How to have the best Sunday in LA, according to Paul Scheer, Paul Scheer’s memoir, “Joyful Recollections of Trauma,” is not only a collection of poignant – and often humorous confessions – but also a reminder that to persevere, we must strive to hold on to our passions. Scheer’s first loves are reflected in prose, and also on his two podcasts – “How was this made?” with his wife, June Diane Raphael, and friend Jason Mantzoukas, and “Unrinsed” with film critic Amy Nicholson. Both explore Scheer’s appreciation of Hollywood.
In Sunday Funday, LA folks give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday in the city. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekend.
“As a kid, my escapes were movies and TV shows,” says Scheer. “I wanted to be in scenes with those characters. I don’t even know if I wanted to be an actor as much as I wanted to live in those worlds. I wanted to be in the ‘Different Strokes’ apartment. I wanted to ride that train on ‘Silver Spoons.’
The former New Yorker, whose credits include “The League,” “Black Monday” and “Star Trek: Lower Decks,” speaks of a recent appearance on “Night Court” as a “full-circle moment,” noting that the original series was one. as a child he watched fervently.
These days, film plays a big role in Scheer’s downtime. Although the Los Feliz resident notes that his Sundays are mostly focused on his children, who are 10 and 7, they are also an opportunity to share other aspects of his fandom with his family, especially sports.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for length and clarity.
7 am: A cold dip and pancakes
No coffee will treat me like a nice cold dip. I have an inflatable cold plunge. The first thing I do is put the chiller on and let the water drop to 50 degrees. I stay there for about six minutes.
Sunday is also a day when I can enjoy take-in from my favorite restaurants. When I have my druthers, I would like to order pancakes with them Du-pars. I think they are the best. Even if I live far away from them, I will get them and put them in the oven and make them delicious again.
7:30 am: Double-check the children’s sports schedules
My weekends are dedicated to my children. I go non-stop from 7am to 9pm, but no one else can do this. I’m at an AAU tournament in Seal Beach and then I’m driving to Beverly Hills for a football thing. I coach that team. It’s great, but it’s not relaxing. It’s not like it’s going to give us a bagel Courage bagels and then figure things out.
8:30 am: Take the family for a ‘street walk’
We don’t go to the fashionable places. We’re not going upstairs Runyon Canyon. We walk in our neighborhood – a city walk, a street walk. We have our dog Bingo and take a street walk.
9:30 a.m.: Pickleball in the driveway or bike to a tennis court
Normally, what we did on Sundays – it’s one of my favorite things – my family really got into pickleball. We play that at our house, or we go there Vermont Canyonthat close to the Greek Theatreand we’re going to play tennis. We’ll bike to the Vermont Canyon tennis courts after searching the impossible Parks and Recreation website to reserve those courts, and we’ll play for about an hour.
11 am: Hit a driving range
We are an active family. Neither June nor I are golfers, but we do have drivers and clubs and we take the kids to a driving range and hit balls. As a parent, this day lasts longer than you think. You need a Swiss Army tool to do things. We are lucky to live close by Griffith Park, which gives us a multitude of options. We became active because the kids want to be active, so that translates into finding yourself Dave & Busters on a Sunday afternoon because June is really busy with football and the children can play games.
12:30: I hope there’s a Clippers game
If it’s a perfect Sunday, that means there’s a Clippers game at 12:30 p.m.; this, however [was] the last year of the 12:30 p.m. games. [Editor’s note: The Clippers are moving into their own venue, and therefore will likely no longer need to schedule the early afternoon games that were a necessity when sharing an arena.] If you know anything about the Clippers, the 12:30 games are probably some of our worst outings as a team, but it’s also the only time I get to bring the whole family to a Clippers game.
So I would exchange my season tickets for these Sunday tickets, and my family would go there Crypto.com – I’m having a hard time pronouncing that name – and stocking up on snacks and supplies. I would hit one LudoBird. My children do Blow Pizza. Then we either watch a great two-hour game, or we leave discouraged, but whatever happens, we come out with some kind of merchandise that we didn’t really need.
3 pm: Treat the kids to a movie
I always try to invite the family to watch a movie. The New Beverly often has very nice weekend programs for the whole family, and the Prospect also does interesting weekend programming. I’m trying to convince the family, ‘Let’s go see Fred MacMurray in ‘The Absent Minded Professor.’ Sometimes it really works great. I showed them “Raiders of the Lost Ark” for the first time one afternoon at the New Bev, and it was great. I showed them “Jason and the Argonauts,” and it didn’t go well, even for me.
If we want to see a new movie, we go to the Alamo Design House. That’s where my kids fall in love with movies, because they get to eat like pigs for 90 minutes. As long as they have a shake in front of them, they have a great time, but I try to broaden their interests. I love programming at Videos. They show great afternoon movies aimed at families. They’re fun movies that you wouldn’t necessarily think about. It’s not necessarily ‘School of Rock.’ It’s a little more left of center. I enjoy opening my children’s minds by seeing older films.
3 pm Have an alternative plan: Tslopes
When it’s a rainy day, or my kids are in a bad mood, there’s one place we can go. One place that turns frowns upside down and is affordable for all families. It is called Sky zone. It is a trampoline park. It’s basically a world of trampolines. Trampoline basketball. Trampolines on the wall. You’re going over foam pits. You fight with these swords that look like they’re from ‘American Gladiators’. Sky Zone is our go-to Sunday Funday spot. It’s an accident waiting to happen. My pediatrician says, ‘Don’t go there.’ I once tore a gluteal muscle. But I keep going back.
5:30 PM Look for new versions of the basic products of chain restaurants
The next big plan of the day is dinner, and I like to take my dinner seriously. I have to choose something that everyone will like. I can’t go to a cool restaurant. I need to get the whole family on board. I love this [pop-up] called restaurant Chain. It’s a celebrity chef who makes your favorite fast food items in a way that is extremely delicious. They will be remaking a Taco Bell taco with Wagyu. They had a similar thing where they made old fashioned McDonald’s fries.
One of the best nights I ever had there, they recreated Pizza Hut pizza. They rebuilt the entire building to look like an old Pizza Hut, with a salad bar and a sneeze guard. Chain is a hit with the family because you get tasty food, but also food that your kids will want to eat. It makes me feel like a kid again. I like that atmosphere. For me, it’s like when my parents took me to Bennigan’s.
8 pm Relax with cake
People often call for an ice cream, a stopover on the way home. The children dictate it. But I’m lactose intolerant, so I’m going to get started Magpies. I like their cakes. They make these amazing slices. We all eat our own slice of these frozen yogurt cakes. The strawberry is incredible. Often we just sit in the car and we all eat a piece of our cake.
