Social club for semi-retired men?

August 2, 2005 5:44 PM

My 64-year-old father is bored. Are there any social clubs in Los Angeles for him?

My dad works very sporadically, from home, so he doesn't get out and see people much. My mom is at work all day. He's lonely and bored. We were trying to come up with ideas for him, and I said "You need a Red Hat Society for men." That was the only idea he smiled at. My dad is young at heart and in good health, but is recovering from a knee injury, so he's not up for hiking or marathon walking tours. He likes to fish, play cards, and listen to classical music. He would like to socialize regularly with a somewhat set group of people (as opposed to meeting new people all the time). He lives in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles. Are there any social clubs or organizations he might be interested in?

posted by clh to human relations (10 comments total)

I don't know about LA specifically, but my grandfather used to be president of the Retired Men's Club of Arlington (MA). They were a bunch of guys ( over 600 members, IIRC) who got together for discussion, coffee, and cards. They had more specialized interest subgroups (The Grandpops were their acapella singing group, for example), and they would often organize trips (weekends in the Poconos, cruises, etc.) that club members could participate in.

Not surprisingly, their web-presence is non-existent (their meeting minutes were TYPED and PHOTOCOPIED), so perhaps your Dad needs to try hanging out in old-men-centric locations (barber shops, early morning coffeeshops and libraries jump immediately to mind) and talk to people and look for fliers. I'm sure the groups exist, it's just a matter of finding them.
posted by Rock Steady at 6:03 PM on August 2, 2005

Freemasons , Elks, Moose, Odd Fellows, Vet groups if applicable, Sons of the Golden West if applicable, Knights of Columbus if applicable... Need I go on?
posted by keswick at 6:27 PM on August 2, 2005

The typical crowd is probably a bit younger than he is, but he might see if any of the events at Los Angeles People Connection looks interesting to him. It sounds like the hiking activities would be out, but they do a lot of stuff, and I don't think he'd feel out of place.
posted by willnot at 7:09 PM on August 2, 2005

There are a few Scrabble clubs that are pretty active. He is probably younger than the normal Senior Center crowd, but there are a lot of activities there
posted by jonah at 8:30 PM on August 2, 2005

What keswick said. If Minnesota is filled with fraternal organizations, California should have one on every street corner.

See also: Lions, Shriners, etc, etc...
posted by unixrat at 9:02 PM on August 2, 2005

My Dad's a little younger than yours, also in the Valley and working from home. He hangs out at the dog park quite a bit, but of course that only works if you have a dog. There are rec softball leagues at the Van Nuys/Sherman Oaks and Balboa parks that have mixed-age teams where you don't have to run. My team had a guy in his 70's who would hit and have a pinch runner. There's also weekend head boat fishing trips out of San Pedro, IKEA movie nights in Burbank, and the absolute Valhalla of older guys sitting around: Art's Deli on Ventura.
posted by 12XU at 9:15 PM on August 2, 2005

LA is full of social clubs catering to any interest you can think up. The more difficult question is, which one fits his interests and budgets? I don't have the answer to that one.
posted by b1tr0t at 10:02 PM on August 2, 2005

New Horizons Band -- no experience required -- might be worth looking into.
posted by gnomeloaf at 7:01 AM on August 3, 2005

Does he like books and young kids? The LA public library has a program where older adults read to children at the various branches.
posted by brujita at 8:06 AM on August 3, 2005

You don't mention any interest your dad might have in volunteering, but I think it's worth mentioning as an option. There are obviously a lot of possibilities (the link is to the first result of a google search on volunteer opportunities ).

It's said that the person who gets the most benefit from volunteering is the volunteer him/herself.
posted by WestCoaster at 9:42 AM on August 3, 2005