This week, before diving into your evening plans, take a moment to watch the sunset.

Once the seasonal time change takes effect Sunday, Nov. 6, sunsets will jump to before 5 p.m., then edge even earlier. For the first half of December, we’ll have the earliest sunsets of the calendar year, between 4:43 and 4:45 p.m.

This troubles many people, prompting persistent arguments about daylight saving time. But it also gives you a good reason to start taking a late lunch (well, a very late lunch). If you time it right on a weekday afternoon, you can race to the rooftop bar at the Hotel Erwin in Venice, order a beer, cocktail or snack at discounted happy-hour rates, and have that refreshment in hand when the sun vanishes.

Then, of course, you can start every Californian’s favorite argument — the one about the green flash.

Anyway, here are eight* of my favorite sunset-viewing spots in Los Angeles County.

*There would have been nine on this list, but the Los Angeles City Hall Observation Deck is still closed. It’s on the 27th floor of L.A. City Hall, with open-air views in every direction, and it has always been free. It shut in the early days of the pandemic, reopened earlier this year, then shut again. There’s no word on when it might reopen, but when it does, it’s worth a look.