On AMC’s Mad Men, Rich Sommer plays Harry Crane, head of media for the just-formed Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce ad agency. In real life, Sommer loves board games and buffalo wings and lives in Studio City with his wife and daughter.
1 | ![]() | Aroma CaféIf I’m trying to eat a little better, I’ll get the turkey and humus. If I’m feeling like good ol’ original Rich Sommer, I’ll go with the Kobe Bleu burger. It’s so good. |
2 | FireflyI like that it feels sort of secret, only in the way that it’s hard to tell that it’s there. There’s no sign but it’s a really cool place. There’s a lounge that’s like a library and it’s beautiful. I’ve actually had intentions to go more recently than I could. I got pulled over my way. My plate tags were expired because I’m an idiot. |
3 | ![]() | The CoopWe go to The Coop on Ventura a bit. It’s a good place to meet friends who also have kids. Once or twice a month we let our kid hang out with toys that aren’t hers. |
4 | Hollywood BilliardsSometimes after shooting a couple of us on the show will shoot some pool at Hollywood Billiards and they have amazing buffalo wings. Without question, Michael Gladis is the best. He roped us all in to pool in the first place. |
5 | Game EmpireI’m a bit of a nerd and my extracurricular activity is nerd games. The best selection in LA is at Game Empire. I drive that hour-long round trip to pick up whatever the new game is. Right now one of my favorites is Through the Ages: A story of Civilization. It takes forever to play. Pandemic is also a good introduction to games. It’s [plot] is a little dark but it’s brightly colored. |
6 | ![]() | ArcLight CinemasI love the ArcLight in Sherman Oaks. They opened it shortly after I moved here. I just saw Crazy Heart there, which was mind-blowing. They have the cool member showings too, but we don’t get to go too much. |
7 | ![]() | Upright Citizens BrigadeIf I have a free night and am not getting up with the kid I almost always head there. I got started as an improviser and when I moved here, I knew a lot of the people who teach there from New York. It’s a nice old home to go to. I hang out there a lot to see the shows. |
8 | ![]() | Buffalo Wild WingsI’m really excited because they recently opened a Buffalo Wild Wings in Burbank. I had my groom’s dinner at a Buffalo Wild Wings. I’m quite a fan. I try to switch things up just to stay current, but usually I order in the neighborhood of twelve spicy garlic wings and six of whatever other flavor strikes my fancy. |
9 | ![]() | Chimneysweep LoungeI’m a Cleveland Browns fan and I don’t have the NFL Sunday Ticket at home, so I go to the Chimneysweep to watch the games. The décor is straight out of the sixties. It almost should be carpeted. They have Browns games every Sunday with free chili dogs and popcorn—which is all you need. |
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![]() | StrategiconThree times a year there’s Strategicon convention and I go for the board games. It happens Presidents Day, Labor Day, and Memorial Day weekends. You go and take a look at the new board games and meet a couple of board game designers and you can check out games you don’t own from the library and then return them. The amount of times my wife has rolled her eyes at board games is impossible to count. |
Images courtesy (in order): Stewart Marcano (1) aromacoffeeandtea.com, (2) citysearch.com, (3) thecoop-la.com, (4) Flickr/TK (5) gameempire.com, (6) Flickr/CLF, (7) losangeles.ucbtheatre.com, (8) buffalowiildwings.com, (9) clevelandbrowns.com, (10) strategicon.net