Part of Notes from the Road, our city-by-city series.
The short answer: Craigslist took its Personals section offline in the US on March 22, 2018, including on its Los Angeles, Orange County, Inland Empire, and Ventura County sites. No single site replaced it. Personal ads in LA now live on Reddit’s LA boards, on classified-style sites, in general classifieds, and in text-first apps including AseeksB. We read the 20 newest Los Angeles ads on four of those sites in October 2026.
Los Angeles has two Reddit boards for personal ads, r/LAr4r and the wider r/SoCalR4R, and both ask for a minimum karma or account age before you can post. What you find depends on where you look: when we read the 20 newest Los Angeles ads on October 5, 2026, none on r/LAr4r asked readers to move off-site or offered paid services, against 17 on SeekingList.
The other constant is distance. Santa Monica to Pasadena looks manageable on a map until it becomes the 10, the 110, and parking, so a personal ad that says where you are, and what would be worth the drive, does the sorting first.
The sites that replaced Craigslist Personals in other US cities serve Los Angeles too. Here is how each works for LA, from our checks in October 2026:
On October 5, 2026, we read the 20 newest Los Angeles ads on four of these sites and counted the ones that asked readers to move off-site or offered paid services: none on r/LAr4r, 1 on Doublelist, which gave a Kik handle, 17 on SeekingList, which gave phone numbers or offered paid services, and none on Locanto. Because no Locanto ad met that test, we also ran its photos through a reverse image search: all 11 ads posted as women used pictures that turned up elsewhere, on escort sites or on other people’s TikTok accounts. Lex and AseeksB ads can’t be read without an account, so they weren’t counted. How we check.
AseeksB publishes this page and is included in it. For how each site handles the eight traits that defined Craigslist Personals, see our full comparison.
Craigslist still splits greater Los Angeles into separate sites, for Los Angeles, Orange County, the Inland Empire, and Ventura County. None of them has had a Personals section since March 2018. Which site comes closest depends on what you used it for: reading ads without signing up, replying without a match, or staying anonymous. Our Craigslist alternatives comparison lets you pick those traits and shows which sites still have them. If you have been using Doublelist or Locanto, see sites like Doublelist and sites like Locanto. Missed connections are still there; more below.
Coming from Reddit or a classified site? On AseeksB you still write an ad in your own words, but you choose who can see it, by gender and age; someone can send one message per post until you reply; and no photo or real name is needed. Posting, browsing, and replying are free. How AseeksB works.
“doublelist los angeles” gets about 8,100 searches a month, and “doublelist la” another 2,400, up 125% on last year (Google Keyword Planner, October 2026). Doublelist has a Los Angeles page. Anyone can see ad titles, but reading a full ad needs an account. Posting is free for up to 3 posts, and seeing members’ photos takes a paid plan; its help center lists two, Hookup and Hardcore, at $45 and $90 a year.
On October 5, 2026, 1 of its 20 newest Los Angeles ads asked readers to move off-site, with a Kik handle. That is a snapshot of the newest ads on one day, not a measure of the whole site.
If you’re coming from Doublelist, AseeksB works differently: you choose who can see your post, by gender and age; someone can send one message per post until you reply; admins actively monitor posts; and posting, browsing, and replying are free. For more options, see sites like Doublelist.
Most apps flatten Los Angeles into a radius. Locals know better. The Westside, Hollywood, the Valley, Northeast LA, Downtown, Pasadena, Long Beach, and WeHo do not move like one city. AseeksB shows posts from across the area, which is useful when you are open to the drive, and anyone can search by distance when you are not. Every post shows how far it was posted from, and once you match, chat shows the exact distance, so you know whether it is a real drive before you plan around it. Supporters can also set a maximum distance on their own posts, to keep them on their side of town.
Venice and Los Feliz are different nights. West Hollywood and Highland Park are different crowds. The Valley is close or far depending on which canyon you are willing to take. A good personal ad can say the practical thing up front: what you want, where you usually are, and whether this is worth leaving your neighborhood for.
Craigslist Los Angeles still has missed connections, under Community, but they are mixed: when we read the 20 newest on October 10, 2026, 10 were personal ads posted as missed connections, and the other 10 looked like genuine missed connections. Orange County, the Inland Empire, and Ventura County each have their own Craigslist site, so look in the one where you saw them.
AseeksB has a missed connections category too: say where and when, and only the audience you choose can see the post. For how to write one the right person will recognize, see our guide to missed connections.
Beyond the apps. CitySwoon runs speed dating in Los Angeles, with nights by age range at bars around the city; its website lists upcoming dates. For more ways to meet people, with or without an app, see our guide to alternatives to dating apps.
Los Angeles was running personals long before Craigslist. In August 1898, a widow placed one in the Los Angeles Herald:
“A hardworking, honest widow, struggling to support her little family, would like to meet a good and true-hearted old gentleman (widower) of wealth; object, matrimony.”
Los Angeles Herald, August 7, 1898. Read the adReplies went to a numbered box at the Herald’s office, as they would at newspapers for decades. More in our history of personal ads and The Personals Archive.
If LA dating keeps stalling on logistics, a personal ad fixes the part that matters first: you know what someone wants and roughly where they are before you commit the drive.
One honest difference: AseeksB ads can only be read inside the app after signing up, unlike Reddit’s boards and most of the classified sites above. That is the trade for choosing exactly who sees each post.
Every post makes AseeksB busier for the next person in Los Angeles. Post what you’re looking for, and if there’s a feature you’d want, tell us through the app, from the profile tab; we’d love to hear it.
Text-first personal ads for Los Angeles, in your own words, with distance and other controls in Supporter.
Since Craigslist Personals closed in 2018, people in LA post on Reddit's r/LAr4r and r/SoCalR4R, on classified-style personals sites such as Doublelist and SeekingList, in the personals section of general classifieds like Locanto, and in text-first apps like Lex and AseeksB. They differ mainly in who can read your ad and who can reply.
No single site did. Craigslist took its Personals section offline in the US on March 22, 2018, after Congress passed FOSTA, including on its Los Angeles, Orange County, Inland Empire, and Ventura County sites. LA's personal ads spread across Reddit boards, classified sites, and apps instead.
r/LAr4r and r/SoCalR4R are subreddits where people post personal ads as threads. Anyone can read them without an account, but posting or replying needs a Reddit account. When we checked in October 2026, r/LAr4r locked its posts, so replies go by private message rather than in the comments. Both also require some Reddit history before you can post: r/LAr4r a minimum account age and karma, and r/SoCalR4R a minimum karma.
Craigslist Los Angeles still has a missed connections section under Community, but on October 10, 2026, 10 of its 20 newest posts were personal ads posted as missed connections. The other 10 looked like genuine missed connections. AseeksB also has a missed connections category.
Yes. AseeksB is a free personal ads app for iOS and Android. Every post shows how far away it was posted, anyone can search by distance, and Supporters can also set a maximum distance on their own posts. A free account keeps one active post, and someone can send one message per post until you reply.