Lack of 24 hour stores, pharmacies, etc (Los Angeles, San Francisco: house, neighborhood, pharmacy)

[wehotex]

I'm a bit of a night owl and lament the scarcity of 24 hour pharmacies, stores, restaurants and the like. In a large city like Los Angeles, I would expect that more stores would be open til 12 or even 24 hours. I found out that the Starbucks store at Westwood is 24 hours-yay!! But little else seems to be.

[wehotex]

Originally Posted by AmSwede

There are enough and plenty of 24 hour pharmacy & diners scattered throughout LA.
LA unlike NYC, Chicago, SF is more suburban like no matter how high the population is.

Plan on shopping ahead; retail workers needs to sleep as well.

Ever heard of "split shifts"?

[nslander]

Originally Posted by wehotex

I'm a bit of a night owl and lament the scarcity of 24 hour pharmacies, stores, restaurants and the like. In a large city like Los Angeles, I would expect that more stores would be open til 12 or even 24 hours. I found out that the Starbucks store at Westwood is 24 hours-yay!! But little else seems to be.

Per Yelp, the number of 24 hour pharmacies and restaurants in LA is the same as Chicago.

[bpeeps]

From a quick google (yelp) there seem to be plenty of 24 hour pharmacies and restaurants.

[disgruntled la native]

The more urban the neighborhood, the more likely there will be late night options.

[bpeeps]

Originally Posted by Manchu Dong

who told you los angeles is a "giant city"?

it's a huge suburb, don't kid yourself.

Said by someone who's never seen a real suburb. People consider Burbank a suburb and I just laugh at them.

[genjy]

There are plenty of 24 hour and late night (1AM or later) restaurants and eateries in the Los Angeles area--from SFV to LA basin to SGV.

What we really don't have are stores that stay open past 10PM. The only exceptions would be drug stores and Targets/Walmarts; otherwise, expect basically all retail-type businesses to be closed way before midnight.

[genjy]

Originally Posted by bpeeps

Said by someone who's never seen a real suburb. People consider Burbank a suburb and I just laugh at them.

That's because those people:

A) Have never been to a real suburb
B) Have never been to Burbank
C) Have only seen Burbank from the freeway

[Bunjee]

Originally Posted by nslander

Per Yelp, the number of 24 hour pharmacies and restaurants in LA is the same as Chicago.

I don't know about Chicago but for the average Joe, New York and San Francisco are really not as 24/7 as the popular image conjures them to be either.

[MordinSolus]

Having lived in NYC I can say there's just as much late-night commerce in LA. There's a 24-hour pharmacy within walking distance of my house in WeHo. There are numerous diners open all night just a short drive away in Hollywood. I see late-night food trucks out pretty frequently. Etc.
I'm a night owl myself and I don't find LA lacking in this regard.