Día de los Muertos at Hollywood Forever

Hollywood Forever Cemetery claims to host the largest Day of the Dead celebration in California, and we wouldn’t doubt it: The cemetery grounds are covered with art exhibitions, dance rituals, musical performances, arts and crafts projects and food vendors (and crowds) aplenty. You’ll see altars to the dead created by community artists, and can either watch or participate in the calaca (skeleton) costume contest.

This year’s theme honors the plumed serpent Quetzalcoatl, and it’s sure to be a spectacular display, as always. But after taking last year off, the event is back with a pretty major change: It’s been split into two timed events.

Here’s how it works: Dia de los Muertos will open at 9am and start shooing away attendees at 3pm. Then at 5pm, the grounds will open back up for Noche de los Muertos until midnight. The bulk of the programming is pretty similar between the two (though the music lineup is stronger in the evening thanks to a headlining set from Mon Laferte). So the real difference comes down to whether you want to see the altars in the daytime, which you can expect to be slightly less crowded, or in the evening, when you can see them glow and flicker but traditionally through pretty thick crowds.