Ryan & Lily

Ryan and Lily met online in late November 2016 and were soon messaging each other non-stop while they were both traveling separately to visit family over the holidays. Their conversations were so good that they couldn’t wait to meet, though all that talking had inadvertently put a lot of pressure on their upcoming first date going exceptionally well. Once they were both back in LA, they had their first (highly-caffeinated, anxiety-fraught) date at Fred 62 in Los Feliz. After finishing their coffee and needing a change of scenery, they walked a block up Franklin to Skylight Books, an environment in which they both were much more relaxed. When the evening was over, they parted ways, agreeing to go on a second date (which would turn out to be exponentially better than the first). Their second date was in Koreatown, where Lily lived at the time with best friend J Gavejian (who had just started dating Lily and Ryan’s soon-to-be-best-friend April) and her dog Bosco (Lily’s godchild). After their second date, Lily and Ryan were inseparable — and ten years later, after a global pandemic, a three-month cross-country roadtrip, moving apartments seven times, and adopting their two cats, Jupiter and Sundae — the same is true today. (Today, they live within walking distance of Fred 62, Skylight, J & April, and many other friends they’ve made together over the years).