Free events in LA: The best free things to do in the city

Every Sunday you can find dozens of food vendors at this market at ROW DTLA, with a mix of much-loved pop-ups and future foodie stars. Look out for this year’s new vendors, including Basket Taco Co, Battambong Barbecue and Taste of the Pacific.

Bibliophiles flock to the USC campus for this L.A. Times-curated event, where you can roam stalls from booksellers and catch readings and panels from some of the most recognizable names in literature on April 20 and 21. In addition to the 300-plus exhibitors, this year’s event includes an always-impressive lineup of more than 500 speakers: Jose Andres, Ed Begley Jr., Sophia Bush, Jon Favreau, Max Greenfield, Tiffany Haddish, Tamron Hall, Mark Harmon, RuPaul, Kerry Washington, Henry Winkler and more, plus a cooking stage with Nancy Silverton, QCP and Tiffani Thiessen, among others. Admission to the festival and its seven outdoor stages are free, though admission to indoor talks come with a small ticketing fee. Reservations for those aren’t available until April 14 but if you want to secure a spot now, you can purchase a “friend of the festival” package, which lets you reserve up to 20 panel tickets (plus some other perks) for $85.

Did this past year’s Basquiat exhibition in DTLA leave you wanting more? Head to Beverly Hills where Gagosian will be displaying 30 rarely loaned Jean-Michel Basquiat pieces that were created in L.A. during the iconic artist’s time spent at his Venice studio between 1982 and 1984.

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.

It’s nearly release time for Taylor Swift’s next album, The Tortured Poets Department, and Swifties are busy parsing together clues all over the Internet in order to find out, uh, something. The latest Easter egg hunt ahead of the album’s release: an IRL installation at the Grove. From April 16 through 18, Spotify is teaming up with Taylor to mount a poetry library at the open-air shopping mall, with shelves filled with “books and visual surprises” that hint at the direction of the new album. The installation will be updated each day leading up to the release on April 19. Note that entry to the area is on a first-come, first-served basis. Paging all Tortured Poets:Join us at The Grove in L.A. starting tomorrow to celebrate Taylor Swift's newest era, arriving 4/19. 🤍 pic.twitter.com/46MJb3O3bk— Spotify (@Spotify) April 15, 2024

In celebration of the late Bob Baker, the namesake puppet theater hosts this annual celebration at Los Angeles State Historic Park. The free fest, which runs from 10am to 5pm, features puppet performances throughout the day, plus an assortment of crafts and activities that typically includes everything from bubbles to balloons to music. This year’s event includes an appearance by David Arquette as Bozo the Clown, a kid’s talent show hosted by Kate Micucci, music from Very Be Careful and a kickoff with legendary puppeteer Sid Krofft.

What does living in L.A. look like? It’s a wildly different picture depending on each Angeleno’s point of view, and so to celebrate that diversity of perspectives, Hollywood gallery Jeffrey Deitch will display pieces from a dozen local artists that delve into underground economies, landscapes, surveillance, backyard hangouts and public transit, among other topics.

“Let’s hang out at the Pier” is something Santa Monica locals probably say next to never, but this monthly series is trying to change that. Every third Thursday you’ll find everything from performances to storytelling to a classic car show on the Santa Monica Pier, all free to attend.

See early works in assemblage, installation, happenings and conceptual artmaking at this examination of art from the decades that followed the Korean War, the first such exhibition in North America to focus on this period.

Nonprofit arts organization the Billboard Creative mounts this annual show around town which, as you probably guessed, covers about 30 billboards around L.A. with works from artists. The 10-year-anniversary edition will run from April to 30.

In 1993, artist Charles Gaines mounted “ The Theater of Refusal: Black Art and Mainstream Criticism,” a UC Irvine gallery show that responded to the country’s cultural and political crises with works from then-up-and-coming Black artists. Now, three decades later, Hauser & Wirth has revived the show in two parts: a small reprise of “The Theater of Refusal” with ’90s pieces from Gaines, Gary Simmons and Lorna Simpson, as well as a larger room that continues the show’s themes with recent works from Lauren Halsey, Rashid Johnson, Caroline Kent and more.

Walk, run, skate, bike and explore car-free stretches of South Pasadena, Alhambra and San Gabriel during the latest edition of this open streets event series. The Metro-presented 626 Golden Streets clears cars off the road in different parts of the San Gabriel Valley for one day only. On Sunday, April 28 you’ll be able to set foot on five miles of streets sans cars, from Mission Street in South Pasadena, down Marengo Avenue and along Alhambra Road, Main Street and Las Tunas Drive toward Mission Drive in San Gabriel (hence the “Mission-to-Mission” name of this particular event).

