When pop singer-songwriter Charlie Puth first began visiting Los Angeles in the early 2010s, he remembers landing at a house near Mount Olympus with an incredible view. Though he‘d only recently become a legal adult, he’d already built a following as a YouTuber, posting covers and singing intro songs for popular creators on the platform. That day in Laurel Canyon, he looked out over the sprawling metropolis.
“And in a very like ‘Entourage’ way, I was like, I will live here one day, and I will make it in the city,” he said.
In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.
Fast-forward to today, the Grammy-nominated hitmaker has charted 13 Billboard Hot 100 songs, worked with everyone from Elton John to Selena Gomez and is considered underrated by the most famous pop star in the world. As of this week, he also has his own heavily-improvised six-episode comedy series, “The Charlie Puth Show,” where the New Jersey-native parodies the absurdity of the entertainment industry.
“We poke fun at that the egregious, unapologetic agents saying, ‘You’ve sold millions of records, but it’s time to do a reality show,’ ” he said.
And up until a recent move to Santa Barbara, Puth fulfilled his dream of living in Los Angeles, where he still often spends Sundays chasing caloric Valhalla and doing “the opposite” of his job so he “can remain sane.” Below, the “Hero” singer shares his ideal Sunday in Los Angeles.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for length and clarity.
7 a.m.: Rise and sweat
I’m waking up. I walk down either Carla Ridge or run up Loma Vista, up in Trousedale [Estates], and get exhausted. That’s about an hour. Just get a good sweat.
8 a.m.: One shake, two shake
I immediately cancel out that wonderful workout with a big breakfast burrito from Dialog [Cafe] and a date shake. But I’m not going to Dialog. I’m Postmating it and tipping my driver well.
I’m very hungry. I’ve just run up a huge mountain, so I’m eating that and simultaneously ordering the Paul Saladino raw shake from Erewhon. The meat one. I love that shake. And I always get a bone broth from Erewhon, too. So the day hasn’t even started, and I’ve spent an absurd amount of money on ordered food. I’m living in La La Land.
9 a.m.: Pool hang
I take a shower, and if it’s nice out, I’m fortunate enough to have a pool, and jump in that. Maybe see what a couple friends are doing.
10:30 a.m.: Group brain rot
I love having company over. I’ll call my friend Adam, I’ll call my friend Jeff, who works at my record label, and we will just watch brain-rot TikToks.
You don’t want to know stuff that I show my wife. Brooke [Sansone]’s, like: ‘I don’t even know what kind of response I can garner up for this.’ I’m looking at a meatball — and it has two eyeballs on it, like Stick Stickly from Nickelodeon. And it says “Meatball Martin is calling you.” And there’s a sound of like an iPhone ringing. And that’s the TikTok. My friends and I just die laughing. [We can spend] easily, nine hours [doing that]. We’ll start to get headaches from being on our phones too much.
I hope you weren’t thinking that, ‘Oh, I go up Runyon Canyon or Fryman Canyon, where I go to the Getty. I go to Zuma Beach. I go to the Greystone Mansion or I go down to South Central and get some really great homemade brisket. Or we go to Woon on the East side, Silver Lake and then at night, dancing.’ I know all those amazing places exist. I go to all those places during the week. It’s just Sunday, and so I just want to be home.
12 p.m.: Get him to the Greek
It’s Sunday, so we’re ordering Matū cheesesteaks in Beverly Hills. Right on the dot at noon. It’s a delicious option for lunch. And if we’re feeling adventurous, we will take the car and go down to Go Greek on Bedford [Drive] and just get an after-cheesesteak yogurt. It’s an upscale frozen Greek yogurt place. It’s a local place and it is really good.
[Building a yogurt cup] starts healthy, but then come the gummy worms and the chocolate chips.
3 p.m.: Mall crawl
I’ll put on a little hat, some sunglasses and we’ll run to the Westfield Mall down in Century City. We’re moving slow, a lot of food’s in us.
It’s the best mall ever. We don’t even buy anything. We just walk around. Walking is such a reward after going through that insane parking garage to get into that mall. I just like to be among the people and not get noticed and not have it be a big deal. It kind of grounds me.
We’ll probably stay there for like 45 minutes and then take the car to Silver Lake, where the real eats are at.
5:00 p.m.: The feast continues
We go to Burgers Never Say Die. They have soft serve too. I’ll get chocolate vanilla swirl with a side of four burgers and cheese sauce. They have really good cheese sauce there. I don’t know how they do it. Actually, yes, I do. I know how they do it. They fry their french fries in beef tallow, which is what McDonald’s used to do, and that’s why they taste so crispy and nice.
That’s when I take my hat off, because we’re in Silver Lake, and you see everybody doing the same thing as me and my buddies. So we’ll just eat that on the hood of the car.
7:00 p.m.: Artisanal Diet Coke and a movie
Then we’ll, you know, we’re in L.A., so we’re driving a lot. And if it’s not too traffick-y, which it shouldn’t be, we’ll hit the 405 and get off at the Palisades. And there’s actually a movie theater in the Palisades Village. The last thing I saw there was “Tick, Tick… Boom!” with Andrew Garfield. [Sings “Come to Your Senses”]
They have really, really good Diet Coke there. It just remains crispy. It’s way different than having it out of the can, fresher than the bottle. It’s mixed within the machine. And it just remains spicy. I drink Diet Cokes by the sleeve. It’s like, I’m a Pez dispenser of Diet Coke.
9 p.m.: Evening snack
Since we’re on the West side, we might as well. If we’re still hungry, we’ll go to Eduardo’s [Border Grill], which is a really, really wonderful burrito spot.
9:45 p.m.: Fourth dessert
Then we’re ending the evening with more ice cream. We’re going to the Bigg Chill in Westwood. I love Los Angeles. Living in Los Angeles changed my life. It also changed my weight.
Anybody reading this, you can eat whatever you want in Los Angeles, you can go to Matsuhisa. You can do your Nobu. You can do anything you want, as long as you run up Loma Vista. That’s how you burn the cals.
10 p.m.: Demo tape drive
After that, we are driving around looking at all the nice houses in either Hancock Park or on Beverly in Beverly Hills, just listening to demos. A lot of my friends are in the music industry, so we’re just listening to what songs are coming out, what songs they’re working on, what songs I’m working on. All my records are basically mixed in the car, even if the sound system is a little wonky, I still want to hear it on a car stereo sound system, because that’s how people are going to listen to the music.
That’s the great thing about L.A., is that you can just remain inspired, because there’s creatives all around.
I don’t know a ton about Hancock Park, but I do admire how the streets are kind of an S-shape curve. And I did research on it one day. Why are the streets like that? [It’s] so people don’t drive quickly. That’s how it was designed a really long time ago. They could have easily made the road straight, but it’s more dramatic for the road to be an S-shaped curve, I guess.
11 p.m.: ‘Toks and Sopranos
Anticipating that Monday is going to be a pretty busy day, I try get back home at like 11 to shine the night off with some last-minute brain rot ’Toks. And say goodbye to my friends and watch “Sopranos” with my wife. I think James Gandolfini is one of the best actors of our time. May he rest in peace.
It’s a series that I can watch over and over and over again, because it’s based on where I’m from, New Jersey, so I feel some sort of affection towards it. It’s just seeing the intro of Elizabeth, N.J., which is what you see when you land at Newark Airport and all the factories. There’s something that is just very reminiscent of home, even though I didn’t live at the factory.
12 a.m.: Bedtime
I do my best to just not look at the phone, but it never works. I’m sure I get 30% less great sleep. But that’s a wonderful Sunday to me. Sunday full of relaxation.