Plan out your month with the city’s best concerts, culture, cuisine and more.
THINGS TO DO
Jan 1, 2
Post Parade: A Showcase of Floats; Pasadena
Skip the road closures and overnight campout for this up-close view of the Pasadena tradition.
Jan 7
No Pants Subway Ride; Various locations
Show off those New Year’s Resolution-ready legs at Improv Everywhere’s annual pantsless Metro ride.
Jan 13, 14
Asian American Expo; Fairplex
Get an early start to the Lunar New Year at this pan-Asian celebration, with multiple performance stages, vendor villages and food courts.
Jan 18
Focus on Female Directors; Egyptian Theatre
Meet L.A.’s rising female filmmakers during an evening of directors panels and short films, many of which will make their local premiere.
Jan 27
Night on Broadway; Downtown
Celebrate Downtown’s renaissance with a cultural festival spanning six historic theaters and movie palaces.
Jan 28
Museums Free-For-All; Various locations
Check off a few items on your cultural to-do list as nearly 40 SoCal museums open their doors for free.
Through Jan 7
Chill; Queen Mary
Cozy up to the Queen Mary for a waterfront winter wonderland featuring ice-skating, tubing, sculptures and all sorts of other holiday performances and surprises at the Art Deco ocean liner.
Through Jan 15
ICE at Santa Monica; Santa Monica
Bundle up and glide around an ice rink just blocks from the beach at the Santa Monica rink.
Through Jan 7
L.A. Zoo Lights; Los Angeles Zoo
Stroll through the Griffith Park zoo grounds as the festive tradition returns with more lights.
Through Jan 15
Holiday Ice Rink Pershing Square; Pershing Square
Skate around a warm-weather winter wonderland with the Downtown L.A. skyline as your backdrop at this seasonal ice rink.
Through Feb 4
Museum of Failure; A+D Museum
Explore a hall of fame of the world’s worst inventions and now-defunct technology.
Find more things to do in our January 2018 events calendar.
FOOD & DRINK
Jan 7–12
Pasadena Cheeseburger Week; Various locations in L.A.
Choose from over forty restaurants to take advantage of burger deals and special creations in this annual celebration of the almighty cheeseburger.
Jan 12–26
dineLA Restaurant Week; Various locations in L.A.
Indulge in some of the best restaurants in the city with prix-fixe meals, from $15 lunches to $50 dinners.
Jan 27
Uncorked Wine Festival; Union Station
Kickstart your wine education with over 50 wineries, a champagne bar, an international wine market and more at this annual boozy boîte.
ARTS & CULTURE
Jan 6
Second City Hollywood’s Open House; The Second City
Tickle your funny bone with a day full of free improv workshops, shows, food and prizes.
Jan 11
Breakfast with Pete Souza; Cross Campus-Downtown Los Angeles
Spend a morning with the official White House photographer under President Obama.
Jan 11-14
LA Art Show; Los Angeles Convention Center
Wander through the longest-running venue for contemporary, modern, historic and traditional art in the country at this four-day fair.
Jan 20–Apr 8
“Welcome to the Dollhouse”; MOCA Pacific Design Center
Peruse different approaches to the concept of domesticity with works of sculpture, photography, painting, video and drawing from the 1960s to the present drawn from MOCA’s collection.
Jan 21–June 3
“Testament of the Spirit + The Feminine Sublime + Homegrown”; Pasadena Museum of California Art
The PMCA rolls out a trio of new exhibition: Eduardo Carrillo’s Mexican-inspired magical realist paintings, a collection of large-scale feminist works and Ana Serrano’s domestic scenes of brightly colored cardboard and paper.
Jan 26–28
stARTup Art Fair LA; The Kinney
Roam around a Venice hotel as 57 artists completely transform the rooms into personal gallery spaces.
Jan 28–Apr 8
“Skip Arnold: Truffle Hunt”; ICA LA
This performance-inspired exhibition collects the ephemera from a journey to Italy via Switzerland in search of truffles.
Jan 28–May 6
“Stories of Almost Everyone”; Hammer Museum
Through the work of 30 artists, this very meta exhibition examines the relationship between a piece of art’s inherent narrative and the meaning suggested by its display within an institution.
MUSIC & NIGHTLIFE
Jan 5–7
The Smell’s 20th Anniversary Celebration; The Smell
Mark two decades of the Downtown venue’s DIY spirit with three nights of shows.
Jan 11, 12
Luna; Moroccan Lounge
Dean Wareham’s post-Galaxie 500 outft plays a pair of shows in the Arts District.
Jan 12
Destroyer; The Regent Theater
The New Pornographers collaborator and idiosyncratic Canadian singer-songwriter lets loose.
Jan 17
A night with Time Out L.A.’s must-see comedians of 2018; Downtown Independent
Join us for a night of stand-up with some of L.A.’s hottest up-and-coming comedians.
Jan 19, 20
Wolf Parade; The Fonda Theatre
Fresh off an arena tour with Arcade Fire, the veteran indie rock act headlines in support of its latest well-received record.
Jan 20
Joyce Manor; Union Station
The Torrance-based punk band brings its antics to Downtown’s handsome train station.
Jan 20
Tom Gun Live; The Regent Theater
Ride into the danger zone at this spoof of Top Gun from the same guys who brought together the raucously over-the-top Point Break Live.
Jan 22
The Goddamn Comedy Jam; The Roxy Theatre
Perform a regular stand-up set, then belt out an unrehearsed cover song with a live backing band. What could go wrong? Comedian Josh Adam Meyers hosts Bill Burr, Sinbad, Jon Dore and others at this show.
Jan 25
St. Vincent; Hollywood Palladium
Annie Clark Clark shifts from electro-pop anthems to noisy rockers with Bowie-like precision on the compelling Masseduction.
Jan 26–28
Ty Segall; Teragram Ballroom
The tireless singer-songwriter takes the stage to celebrate the release of his latest fuzzed out retro-rock record, Freedom’s Goblin.
Find more shows in our January 2018 concert calendar.
THEATER
Through Feb 11
Luzia; Dodger Stadium
For Cirque du Soleil’s latest spectacle, the French-Canadian circus troupe looks south to Mexico for inspiration.
Through Jan 7
Spamilton; Kirk Douglas Theatre
Musical-satire mastermind Gerard Alessandrini’s latest sendup follows Lin-Manuel Miranda (a character, not the actual actor) in a quest to save Broadway with his writing and a hip-hop musical.
Jan 10–Mar 31
Disney’s Aladdin; Pantages Theatre
Buy a ticket, rub it and your wish to see the L.A. premiere of a Disney musical will be granted. With music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Howard Ashman, Tim Rice and Chad Beguelin, Aladdin’s Broadway stars bring the animated film to life onstage.
Jan 29
LA STAGE Alliance Ovation Awards; Ahmanson Theatre
Celebrate the best of L.A.’s performing arts at the city’s only peer-judged theater awards.