The dating apps are failing. Heres what LA singles are trying instead

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 interactions are intermediated by a round-robin format. This event was more of a free-for-all fishbowl.Participants (who paid a nominal fee) circulated the bookstore with a colored sticker indicating the gender they were interested in (men, women, both) to help singles target their attention. “The idea is to create the conditions for people to meet naturally, rather than dictate exactly how they shou...