Los Angeles-born actress and singer Miranda Cosgrove has been a fixture in pop culture for over two decades, making her film debut in 2003’s School of Rock (when she was nine years old at the time of filming), followed by sitcom roles (first on Drake & Josh from 2004-2007, then as the lead on iCarly from 2007-2012, reprising the role in its 2021-2023 revival), then returning to film, where she’s been seen (or, in the case of the Despicable Me animated film series, heard) and constantly reprising her roles ever since (most recently reprising her role as Margo in Despicable Me 4, which hit theaters on July 3).
Throughout all that time, and the decade before that, one place has been a constant in her life: “I filmed ‘School of Rock’ in New York for five months when I was little,” she recently told The Times. “I don’t know if I can say I lived there. I think the longest I’ve been anywhere else was a year and a half. I went to Thailand recently for about two months. But in terms of having lived anywhere, the only place I’ve ever lived is Los Angeles.”
On Sunday Funday, LA residents share their perfect Sunday in the city. Find ideas and inspiration for where to go, what to eat, and how to enjoy life on the weekend.
That means when Cosgrove shares her suggestions for the perfect Sunday itinerary, as she did over a Zoom call from the Los Angeles home she shares with her three dogs (Maude the pug, Penelope the Shih Tzu-poo, and Diego the terrier mix) and three cats (Mum and foster cats Ethel and Lucy), you can trust her.
Before we dig into her perfect day (loads of food, cats, and family), I asked her which of the many characters she’s played could put together an enviable Sunday lineup.
“Probably Margo from Despicable Me,” she answered almost immediately. “Because she’s really smart. And she’s also really sarcastic and not afraid to voice her opinion, which I think you have to have to have those qualities to get by in LA. And she’s just a do-whatever-she-want-to-do-it personality and she doesn’t care. So I feel like she’d come up with some fun things, probably a lot crazier than I would.”
When it comes to coming up with fun stuff, Cosgrove didn’t disappoint, as you can read here (grilled sea bass in a pizza box, anyone?).
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for length and clarity.
11:30am: Start your day with a coconut kale smoothie
I love to sleep in. I’m a night owl, I’ll stay up until 2 a.m. watching TV shows and movies. So I’ll probably get up around 11:30 and go get a coconut kale smoothie at Naturewell in Silver Lake. It’s a coconut date smoothie with kale. It’s really good. I start light because I want to finish and have a big lunch and dinner. … I’m a big foodie, so I’m always looking for good places to eat. That’s where I get the most joy in life.
12pm: Meet Frankenstein at FacePlace
I’ve been going to this facial place in West Hollywood called Face Place lately. It’s amazing. I’m not a huge fan of facials, but I’m obsessed with them. It’s only 45 minutes. They put this weird helmet thing on your face and make you look like you’re Frankenstein’s lab, but it’s only 15 minutes. It’s so relaxing.
1:30pm: Take a cheese-filled road trip
It’s so far away that it doesn’t really make sense. But I might go to Long Beach and have the best pizza I’ve ever had at a place called Speak Cheesy and bring it to my parents who live in Downey. I’ll probably get pizza on a Sunday when it’s probably not as busy. My favorite is the pizza with a little bit of cheese on it, almost like frosting, so you can’t go wrong with any of them. And they also have a really good Caesar salad with a whole soft-boiled egg on it.
3pm: Spend some time with nature and animals
I sometimes go to the El Dorado Nature Center when I’m in the Long Beach area. I don’t go there often these days, but I used to go there a lot. It’s a really beautiful place. You pay the $6 parking fee and then walk through. [Parking is $8 on weekends.] There’s a kind of man-made lake and lots of squirrels and cranes and stuff. It’s very shady so you don’t get any direct sun even on the hottest days. It’s about 3-4 miles long, but it’s flat so it’s more of a walk than a hike.
Another option is to go to CatCafe Lounge in Westwood. It’s a cat cafe where you can meet cats while drinking coffee and often end up adopting them. I foster cats and currently have two sister tabby cats, Lucy and Ethel, who I’ve adopted. CatCafe Lounge has adopted and adopted about a dozen of the cats I’ve adopted. I always write very long bios for my cats so that they can read them when they come and be adopted right away. I work with Kitten Rescue Los Angeles, a facility based in Atwater Village, to rescue cats. The cats I adopt are always rescued by CatCafe Lounge.
6:30pm: Decide on a tasty meal dilemma
Depending on how long I was at the cat cafe, I’ll probably go out for dinner. I always hesitate because Union in Pasadena is always my favorite choice, but a place I go to at least once a week, probably my favorite restaurant, is Bestia in downtown Los Angeles. Union’s menu is always changing, but I choose pasta there. You can’t go wrong with spaghetti and meatballs. They also have bucatini, which is very good. They also have very good homemade fresh bread with their own butter and sea salt.
I order a lot of different things at Bestia, but at the moment I’m really into the soppressata and honey pizza, the grilled branzino is so good they put it in a pizza box for takeaway, and the chestnut and mushroom agnolotti, which is my go-to main dish.
9:30pm: Walk 10,000 steps with my travel-loving parents
I have some walking buddies near my parents’ house, and my mom is committed to walking 10,000 steps a day, and has been doing that for 520 days straight so far. So sometimes I go to see her and walk her dog. Then I walk with a friend in the neighborhood. It takes a while to get to 10,000 steps, so we walk for about an hour. I actually walk late at night, but my parents only live about 15 minutes away from Bestia.
11pm: Fall asleep to crime or cooking shows
After that, I either stay over at my parents’ house or go home and watch a really good TV show or movie because that’s how I end my nights. [Hulu’s true-crime drama miniseries] “Under the Bridge” with Lily Gladstone. I love falling asleep to cooking shows. I’ve also watched every episode of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”
I don’t know why it calms me, but it’s been so long and it’s so comforting. I’ve never seen another Law & Order series. [shows]I’m sure they would make a great couple, but I love Mariska Hargitay, and I’m really interested to see if Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler will ever find love. That’s what’s troubling me.