Various locations in L.A.

Everyone’s favorite NPR member station has a hand in a slew of summer concert slates at public plazas and beloved museums, and this summer’s schedule is reliably packed. Familiar KCRW DJs will be providing free, open-air tunes on select nights from June through September at Maydan Market, Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, La Brea Tar Pits, CAAM, ASU FIDM Museum, the Kidspace Children’s Museum, Hauser & Wirth, MOLAA, California Plaza, LACMA, Wende Museum, Union Station, downtown Long Beach, LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, Bowers Museum, the Autry and the NoHo Arts District. (Missing from the lineup this year and last are the party-till-midnight bashes at Chinatown Central Plaza.) The details slightly differ at each spot, but you can typically expect a bunch of food trucks, beer gardens and after-hours museum admission. Regardless of the location, you really can’t go wrong with any evening spent at Summer Nights. (Note: The kickoff June 1 event at Maydan Market and Aug. 8’s LACMA event are only for KCRW members.)

Award-winning dancer and choreographer Debbie Allen’s Dance Academy is hosting its annual community block party, a day full of free carnival rides and games, arts and crafts, free dance classes, performances, a marketplace from diverse business owners and a breakdance competition. It’ll all go down in and around the dancing school, near West Adams (1850 S Manhattan Pl).

One of the biggest pride events in the country, LA Pride attracts thousands to a what had typically been a two-day fest and parade in West Hollywood but is now located a bit to the east. The parade portion—featuring celebrity grand marshal and Emmy winner Jeff Hiller—will step off in Hollywood, where it’ll be accompanied by LA Pride Village, which will take over Hollywood Boulevard from Vine to Gower. The free street festival has taken the place of music fest L.A. Pride in the Park, formerly in Chinatown. Expect live music, food, drinks and shopping, plus celeb appearances and an LA Pride Ball presented by the iconic House of Ninja. The atmosphere is good-natured and raucous; local color is provided by divas, drag queens and DJs. RECOMMENDED: Full guide to LA Pride

North Hollywood has spent years trying to convince the rest of Los Angeles that it’s more than parking lots and rehearsal spaces, and this sprawling soccer street fest makes a surprisingly persuasive argument. NoHo Futbol Fest will turn 11136 Magnolia Blvd into an all-day community watch party with giant match screenings, DJs, beer gardens, local food vendors and enough family-friendly activities to keep even non-sports fans entertained. Mostly, though, it feels like an excuse for the Valley to throw itself a massive block party—which, frankly, is reason enough to go (plus the free parking). Doors open at 11:30am, while the event runs from noon until 11:59pm.

The term CicLAvia stems from a similar Spanish word for “bike way,” and in L.A. it’s become a shorthand for the temporary, festival-like closing of L.A.’s streets. The event (inspired by the first Ciclovías in Bogotá, Colombia) welcomes bikes, tricycles, skateboards, strollers and basically anything else without an engine to ride a rotating cast of car-free routes. You’ll inevitably always find a route each year around Downtown, but past events have taken it anywhere from the harbor to the San Gabriel Valley. Expect music, street performances and food trucks, as well as general whimsy and shenanigans along the way. Shop owners and restaurants along the CicLAvia route also tend to host specials. It goes without saying that you should bike or take the Metro to your desired spot along the route.

Say goodbye to dusty thoroughfares and violent porta-potties: Splash House takes the music festival concept off of sweltering desert land and places it poolside. Movers and shakers at this multi-location getdown are shuttled between the Saguaro, the Renaissance and the Hilton Palm Springs (with after-hours programming at the Palm Springs Air Museum) to lap up big-name dance acts and DJ sets. With the added comforts of air-conditioned rooms and critically acclaimed restaurant fare just steps away from the party scenes, the experience will make you question whether to bother with more punishing locales come next year’s festival season.

Get ready: In 2028, Los Angeles will host the Summer Olympic Games. After initially vying for a bid in 2024, L.A. was awarded the ’28 Games back in 2017.