Things to do in L.A. this weekend

Roam the stalls at this Memorial Day arts festival, sample the food and listen to the music—and then take a dip in the nearby Pacific. A few logistical changes for the last few fests have streamlined the layout: You’ll still find on-the-street stalls and sidewalk vendors along Hermosa and Pier Avenues, but there’s now live music at the beach (one of five stages throughout the fest), and there’s a proper carnival (with a wine garden) inland at Pier and Monterey Boulevard.

West Hollywood celebrates the artistic contributions of the LGBTQ+ community at this annual festival, where queer artists showcase their stories and talents. The precursor to WeHo Pride Weekend takes place over three days chock-full of comedy shows, choir performances, literary readings and art-making workshops at the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Village at Ed Gould Plaza. Highlights include the West Coast Premiere reading of Ramoon Maharaj's sweet lorraine, about the friendship between James Baldwin and Lorraine Hansberry (Fri 8pm, RSVP here); trans masc comedy show Big Dad Energy (Fri 6:30pm, RSVP here); and custom poetry both Friday and Sunday. What’s more, all the events are free. You can check out the full lineup of programming here.

Everybody likes a good theme party, and this May, Main Street in Santa Monica is giving the people what they want. In an effort not only to entertain Westsiders but to support the area’s community programming, much of Main Street will transform into essentially an interactive Monopoly board game, allotting attendees “MAINopoly dollars” to be exchanged for food tastings across the street’s finest establishments. Trade a couple fake bucks for dishes from spots like Ashland Hill, Holey Grail Donuts, Jameson’s Pub, the Victorian and Sunny Blye, or add on a couple of drinks in the “Go to Jail” VIP lounge and beer garden. Dressing up is encouraged, so polish up that Monopology moncole.

Make your Memorial Day weekend a little bit country at Hollywood’s cowboy-chic rooftop bar as it relaunches its Wild West pool party and trading post series just in time for summer. Starting Sunday, May 25, you’ll find a weekly pop-up of local vendors, a cowboy cookout, cocktails, music from country DJ Short Shorts and a live Fleetwood Mac tribute, so bring your boots and party till the sun sets over the city. There’s no cover, but if you’re coming with a group and want to splash out for a cabana reservation (starting at $900), you can do that here.

Listen to classical and jazz in a dome more than a mile above L.A. during this mountaintop concert series. The Mount Wilson Observatory is hosting monthly concerts this summer inside the dome of its 100-inch Hooker telescope, which was the largest telescope in the world for much of the first half of the 20th century. Tickets cost $60 (that also includes access to the exhibit at the observatory) and it’s highly recommended that you buy them in advance since seating is limited. You’ll need to be able to climb 53 steps to reach the dome, and children under 12 aren’t permitted. 

Level 8’s lively rooftop bar, Golden Hour, is celebrating Memorial Day all weekend long with four different events offering poolside DJ sets and curated cocktails from day to night. First up is the very first pool party of the season from Dim Mak Afloat, featuring sets from Topanga Hills Mafia, Zachary Freemont and more (Sat 2pm, tickets here). Then Chicago-based DJ Nick Varell is up at 8pm (RSVP here). On Sunday, Flamingosis takes over the space from 2 to 8pm (tickets here), and on Monday, We2Bomb’s SPLASH Summer Kickoff Pool Party will close out the holiday weekend with even more DJs and pool time (Mon 2pm, tickets here).

L.A. has changed immeasurably since 1921, when this event was first staged as an agricultural fair. However, the perennially popular event still has farm-friendly appeal (livestock beauty contests, local produce) alongside the more modern wine tastings, exhibitions, concerts (this year’s headliners include War, Shaggy and Cheap Trick), skating rink and carnival rides. This year’s theme, “Art Unleashed,” celebrates culinary arts, visual arts, performing arts and fine arts.

RECOMMENDED: A guide to the L.A. County Fair

After years on the Central Coast, the annual event has more recently made a move significantly closer to L.A., at Bakersfield’s Buena Vista Aquatic Recreational Area. Sure, it’s still a bit of a trek, but where else can you find a sustainable, vegetarian festival dedicated to equal parts music, food, art, yoga and wellness? Expect to do some serious soul-searching during this five-day retreat, all while immersing yourself in everything from a speaker series to an old timey trading post. John Summit, Khruangbin, Jamie xx, Four Tet and Subtronics top the 2025 lineup.

If you loved Greta Gerwig’s Little Women (or even, gasp, Louisa May Alcott’s original), head to the Heritage Square Museum and step into the lives of Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy in this immersive ballet—the spring installment of a seasonal trilogy developed by Emma Andres, the resident choreographer for Pasadena Civic Ballet. It’s a triumphant return for the ballet, after its props, merchandise, decorations and many costumes were destroyed by the recent Eaton Fire. Choose from five site-specific performances in the museum’s Victorian mansions over the course of the weekend. A goodie bag and complimentary spring beverages and desserts are included with admission.

