Hands-on workshops & classes in Los Angeles
6 places in Los Angeles where you make something with your hands, including House of Intuition, The Crooked Path Occult Apothecary and Prey Taxidermy. Blow glass, throw pots, forge a blade or build a terrarium — an evening you leave holding the thing you made. They spread across Echo Park / Silver Lake, Burbank (Magnolia Park), Lincoln Heights, Silver Lake and 2 more areas, so two or three can make a whole afternoon. Every entry is hand-vetted against real sources — not scraped off a top-ten list or averaged out of crowd ratings.
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House of Intuition
Founded in 2010 by Marlene Vargas and Alex Naranjo, this is the witchy flagship you reach by climbing a steep flight of stairs off Sunset. Inside are hand-dressed magic candles, all-natural herbs, hand-picked crystals and altar tools, plus a roster of in-house readers and healers. They run workshops and classes throughout the month and offer one-on-one consultations spanning tarot, astrology, past-life regression and reiki.
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The Crooked Path Occult Apothecary
Run by Italian witch Sal Santoro, who has 35-plus years in the occult and witchcraft community, and his wife Popi Mavros. The shop stocks an extensive apothecary of herbs, oils, stones and candles, and includes a craft-your-own custom candle station, a tarot reading room with head reader Renee Watt, an art gallery and a communal space. Santoro and Watt also host a weekly Thursday-night livestream called Betwixt The Shadows on witchcraft, astrology and spellcraft.
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Prey Taxidermy
Prey is the studio of award-winning taxidermist Allis Markham, who trained and worked in the taxidermy lab at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. In her tucked-away Lincoln Heights workspace she teaches small classes where you skin, preserve, and pose a real bird or mammal over a multi-day session. The work is meticulous and surprisingly tender, ending with a museum-grade mount you take home. Space is limited and classes regularly sell out.
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The Perfumer's Studio LA - Perfume Making 101
Run by a studio that has been training perfumers for over 25 years, this two-hour intro workshop hands you a library of more than 160 fragrance bases to blend a scent from scratch. You learn how top, heart, and base notes stack, then formulate and bottle your own 30ml signature perfume to take home. No experience needed, and all materials are included. The Perfume Making 101 class is hosted offsite at Cafe Tropical, the longtime Silver Lake cafe on Sunset Blvd.
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Adam's Forge
Adam's Forge is a volunteer-run 501(c)(3) blacksmithing and metal-arts school where forges and anvils fill a working community shop. Beginners start by hammering glowing steel into projects like bottle openers and hooks, while more experienced students can forge a high-carbon blade in the day-long Blacksmith's Knife class (a prerequisite intro class is required). Instructors are practicing smiths and all tools are provided. It is a genuine community forge rather than a polished tourist experience.
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Moonlight Glass (John Mooney)
Moonlight Glass is glassblower John Mooney's Venice studio offering private, beginner-friendly hot-glass lessons. In a one-on-one or small session you work directly at the furnace to gather and shape molten glass, making a paperweight, a stemless wine glass, or a tumbler. Because it's private instruction, the pace is tailored to you and you take home your finished pieces. It's a more intimate alternative to the bigger group studios.
Hands-on workshops & classes in Los Angeles — FAQ
What can you actually make at a workshop in Los Angeles?
Across the 6 listed: occult, witch shop, tarot, ritual candles and crystals. Start with House of Intuition and The Crooked Path Occult Apothecary — every listing says what you leave holding and roughly what it costs.
Which hands-on workshops & classes in Los Angeles are the strangest?
Ranked by how strange they actually are: The Crooked Path Occult Apothecary, House of Intuition and Prey Taxidermy. The Crooked Path Occult Apothecary — Run by Italian witch Sal Santoro, who has 35-plus years in the occult and witchcraft community, and his wife Popi Mavros.
Where in Los Angeles are they?
Across Echo Park / Silver Lake, Burbank (Magnolia Park), Lincoln Heights, Silver Lake and Simi Valley and 1 more. Each listing gives the neighborhood and address so you can cluster a couple into one outing.
Is this a good weird date in Los Angeles?
That's what the list is built for. Every entry has a specific move rather than a vague recommendation — at The Crooked Path Occult Apothecary, for instance: Build matching custom candles at the dressing station, then sit for a tarot reading in the back room.
How were these hands-on workshops & classes chosen?
An agentic research system digs for the genuinely obscure — the spots even locals miss — and every one is verified against real sources before it makes the list. We deliberately skip the landmarks already on every Los Angeles guide.