April 2021 events calendar for Los Angeles

The desert-spanning biennial is back, with premieres of site-specific works from a slate of 13 artists. For its third iteration, Desert X will once again stage free outdoor installations across 40 miles of the Coachella Valley. Check out our preview of all of the installations.

The Hammer Museum’s latest biennial of emerging and under-recognized L.A. artists finally makes its debut, and this year with a parallel exhibition at the Huntington Library.

This Yoshitomo Nara exhibition has been sitting there, just waiting to welcome visitors for about a year now. But finally, LACMA is set to reopen on April 1—and along with it, this exhibition of 30 years of works from the wildly popular Japanese artist, channeled through the lens of his longtime passion for music.

New name, sort-of-same beloved literary event: Bibliophiles typically flock to the USC campus for this L.A. Times-curated event, which has now added “Stories & Ideas” onto its bookish title. But for the second striaght year, the typically in-person book fair will now be held virtually. So while you won’t be able to roam stalls from booksellers, you’ll still be able to catch a week of streaming readings and panels from the likes of Zooey Deschanel, Don Lemon, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Meena Harris and more.

L.A.’s favorite cemetery screening series has left gravestones behind for now, but it’s been resurrected as a drive-in just outside of the Greek Theatre. Expect some familiar Cinespia fixtures at each screening, including DJs, a concession stand and meals that you can pre-order.

A more slimmed down version of its summer fest, the inclusive Outfest Fusion QTBIPOC (Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous and People of Color) Film Festival is providing a platform for 10 feature-length films and 41 shorts from a diversity of filmmaker. You can watch all of them online from April 16 to 20, or head to Exposition Park for a pair of drive-in galas.

Take the time to support the little guy by heading to San Pedro’s Warner Grand to see the Oscar-nominated films in the “Shorts” categories—you know, the ones you hear about for the first time on Oscar night that look really good, and you swear you’ll Netflix but then can’t find and totally forget about and never see.

Nope, this isn’t an illusion: A stand-up comedy show is setting up in the parking lot of Hollywood’s most whimsical clubhouse for magicians. The sets will all be blasting through your FM radio during multiple nights of drive-in sets at the Magic Castle.

Taste of the Eastside is back, but this time it’s popping up for dine-in, takeout and delivery and spots all over Silver Lake, Echo Park, Los Feliz, Atwater Village, Highland Park and Eagle Rock. Eastside-dwelling foodies (alright alright, Westsiders are welcome, too) can take advantage of limited-time dishes like Go Get Em Tiger’s chile-queso breakfast burrito; Masa’s trifecta of salad, deep dish and bread pudding; and a “winesplaining” class from Vinovore.

It’s all for a good cause, too: 25% of your total order will be donated to No Us Without You and Silver Lake’s Rose Scharlin Cooperative Nursery School.

KCRW’s music and food teams are coming together for this series of three, free streaming events that take stock of where we go now after a year without traditional restaurant or live music culture.

For the first event on April 22, Good Food’s Evan Kleiman and KCRW program director of music Anne Litt host a conversation with chef Roy Choi and John Gourley from Portugal. The Man.

Not quite ready to eat inside of a restaurant? Here are some of our favorite spots for alfresco eats in L.A.

You’ve eaten through two bags of beans and six cans of chickpeas. Now what? You leave it to some of the city’s top restaurants and bars, who are making your social distancing as painless as possible.

Some of L.A.’s best restaurants and bars have your back when you need a stiff drink at home. Restaurants and bars can now deliver alcohol to your door—whether it’s craft beer, wine or house-made cocktails—as long as they’re offering food, which means we can finally sip from some of our favorite spots in town from the comfort of our own couches.

Cinephiles, rejoice! You can watch a movie from somewhere other than your couch at L.A.’s half-dozen or so old-school drive-ins.

Alfresco screenings usually pop up across the city well past the summer season. But this year, with most screenings pivoting to drive in formats, it seems like we still have months of movies to look forward to.

Finally, our automobile-addicted culture has an upside: You can see some of L.A.’s most stunning scenery safely from your car window. With traffic still relatively low, you may be inclined to drive as far as you can, but we’d stick to whichever scenic drive in our guide is closest to your area. Drive safe!

Runyon’s open again… yay? But for real, we’re so thankful that we have access to some many incredible trails in L.A. (assuming you’re following proper social distancing guidelines and wearing a face covering).

If your neighborhood isn’t conducive to walking and you’re looking for a wide-open outdoor space, most major gardens are open again. Do note that tickets are limited and must be purchased online. And remember to keep a safe distance from other visitors.