Need an escape? These 10 magical L.A. spots are dripping with fairy-tale vibes
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Over the past few weeks, I’ve been driving all over Los Angeles doing something I haven’t done in a long time: playing pretend.
I pretended I was in a medieval castle at a French cafe in Miracle Mile and that I was looking for trolls on a fern-filled hike in Griffith Park. I imagined that Tolkien’s elves built the creekside restaurant where I met a friend for brunch in Topanga and that I was eating alongside real witches in a forest-themed dining room in North Hollywood.
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In a Whittier tea room, I poured a glittering potion that said “Drink Me” into a glass of Champagne and in Beverly Hills, I stared awestruck at the platonic ideal of a witch’s house, half expecting a bent old lady with a wart on her nose to come out and turn me into a toad.
It’s been a rough start to 2026 and these brief moments of make-believe have served as a joyful balm in sad and scary times. I’m not looking to bypass reality, but taking a break from it every once in a while can be a welcome reprieve. Fortunately, Los Angeles is especially good at creating transporting experiences that drip with fairy-tale ambience. This is the home of Hollywood after all, the land of artifice, the spot where Walt Disney dreamed up the Happiest Place on Earth. Seeking and finding moments of happily ever after, even if they last just a few minutes, is part of the city’s collective DNA.
So grab your broom and make sure to leave a trail of bread crumbs behind you. L.A. has plenty of magic to share. All you need to do is open your mind and explore.
About This Guide
Our journalists independently visited every spot recommended in this guide. We do not accept free meals or experiences. What should we check out next? Send ideas to guides@latimes.com.
Enter a swirling world of imagination at Venice’s Mosaic Tile House
Family Home
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Once upon a time two artists fell in love and began to decorate their modest home with fanciful tile. They started in the kitchen, before branching out to the dining room, the bathroom, the porch, the front yard and soon covering every surface they came across. As their passion grew they filled the property inside and out with hand painted tiles they designed themselves as well as cracked mirrors and broken bits of pottery they collected at tag sales. They created swirling patterns and marvelous creatures — a bigger than life panda bear, a fantastical caterpillar, trees and suns. For more than 30 years they tiled, opening their house to the public for three hours each Saturday (by reservation only) to share their joy, their art and their vision with others. One of the artists, Cheri Pann, died last spring but the other artist Gonzalo, an old man now, continues to live on the property and still works on the mosaic every day. “It is more than art,” he told me. “It’s a compulsion.”
Reservations are available most Saturdays from noon to 3 p.m. and must be made in advance. It’s $20 per person.
Reservations are available most Saturdays from noon to 3 p.m. and must be made in advance. It’s $20 per person.
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Soak up elfin vibes at the Inn of the Seventh Ray
Topanga Restaurant
If Tolkien’s elves created a restaurant, it might look something like Topanga’s Inn of the Seventh Ray, a twinkling, creekside haven tucked into the Santa Monica Mountains. The sprawling restaurant with seating for 300 has been around since the 1970s and is known as one of the most romantic spots in L.A., but personally, I’ve always found it more magical than romantic. Ethereal music plays from invisible speakers as you descend into its terraced seating area and wander its winding paths. Almost all the tables are outdoors, some in gazebos, others beneath open-sided tents and still others in semi-private nooks and crannies. The restaurant is definitely best at night when the many strands of fairy lights light up the surrounding woods, but I met a friend here for a weekday brunch recently and it was still lovely. We chose a seat by a tiered fountain filled with rose petals and gazed out at the trees. There was almost no one else in the restaurant so there was no rush to leave. Afterward, I texted my friend a photo I took of him sitting alone at the table, looking serene. His response: “No date? No problem.”
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Drink a 'magic potion' at the mystical Mad Hatter’s Tea
Whittier Tea
Someone had a lot of fun putting together all the special details for the Mad Hatter’s Tea at Story Bar + Restaurant, which has locations in Anaheim and Whittier (marked on this map). The darkened room is dotted with candelabras decorated with dried flowers, pocket watches and other Alice in Wonderland ephemera. On each table, a little purple magic potion bottle bears a note that reads “Drink Me.” The tea service, which costs $40 per person, comes with a three-tiered tray of classic tea sandwiches, pastries and other less traditional bites. At our server’s suggestion, my guest and I poured the purple potion (actually edible glitter) into our complimentary glasses of Champagne. We didn’t shrink down to the size of a rabbit or grow larger than a house, but we both had a wonderful afternoon.
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Dine in a castle at Republique
Hancock Park Bakery
This French bakery, cafe and restaurant may not technically be housed in a castle, but it sure feels like it. The walls are made of gray brick and a coat of arms hangs over the main dining room above two stone arches. Heaps of freshly baked bread lay in piles along the counters of an open-air kitchen, just as they might at any proper king’s feast, and there are two long wooden tables down the center of the room where the courtiers of old might gather. Arriving at mid-morning, I kept my order simple: a croissant ($6) and a cappuccino ($5). The cappuccino arrived in a mug made of the earthiest of earthenware, which only added to the medieval feel of the experience. However, next time I go I will be ordering the potato pancake with smoked salmon, soft poached eggs and a sprinkling of salmon roe ($27). Truly a breakfast fit for a queen.
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Hunt for fairies on Griffith Park’s Fern Dell Nature Trail
Griffith Park Forest Trail
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If there are fairy folk in Los Angeles you’ll find them darting among the verdant ferns and trickling streams along Fern Dell Nature Trail in Griffith Park. For more than a century this meandering half-mile trail on the border of Los Feliz and the Hollywood Hills has been enchanting children and grown-ups alike, thanks to a magical combination of running water, faux bois (hand-hewn stone work designed to look like wood) and dense greenery including scores of exotic ferns. As you wander along the path you’ll pass small foot bridges perfect for grumpy trolls to live beneath. The area’s many streams and waterfalls no longer run all year round, but they are still pretty even when dry. I did not spy any fairies on a recent visit, but I did see several locals walking toy dogs that looked more like magical creatures than canines. Also magical: Trails Cafe is right across the street if you need a snack to fuel your own fairy-tale adventure.
