{"id":508030,"date":"2026-10-26T02:52:41","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T02:52:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/508030\/"},"modified":"2026-10-26T02:52:41","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T02:52:41","slug":"how-to-have-the-best-sunday-in-l-a-according-to-william-jackson-harper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/508030\/","title":{"rendered":"How to have the best Sunday in L.A., according to William Jackson Harper"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"la-sf-William-Harper-Jackson-drop-cap-yellow-W.png\" <\/p>\n

When William Jackson Harper<\/a> moved to Los Angeles to star in NBC\u2019s \u201cThe Good Place\u201d a decade ago, he himself felt out of place.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an actor, I was like I don\u2019t know if this is where I\u2019m supposed to be,\u201d says Harper, who earned an Emmy nomination for his role as Chidi Anagonye, the show\u2019s endearingly panicked and indecisive professor.<\/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

\u201cPeople felt more finished there,\u201d he says of L.A. \u201cI felt like people had sort of come into their appearance, they knew what they were selling. And I was like, you know, I\u2019m much more of a theater guy, New York is probably where I\u2019m going to land.\u201d <\/p>\n

He adds, \u201cSo I had this idea that I was going to get to L.A. and everyone was just going to laugh at me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quite the opposite happened. Harper leaned into the L.A. experience, exploring the sprawling city, particularly its nature, and connecting with old friends on a deeper level. He soon grew to appreciate it \u2014 so much that he continues to split his time between L.A. and New York alongside his wife, Ali Ahn, who is also an actor. <\/p>\n

Harper now stars in the dramatic anthology series \u201cAmerican Hostage<\/a>,\u201d which re-creates the true story of Tony Kiritsis, an Indianapolis man who, in 1977, kidnapped a mortgage broker whose family Kiritsis blamed for his own financial hardships. During a 63-hour standoff, Kiritsis demands that Fred Heckman, a beloved radio reporter played by Jon Hamm, interview him live on air. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen that script came across my desk, I was like \u2018This is insane,\u2019\u201d Harper says of the show, now streaming on MGM+<\/a>. He was excited to portray Ben Hairston, a reporter and Heckman\u2019s mentee, who attempts to help him navigate the challenging situation. <\/p>\n

Harper says he\u2019d been interested in being part of the show set in the late 1970s. Another draw? \u201cI was looking forward to just rocking a mustache,\u201d he says with a laugh. \u201cI was looking forward to just looking like my uncles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how Harper would spend his perfect Sunday in L.A., from a morning hike at Griffith Park to shopping for more French tour jackets at a vintage store in Silver Lake. <\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

7 a.m.: Start with an intense workout <\/p>\n

Even though I typically don\u2019t work out on Sundays, sometimes I get a wild hair and do it anyway because I enjoy it. I\u2019ll go to a class around 7 or 8 a.m. I go to Training Mate<\/a> a lot because the instructors are fun. They\u2019re all, like, beautiful people, but they are dorks, which I find really endearing. They\u2019re really sweet and encouraging. So we\u2019ll do a really tough 45-minute workout an I\u2019ll probably want to go for a hike after that. Griffith Park is one of my favorite places anywhere, so I\u2019d kind of march around there for a couple of hours. I don\u2019t always do the hard [route], I\u2019m already kind of cooked. I just want to be in nature a little bit.<\/p>\n

11 a.m.: Bond with friends over breakfast <\/p>\n

Then it would be time to eat. I have this tradition whenever I\u2019m in L.A. of meeting with a couple of friends of ours at Fred 62<\/a> on Vermont [Avenue]. I\u2019ll get a tofu breakfast enchilada and then we\u2019ll just sit there and talk for a couple of hours. The waiters remember my order even if it\u2019s been months. Or my friends and I will go to some place like All Time<\/a>, which is really good. There\u2019s always a line and everyone is very done up and I feel really dirty and underdressed when I go, but f\u2014 it. It\u2019s like deal with it. I\u2019m old. I can\u2019t be out here flexing. <\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

2 p.m.: Nap to recharge for a shopping spree <\/p>\n

All those things make for a powerful wave of sleepiness, so I\u2019ll take a nap. Usually when I have days off like this, I have a shopping addiction, so there\u2019s a few stores that I\u2019ll probably wind up hitting. One of them is this place called Golden Age<\/a> that has all these old French tour jackets. I have so many [laughs]. I rock those a lot. So I\u2019ll go there, look around and abuse my bank account a little bit. Then there\u2019s this other place on La Brea called General Quarters<\/a>. It\u2019s got a bunch of work wear stuff. <\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

6 p.m.: Watch a movie at an old-school theater<\/p>\n

After that, I might go see a movie at Los Feliz 3<\/a>. It just reminds me of the movie theaters I grew up going to. I love an old-school, no frills theater that shows cool stuff.<\/p>\n

8:30 p.m.: Have a delicious pescatarian dinner <\/p>\n

If we are not cooking, we\u2019re going out to eat somewhere. There\u2019s this place in Eagle Rock that we like a lot called Little Beast<\/a>. One of my favorite restaurants is Bavel<\/a>. Every time I go there, I\u2019m just like I don\u2019t deserve this meal. I don\u2019t deserve these cocktails. I\u2019ve ordered something different every time. My wife and I are both pescatarian, so we usually load up on the veggies and pick whatever fish dish they have. <\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

10:30 p.m.: Time for bed <\/p>\n

After that, we\u2019ll go back home, give our dog Chico another walk and watch Netflix until we fall asleep. My wife falls asleep first. When we are together, I\u2019ll fall asleep earlier between like 11 p.m. and midnight. When I\u2019m by myself, I\u2019m up till 2 or 3 in the morning. I\u2019m just up. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When William Jackson Harper moved to Los Angeles to star in NBC\u2019s \u201cThe Good Place\u201d a decade ago,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":508031,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[2640,2798,196021,196020,6524,9227,2303,48,52,51,47,50,49,1741,4287,196019,224,1410,1860,315,4609],"class_list":["post-508030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-a-m","tag-couple","tag-family-kiritsis","tag-fred-heckman","tag-griffith-park","tag-harper","tag-l-a","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-lot","tag-movie","tag-old-friend","tag-p-m","tag-place","tag-show","tag-time","tag-wife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508030","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=508030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508030\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/508031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}