The historic Culver Hotel is launching weekly floral-forward garden parties, kicking off on Memorial Day weekend and running through Labor Day. At the furry-friend-friendly Saturday series, your pup can enjoy a “barcuterie” board of snacks while you sip summer spritzes, yuzu-spiked Arnold Palmers and punch. Meanwhile, canapés like coconut ceviche, avocado tartine and tuna on crispy rice will be presented in vintage birdcages. A live DJ will provide an ambient soundtrack, and a pop-up flower bar will be on hand offering bespoke bouquets.

Ovation Hollywood is going country during this Memorial Day weekend bash, with live music from Jason & Jules and beginner-friendly line dancing courtesy of Urban Bootscoot. Refuel with bites from Dave & Buster’s and cocktails from NEFT Vodka while you browse goods from local vendors (think permanent jewelry and trucker hats). If you’re looking for love, you can even do-si-do over to the Singles Station and live out your Farmer Wants a Wife dreams with matchmaking and a silent date auction. 

Tied to Earth Day, Friends of the L.A. River is pivoting its monthly cleanup into a bit of post-fire empowerment with this habitat resoration effort at the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Preserve. Volunteers will help remove invasive vegetation inside the San Fernando Valley park while learning about how they factor into flammability, as well as about the region’s watershed. Participation is free, but registration is required.

One of L.A.’s best free live-music offerings, Jazz at LACMA has featured legit legends over its three-decade run at the museum. Seating for the program is available in the museum’s plaza on a first-come, first-served basis, though you’re welcome to picnic on the grass, too (you won’t really be able to see the show, but you’ll still hear it). You’ll find the series on Friday evenings in LACMA’s welcome plaza (just behind Urban Light) throughout the summer.

For dinner and a movie, all in one, just follow the food trucks. During the spring, summer and fall, Street Food Cinema throws together a series of outdoor parties that include screenings of some of our favorite movies, paired with an assortment of gourmet food trucks and even a live music performance from a cool local band. The screenings are held in venues across L.A. into October and alternate from week to week, so make sure to check the schedule. Some of the outdoor venues are dog-friendly, allowing you to bring your four-legged cinema lover along.

The Broad’s upcoming special exhibition makes its way to Downtown L.A. from the 2024 Venice Biennale, where Jeffrey Gibson became the first Indigenous artist to represent the United States with a solo exhibition. Known for his signature use of geometric patterns, patterned text, vibrant color, glass beads and found objects, the Colorado-born artist explores his Indigenous identity and pays tribute to histories of resistance in thought-provoking and optimistic ways. The first-floor galleries will be transformed into a kaleidoscopic environment with 10 paintings, seven sculptures, eight flags, three murals and one video installation by Gibson. Expect an accompanying slate of performances, talks and workshops.

The Skirball’s latest pop culture exhibition takes a deep dive into the six-decade career of legendary comic book artist Jack Kirby. You might know him as the co-creator of Captain America, Black Panther, the Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men and some of the Marvel universe’s most cosmic characters. But did you know he was also a first-generation Jewish American born to immigrant parents, World War II veteran and family man who split his time between New York and Los Angeles? Learn about his life and see Kirby’s original comic illustrations, as well as other works—many on view for the first time.

The California Science Center is inviting kids to get in the game with a new 17,000-square-foot exhibition about the power of play and the human body in motion. Besides teaching about the science behind sports, it also offers interactive challenges and video coaching from a team of Los Angeles-based mentor athletes including dancer Debbie Allen, the Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman, Olympic medalist softball player Rachel Garcia and more. For the first time ever, the center has commissioned public art—all by local artists—to complement the exhibition, including a Dodgers mural by Gustavo Zermeño Jr. The free exhibition kicks off May 15 and will remain at the Science Center at least through the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Add some culture to your daily commute. Nonprofit arts organization the Billboard Creative mounts this annual show around town which, as you probably guessed, covers 30 billboards around L.A. with works from artists, turning the city streets into a de facto art installation. This latest edition shows off works from 30 international and local artists across an assortment of mediums on billboards from May 5 to 30. You can see a map of where you’ll find the artwork here.

West Hollywood’s chic restaurant and rooftop bar, E.P. & L.P., is serving much more than handcrafted cocktails and modern American bites. The spot also hosts Melrose Rooftop Theatre, an outdoor screening series that runs much of the year on the rooftop space attached to its open-air bar, L.P. Its all-VIP seating setup means everyone gets their own bean bag to watch a mix of cult classics and newly released films, with the audio piped in to provided sets of wireless headphones. Opt for the dinner-and-a-movie package and you’ll get a pre-show starter, main and dessert—or you can skip it and just opt for a cocktail during the movie.

Watch a slate of classics from the past couple of decades on one of the prettiest rooftops—now called Oasis—in Hollywood at this outdoor screenings series. All movies are piped in over sets of provided wireless headphones. Before showtime, make sure to hit up the bar or the on-site kitchen.

The Boy Who Lived lives on in a wizardly spectacle with truly spellbinding special effects. As though it had cast a Shrinking Charm on itself, the formerly two-part epic is now a single show, albeit a long one—and one that our New York critic awarded five stars.

