{"id":3995,"date":"2019-07-24T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-07-24T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.dream.press\/?post_type=customer-spotlight&p=3995"},"modified":"2025-05-06T20:02:23","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T20:02:23","slug":"welikela","status":"publish","type":"customer-spotlight","link":"https:\/\/news.dream.press\/news\/customer-spotlight\/welikela\/","title":{"rendered":"We Like L.A.: Your Guide on What to Do, Eat, and See in Los Angeles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

OK, so the traffic is bad, the rent is too high, and the smog rolls in thick. But still, there\u2019s a lot to like about Los Angeles<\/a>. It is\n home to many iconic sites \u2014 the Santa Monica Pier, the Getty, the white block \u201cHollywood\u201d letters, and the Walk of\n Fame \u2014 plus hundreds of museums and enough restaurants and food trucks<\/a> to bring a\n foodie to paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the cutting edge in several industries, from tech to fashion to entertainment, L.A. is always drawing in new\n hopefuls looking for their place in the sunshine. In 2005, Brian Champlin was one of these transplants, moving to L.A.\n for work and finding a new home. As he and his now-wife, Christina Champlin, sought out new hiking trails, art\n galleries, and taco stands together, they used social\n media<\/a> to document their adventures in La La Land \u2014 eventually building a WordPress website<\/a> and\n \u201cwhat to do\u201d newsletter that brings the magic of L.A. out of the smog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a lot going on in L.A. every day of the week. Blink, and you\u2019ll walk right past the best food in Chinatown,\n miss a beachside screening of a classic film, or lose out on tickets to CatCon. Brian and Christina\u2019s blog, We Like L.A<\/a>., curates a rundown of\n things to do that\u2019s comprehensive enough to cure anyone\u2019s FOMO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As longtime customers at DreamHost (we like L.A. too<\/a>), Brian and\n Christina use DreamPress<\/a> to power their site and bring the best of\n the City of Angels to locals, transplants, and visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Falling In Love<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So what does Brian like the most about L.A.? His obligatory answer: the weather. Can\u2019t beat 284 days of sunshine or\n the balmy year-round temps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut more than that, it\u2019s the variety of things to do and the diversity of people and cultures that make up our\n city,\u201d Brian says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe physical geography of Los Angeles plays a big role in how it has evolved over the course of its history. It\u2019s\n big. It\u2019s spread out. The topography and climate change as you move further inland. Neighborhoods are built out\n instead of up. Some people see that as a drawback, but I think it\u2019s a strength. The pockets of community and culture\n that have grown amidst the sprawl are what make Los Angeles unique.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

An Orange County native, Brian moved to L.A. for a job in digital marketing. Once he started dating Christina \u2014 who\n was born in the San Gabriel Valley and lived in L.A. County her whole life \u2014 he was pushed to get to know Los Angeles\n as they explored the city together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think I fell in love with L.A. as I fell in love with my wife,\u201d Brian says. We Like L.A. first started on social\n media, as a personal project for Brian and Christina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt seemed like we were always out exploring the city in one way or another,\u201d Brian says, \u201cSo we thought, \u2018Why not\n start documenting some of these adventures on social media?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Echo Park Lake. Photo by Diana Kuo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Their posts on their Instagram<\/a> and Facebook<\/a> accounts gained traction quickly. \u201cOf course this was back in the days when\n organic growth on Facebook was actually possible, versus the pay-to-play dynamic of today,\u201d Brian says. \u201cIt got taken\n to a whole new level when we started developing our own web content.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They moved from snapshots of their adventures to a blog, compiling lists of free museum days<\/a>, L.A. neighborhood\n guides, and other events and free things to do in the city. Basically, they built anything they thought might be\n useful, figuring that others might also be interested. Creating these how-tos and guides to the city they loved drew\n in the clicks and provided the first hints that they had hit on something big.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA few of our articles went viral on Facebook \u2014 thousands of shares, hundreds of comments \u2014 and that really\n fast-tracked our readership growth,\u201d Brian says. \u201cWe went from having a few thousand people reading the blog to\n literally hundreds of thousands of monthly readers after just a few months. We\u2019ve been able to keep up that level of\n traffic ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related:<\/strong> The Beginner\u2019s\n Guide to Marketing Your Website and Increasing Traffic<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bread and Butter<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Millions of tourists from around the world flock to Los Angeles<\/a> each year \u2014 and\n you can bet most of them are Googling \u201cWhat to do in L.A.?\u201d While search results may bring tourists to the We Like\n L.A. website and YouTube\n channel<\/a> and help them plan unique trips that bring them to the center of the city\u2019s unique culture, Brian and\n Christina create their content with a different audience in mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur bread and butter are things to do in L.A.,\u201d Brian says. \u201cBut we aim to create content that\u2019s going to appeal to\n people that actually live here, whether it\u2019s peeling back the layers behind a unique landmark or point of interest or\n writing guides that help recent transplants get acclimated to L.A.<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their goal is to help fellow locals \u2014 especially new residents \u2014 fall in love with the city, providing guides such as\n a list of five hikes<\/a> or 21 things<\/a> to do during your first year in L.A. The foundation of their\n work (and what the blog is most known for) is an emailed newsletter<\/a> with a list of\n what\u2019s going on in L.A. It goes out (and on the blog) every Monday and Thursday with a guide for what to do over the\n next week or weekend. \u201cWe have about 67,000 subscribers to that service,\u201d Brian says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

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