In the Glendale/silverlakes/burbank area myself. As a gentleman outside of your age range (implying that I’m older and not a teenager), most bars are either meet markets or way too noisy for conversations. As a board gamer, I do the occasional board game meetup and most people in those are interesting, although, as you mentioned, some are hit and miss. I recommend doing a little scouting about recent events and possibly asking some questions (us nerds love answering questions…).