Shabbat arrives in Los Angeles with a Pacific sunset that changes dramatically through the year. The calculator below is preset to Los Angeles, showing this week’s candle-lighting time, sunset, Havdalah, and Torah portion for the LA area, with Pacific Time and daylight saving handled automatically.
Los Angeles follows the standard 18-minute candle-lighting custom before astronomical sunset. Sunset in LA ranges from about 4:44 PM in early December to about 8:08 PM in late June, one of the wider seasonal swings among major American Jewish communities.
Because Los Angeles sits near the western edge of its time zone, its Shabbat times start later than New York’s by roughly three hours on the clock. Communities in the Pico-Robertson, Fairfax, and Valley areas all share essentially the same times.
Havdalah follows nightfall, calculated by default at the 8.5-degree solar depression standard. Angelenos who follow the 42, 50, or 72-minute customs can change the setting in the calculator above.
Nearby options include San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Phoenix in the Southwest. For any city worldwide, use the main Shabbat candle-lighting times tool.
LA traffic is a Friday institution, so plan drives to reach home well before candle lighting, which in midwinter falls near 4:30 PM. Summer Shabbatot begin late, leaving long Friday afternoons. For Hebrew birthdays, bar and bat mitzvah dates, or yahrzeit anniversaries, try our Jewish birthday calculator and the other free tools.