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Visit the Witch’s House of Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills Home
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The quintessential witch’s house is usually located deep in the forest in most storybooks. In Los Angeles, it’s in the flats of Beverly Hills. Here, just a few blocks from Wilshire Boulevard, you’ll find the most classic witch’s house you’ve ever laid eyes on with a high peaked roof, wooden shutters perfectly askew and several crooked chimney pipes. Known as the Spadena house after its first residential owners, it’s a cartoon come to life.
Unfortunately, you can’t go in. Highly stylized hand-painted wooden signs along the property’s jagged fence warn against trespassing and a more serious-looking armed response sign lets you know that this is not a joke. While you can’t step inside there is plenty of detail to see from the street. If you visit, look for the witch with ruby slippers swinging in the tree, the crocodile heads in the moat, and see how many blackbirds you can count perched along the garden fence. Also, for anyone who might be curious, the 1922 house originally served as offices for a silent movie studio in Culver City before moving to its current location and becoming a private residence in 1936. It’s now owned by a luxury real estate agent, not a witch at all.
Unfortunately, you can’t go in. Highly stylized hand-painted wooden signs along the property’s jagged fence warn against trespassing and a more serious-looking armed response sign lets you know that this is not a joke. While you can’t step inside there is plenty of detail to see from the street. If you visit, look for the witch with ruby slippers swinging in the tree, the crocodile heads in the moat, and see how many blackbirds you can count perched along the garden fence. Also, for anyone who might be curious, the 1922 house originally served as offices for a silent movie studio in Culver City before moving to its current location and becoming a private residence in 1936. It’s now owned by a luxury real estate agent, not a witch at all.
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Watch cocktails come alive at the Green Room
Burbank Bar
Located in the massive Castaway restaurant in Burbank, the Green Room bar is high in the hills, a several minute drive from more commercial parts of town. On a recent visit I had to park in a lower lot and take a shuttle van up the rest of the way. It was more than worth it, and not just because of the incredible view. My friend and I had come to sample the “Fairest of Them All,” one of the bar’s many specialty drinks. The rum-based drink ($24) arrives in a clear glass apple perched on a wooden board covered in moss and a field of fake flowers. Your server will point out the additional elements — the smoking cauldron filled with dry ice for a magical atmosphere, the mirror with the words “You’re beautiful” written on it in lipstick, and the small wooden box holding another lipstick that you can use to write your own message to yourself. And if Snow White isn’t your thing, you’ve got options. For $38 you can order the two-person cocktail “Three Wishes,” an Aladdin inspired drink that comes on a gold tray decorated with dried peppercorns and cinnamon sticks with two bejeweled glasses. Rub the magic teapot three times and make a wish. The drinks are tasty enough, but this is all about the presentation.
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Hang with the witchy diaspora at the Witch’s Cottage
North Hollywood Cafe
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There are more self-proclaimed witches in L.A. than you might realize, and right now they are flocking to the newly opened the Witch’s Cottage in North Hollywood. Across the street from an Ono Hawaiian Barbecue and a Panda Express you’ll find a wide spectrum of L.A.’s witches sipping herb-infused cocktails like the Abundance Martini and Potion of Desire and dining on blue and red colored “deviled dragon’s eggs” beneath towering hand sculpted tree trunks and a ceiling dripping with faux foliage. On a recent weekday evening a friendly server told our party of four that her bosses were no longer allowing her to use magic at the table. “We don’t want to scare the customers,” she said smiling. (I think she was joking). She also sent us to the tarot reader with a crown of jewels in the corner who was doing readings for $25 a pop. If you come during the day you can order a coffee and choose a seat on one of the comfy mismatched chairs in the cozy front room. But for a fully immersive experience, make a dinner reservation in the main dining room. It’s magic.
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Immerse yourself in a magic jungle at Yuko Kitchen
Downtown L.A. Cafe
Some magical adventures can be as simple as eating Japanese comfort food in a plant-filled wonderland in downtown L.A. If that sounds up your alley, head to Yuko Kitchen, the beloved restaurant on the corner of Fifth and Main. (A second location in Miracle Mile is similarly teeming with greenery.) The walls are painted with bright colorful murals, but the plants steal the show — dangling from ceilings, perched on tables, stacked in corners — they explode in cascades of green around the room. Remember when Max’s bedroom morphs into a jungle in Maurice Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things Are”? Yuko Kitchen feels a bit like that. As a bonus, the food is great and not too expensive. And if you want to bring some of this verdant energy into your own space, you’re in luck. Many of the plants are for sale.
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Pretend you’re in a Disney film at Tam O’Shanter
Atwater Village Restaurant
Leave it to Los Angeles to present us with a faux Scottish pub in the heart of Atwater Village that looks more Scottish and pub-like than anything you’d find in the British Isles. The sprawling Storybook Style restaurant with perfectly weathered walls, stained glass windows and a room filled with medieval looking flags was designed by Oscar-nominated art director Harry Oliver and built by movie studio carpenters. It opened in 1922 on what was then a dirt road and was a favorite of Walt Disney whose studio was right up the street. It’s rumored that he and his animators worked on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs here, and indeed Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy and the rest’s home in the 1937 film bears a strong resemblance to the historic restaurant. Tam O’Shanter is open for lunch and dinner. On a recent visit my guest and I split a shrimp cocktail ($23) and the Tam O’Shanter cut of Prime Rib ($65) because it seemed like the thing to do. Both were delicious.
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