After popping up at D23 and Long Beach shopping center 2nd & PCH, themed mini-golf experience Pixar Putt has landed at its most logical home: the Pixar Place Hotel, close to California Adventure and its Pixar Pier. Putt your way through 18 themed holes and step into the stories of Pixar favorites including Toy Story, The Incredibles, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, Coco, A Bug’s Life, Wall-E and Inside Out.

Sure, you’ve seen the archival television clips of the Beatles’ famous appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, but what about firsthand, long-lost photographs from that same time shot by one of the band members? This spring, Beverly Hills gallery Gagosian displays 36 recently rediscovered photographs of the Beatles, all captured by Paul McCartney. A mix of black-and-white and color prints, the McCartney photos were shot during peak of Beatlemania, from December 1963 to February 1964. Expect to see a mix of self-portraits of Paul and candid shots of John, George and Ringo—as well as hysterical fans waiting outside the windows of the band’s car.

Right on the heels of the release of his new film, Mickey 17, director Bong Joon Ho steps into the spotlight at the Academy Museum’s new exhibition. The first-ever museum show dedicated to the Oscar-winning South Korean filmmaker will trace Ho’s career, creative process and cinematic influences. See over 100 storyboards, posters, concept art, creature models, props and on-set photos from the director’s archive and personal collection. On Sundays, the museum’s on-site restaurant, Fanny’s, is offering an accompanying Korean Sunday Supper series with dishes like bibimbap and galbi jjim. You can reserve a spot here.

Nature lovers, rejoice! Spend a day at the Natural History Museum’s Butterfly Pavilion, which will be open through August 24 and be home to up to 30 butterfly and moth species, as well as an assortment of California plants. The seasonal outdoor exhibit allows for adults and children alike to witness nature up close—we’re talking walking amid hundreds of butterflies and having them land on your arms or shoulders. Tip: The prime time for these unique butterfly flight experiences is typically between 10am and 11am each morning.

The Los Angeles–based conceptual artist and now-retired CalArts educator is back with his first L.A. solo exhibition since 2019, debuting new works from his Numbers and Trees series. The colorful and complex works combine Plexiglas, watercolors and his signature numeric grid systems to depict the baobab trees Gaines photographed on a recent trip to Tanzania. 

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House—centerpiece of Barnsdall Art Park and Los Angeles’ only UNESCO World Heritage Site—just might be the most stunning backdrop for an art exhibition. And, in this case, the home is the subject itself, too. L.A.-based photographer Ireland captured the intricate details of the Hollyhock House in 21 photographs on display throughout the onetime residence.

See over 50 garments from Diane von Furstenberg, best known for her iconic wrap dress, during this career-spanning exhibition at the Skirball. Alongside artwork and fabric swatches, the show will also focus on her philanthropic work as well as how her life was shaped as the daughter of a Holocaust survivor.

Pasadena’s USC Pacific Asia Museum hosts this exhibition based on the Getty’s scientific research into Cai Guo-Qiang’s gunpowder art. The show fills up nearly the entire museum with a vast selection of the artist’s work alongside scientific imagery exploring the nature of gunpowder and Cai’s process in using it.

On the 50th anniversary of the Norton Simon Museum, look back to when Simon took over management of the Pasadena Art Museum in 1975, then ahead to the museum’s exciting future at this retrospective exhibition. See rare photos from the museum’s archives, and learn about the history of its major acquisitions, exhibitions, building and gardens—which are currently undergoing a transformation.

“Color in Motion” features close to 150 objects—pieces of technology, costumes, props and film posters—from the 1890s to today. Broken up into six themes, the exhibition looks at the connection between color, music and movement, like in early dance and animated shorts; decades of color technologies, from Technicolor processes and Disney’s women-led Ink & Paint Department to contemporary digital tools; monochrome silent films; the narrative role of color; and experimental works. The final gallery in the show is dubbed the Color Arcade, an interactive, neon-hued space that includes a corridor inspired by the trippy stargate from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

This spectacular exhibition from the Icelandic-Danish artist brings a new series of optical installations to MOCA’s Little Tokyo location. Don’t let the reflective, colorful pieces fool you into thinking this is some run-of-the-mill “immersive” exhibition: Olafur Eliasson’s works invite you to admire the everyday miracles of physics that shape how we see the world. 

The Natural History Museum’s taxidermy dioramas turn a century old this year, and to celebrate the museum is reviving an entire hall of displays that’ve been dark for decades. Expect some fresh approaches to these assembled snapshots of the wilderness, including alebrijes made of recycled materials, a crystalline depiction of pollution and a tech-driven display of the L.A. River.

Study the technical and cultural background of colorful clay vessels, textiles, bark-paper pages and sculptures in the Indigenous Americas—and how their significance has been downplayed among colonialist histories—at this LACMA exhibition. 

More than 50 works on display at the Autry showcase how Indigenous artists have crafted visions of alternative futures in the face of enduring colonial trauma, with surreal spacescapes from Wendy Red Star, pop culture commentaries by Andy Everson and a site-specific space odyssey created by Virgil Ortiz.