Santa Clarita's singles scene needs some help, said Hollywood networker and matchmaker Dianne Bennett. And it would only take a few self-starters to make it work.
"New Year's Eve is coming up," Bennett said last week. "You know how many people are going to be home alone? It's pathetic."
"Or at a bar?" she added. She rolled her eyes and groaned. "If I was up there, I'd whip the whole town into shape."
Classy bars and clubs can be a fine place to find a date, she said. But these are a rarity in Santa Clarita.
Instead, Bennett - a professional social butterfly who makes matches in the arenas of both business and love - said that some of the valley's single women should start up a singles' dine-around club on Sunday nights.
"Put the word out, set a certain criteria for men," she said. "Men bring wine, women bring food. Everything's free."
If the men are quality and the women are pretty, the parties will take off like a lightning bolt, propelled by word of mouth alone, Bennett said.
For those who prefer bars and clubs, Bennett said wallflowers never win.
"Stand next to the bar and smile until you think your teeth are going to fall out of your mouth," she said.
Either way, any game is better than the waiting game.
"Go out," Bennett said. "We know where the action is not - it is not in the living room and definitely not in your bedroom."
Other Santa Clarita residents, like Rick Mahn, have found love using less conventional means.
Mahn, a 65-year-old widower, turned to the Internet after his wife died about three years ago. Using online dating services, he went on a date or two with between 150 and 180 women, he said.
"I wasn't looking for a bimbette," he said. "I was looking for someone my age."
He eventually became involved with NoWaitingDating.com, a speed-dating service that hosts events throughout the Southland.
During a 150-minute event in Westlake two years ago, he met 24 women. No. 23 wound up being his lucky number: 62-year-old psychologist and minister Linda Bailey. Bailey was away for the holidays and unreachable for comment.
Following the speed-dating event, the pair went on three dates before Mahn became intimidated by Bailey's intellect. He told her he didn't think it would work. But he quickly changed his mind.
"I couldn't stop thinking about her," he said. He asked her if she'd like to give it another try, and she agreed.
"Next date, we went to Huntington Library, talking, sharing histories," he said. "We've been going together ever since."
On Jan. 9, the couple is set to celebrate their two-year anniversary. They recently picked out a pre-engagement ring, Mahn said.
An advantage to the speed-dating scene is that it's not as easy to hide behind the Web. Mahn said that he'd often find that photos and descriptions people give generally aren't too accurate - especially when it comes to weight. He's been disappointed at many blind Internet-arranged dates.
But he said the disappointments are behind him now, and the future seems bright.
Mahn said: "I'm looking very forward to spending the rest of my life with the most incredible woman I've ever known."
Copyright:The Signal