to where Will Rogers State Park is. It\u2019s much quieter around there. We\u2019ll start there and go towards the Santa Monica Pier and do laps back and forth. We\u2019ll make stops along the way, at the Annenberg Community Beach House in Santa Monica or the bluffs at Palisades Park in Santa Monica, where they have a rose garden, [the California Incline roadway]<\/a> and a lot of ways to get physical activity.<\/p>\n

11:30 a.m.: What\u2019s for lunch? Pasta<\/p>\n

For lunch, it\u2019s Divino,<\/a> which is an Italian place in Brentwood. I\u2019d order a light pasta and salad.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

1 p.m.: Head to the playhouse for a matinee<\/p>\n

My main go-to theaters are the Geffen Playhouse<\/a>, which is close to us on the Westside; the Center Theatre Group<\/a>, with the Ahmanson Theatre or the Mark Taper Forum, the Pasadena Playhouse<\/a> or the Latino Theater Company Center<\/a> at the Los Angeles Theatre Center, which specializes in Latino and multicultural productions. I get my New York theater fix by going to see plays at one of those places.<\/p>\n

4 p.m.: Family time<\/p>\n

At some point in the day, there would always be an East Coast call that winds up lasting way too long. With FaceTime, wherever we\u2019re at, we can talk with the family, who are mostly in New York.<\/p>\n

6 p.m.: Longtime faves for dinner<\/p>\n

One of our favorite restaurants is Carlitos Gardel Argentine Steakhouse<\/a> on Melrose Avenue, which has been around since the \u201890s. Italy plays big in Argentinian food, so you can get wonderful pastas there. I\u2019ll usually have the entra\u00f1a, which is a wood-grilled skirt steak, and the gnocchi is off the hook. The place reminds me of my college buddy-celebrity chef Michael Lomonaco, and his [former]<\/a> restaurant Porter House in New York, where we\u2019d go after the theater.<\/p>\n

If not there, we\u2019ll go to the restaurant we\u2019ve been going to since I first got here. One of my first jobs was at then-MGM, which is now Sony, in Culver City. In \u201986, I was working on \u201cL.A. Law\u201d and had a lunch break. I just wanted to walk around and found a Cuban restaurant called Versailles<\/a>. I thought it was the closest I was going to get to the way Mom cooked. I developed a great relationship with the owners, the Garcia family. They have great Cuban food. I\u2019ll have their arroz con pollo, which is chicken and rice.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

8:30 p.m.: TV catch-up time<\/p>\n

After dinner, we\u2019d go home and get ready for the week. Depending on whether we go to a matinee or evening play, we would DVR stuff, like whatever sports that were on during the day that I missed. We\u2019d definitely watch \u201c60 Minutes,\u201d \u201cJohn Oliver\u201d and pop in a movie or watch a stand-up comedy show. If we\u2019re shooting something, I have to study for the next day. If not, we just relax, watch TV and go to bed between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m.<\/p>\n