Explore the history of early Los Angeles life with free admission to five museums in Northeast L.A. and Pasadena. The annual Museums of the Arroyo Day is the perfect opportunity to brush up on historical architecture—the Gamble House, Heritage Square and the Lummis Home—and relics from L.A.’s past—L.A. Police Museum and Pasadena Museum of History. In addition to free entry, you’ll find shuttle service between all five museums. Some of the sites are bike and A Line-friendly as well. MOTA Day runs from noon to 5pm, with last admission at 4pm.

If you’ve ever adopted a feline or canine friend, you know how important animal shelters are. So here’s your opportunity to help out those animals that haven’t found a home yet. The Pasadena Humane Society’s annual walk helps cover the costs of its inhabitants. All you need are your walking shoes—dogs optional—and maybe some friends or family, and you’re ready to embark on a route around the Rose Bowl. The event is technically free to spectate, but the PHS encourages you to start a team (registration starts at $50) or find sponsors to raise funds. Afterwards, you can look forward to photo ops, pet-friendly vendor booths and an agility course. If you can’t make it, you can still donate here.

See works from 32 photographers projected onto an 80-foot-wide, three-story-high wall during this free outdoor art event. You can catch two screenings on the side of a building from familiar names like Jeff Bridges, Ringo Chiu and Estevan Oriol; find it at 713 North Hill Street in Chinatown.

Need a little lunch break relaxation? Catch one of these free concerts at the Colburn School Plaza, held Wednesdays at noon throughout April.

Pick up litter along the L.A. River for a couple of hours and learn about its history along the way during this free cleanup event. L.A. Waterkeeper is inviting Angelenos to register for a meetup at North Atwater Park, where you’ll begin picking up debris and then walk away with some native seed bombs to support local pollinators.

The Ace Hotel Palm Springs devotes eight days to Desert Gold, its annual hotel-wide hangout during both weekends of Coachella. Weekend one includes DJs from Latinx media brand REMEZCLA and the return the Do-Over party, while weekend two sees South L.A. dance party Hood Rave and sets from record label Franchise; both weekends feature Montreal’s Moonshine.

The first Rose Parade in 1890 was staged to show off California’s sun-kissed climate. The tradition is still going strong, complete with elaborate floral floats, musical performances and marching troupes (not to mention the crowning of the fresh-faced Rose Queen and her court), but the celebration now draws more than a million spectators who line the streets of Pasadena. The big Rose Bowl football game follows the parade. Later in the year, the event is spoofed with a day of costumed mayhem at the Doo Dah Parade. The parade—held on New Year’s Day—kicks off at 8am at the corner of Green Street and Orange Grove Boulevard before making its way east onto Colorado Boulevard. Near the end of the route, the parade turns north onto Sierra Madre Boulevard and concludes at Villa Street, where you can see the floats showcased.  Bleacher seats are available—about $120 in the TV zone and closer to $75 farther east—but you can grab a spot on the sidewalk for free. People traditionally camp out overnight, but if you’d rather show up the morning of, head east of Lake Avenue and you’ll have an easier time.

FoLAR hosts a pair of volunteer opportunities around Earth Day this year: a habitat restoration and renewal day at the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve (April 20 8am–noon) and a family-friendly fest at Frogtown’s Lewis MacAdams Riverfront Park with music, food trucks and an eco-friendly marketplace (April 21 noon–4pm). Both events are free, though registration is required.

Remove invasive plants and replace them with native ones and clean out catch basins during this Earth Day event at Griffith Park. Led by the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, Friends of Griffith Park and Los Angeles Parks Foundation, the cleanup takes place at the park’s bird sanctuary (2900 N Vermont Ave), just north of the Greek Theatre.

The desert-spanning biennial is back, with premieres of site-specific works from about a dozen artists. For its fifth iteration, Desert X will once again stage outdoor installations across about 40 miles of the Coachella Valley from March 8 to May 11, 2025.

See works from seven contemporary artists (Eliseo Art Silva, Allison Hueman, Anthony Francisco, Maryrose Cobarrubias Mendoza, Christine Morla, Maria Villote and Junn Roca) who address issues related to Filipino culture and the Filipino-American experience during this exhibition at the Forest Lawn Museum.