Free things to do in Los Angeles this month

Holiday light shows are popping up all over the city, but a free light installation is always welcome. Grand Illuminations—which features a custom 25-foot-tall LED light tree and dynamic display Lumiverse—returns for the second year on December 3 with a lighting ceremony, live music, a holiday market and refreshments from noon–7pm. The stars are the Electric Dandelions, 28-foot-tall kinetic sculptures that look like fireworks in action, which were designed by L.A.-based art collective Liquid PXL and debuted at Burning Man in 2016, popping up in the U.K., East Coast and various festivals before arriving at the Yard at Cal Plaza. The lights will stay on all holiday season, through January 4, till 10pm nightly.

Step inside a Christmas tree made of lights during the return of this illuminated installation at Downtown shopping center the Bloc. Sparkle DTLA will light up the night with 18 million different hues through the end of the year, and every night you can catch its displays dance to synchronized holiday music on the hour (5–9pm). The festivities kick off December 7 with live music, photos with Santa and the Grinch, plus some surprises.

Gather up your friends and family and go hear L.A.’s biggest holiday show, now in its 66th year, which features more than 20 choirs, music ensembles and dance troupes from all over the city. This year’s lineup includes returning favorites Ballet Folklórico de Esperanza, Bob Baker Marionette Theater, Mariachi Divas De Cindy Shea and Reverb Tap Company, who’ll be joined by, for the first time, the 65-year-old Angeles Chorale, among other newcomers. The free three-hour show celebrates L.A.’s multicultural observation of the holidays and hosts everything from traditional Korean dance to West African drumming to klezmer rock. 

Going out for New Year’s Eve can become one of the priciest dates of the year, but thankfully DTLA’s Gloria Molina Grand Park continues to offer an affordable and family-friendly option. During this year’s event, which will pay tribute to the resilience L.A. showed throughout 2025, crowds will groove to a soundtrack of DJ-driven tunes and live bands—including rapper Ruby Ibarra, Ceci Bastida and Bardo—while hitting up a selection of food trucks (note: There’s no alcohol permitted or sold here). The night culminates with a countdown to midnight projected on the 22-story City Hall. If you dare attempt to drive, you’ll find $10 parking at the Music Center, but taking Metro is a much better bet—especially since fares tend to be free for NYE.

“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 from September to May, you’ll find everything from live music to storytelling to a classic car show on the Santa Monica Pier, all free to attend. On December 18, enjoy Holiday Cheer on the Pier and Sandy Cane Lane, festive waterfront experiences, as well as a Holiday Winter Art Mart, where local makers will be selling handcrafted gifts and seasonal treats perfect for last-minute shopping. Adding to the festive atmosphere will be holiday decor including a Santa sand sculpture and live entertainment including a show by Bob Baker Marionette Theater.

Angel City Brewery’s annual New Year’s Eve bash is going Art Deco this year, ringing in 2026 with gilded glamour and great beer. Dress to impress and show off your fabulous flapper energy at themed photo ops. As the name implies, there’s no cover to attend—just make sure to secure a seat early. You can grab dinner from ACB’s on-site House Made food truck.

The Freehand hotel will bring the house down New Year’s Eve at its rooftop oasis, Broken Shaker. Local music collectives Made to Move and LOW Recordings have curated a lineup of artists—agraybé, Akumen, Andy Oro, Beggar, Dirt Vibes and Naomi Green—who will be spinning infectious house, disco and electronic music all night long. Grab a handcrafted cocktail and dance with the DTLA skyline as your backdrop—you might even be able to spot some NYE fireworks from up there. The best part: Entry is free (last year there was a complimentary champagne toast at midnight too).

Marina del Rey rings in the new year with two pyro-filled countdowns. The waterfront city has fireworks at both 9pm and midnight (or a minute before, to be precise). While the fireworks are set off near Burton Chace Park (which hosts a family-friendly “glow party” from 7pm to midnight), all of the restaurants with harbor views should have visibility of the fireworks. Some of the restaurants host ticketed (read: pricey) dinners, so we suggest finding a spot along the water and enjoying the fireworks for free.

Stake out a spot in downtown Long Beach to catch this waterfront fireworks show at midnight on New Year’s Eve. You can catch the display from pretty much anywhere near the water, like Shoreline Park and Village, and you can expect dinner specials and parties at plenty of local businesses nearby (including, yes, the Queen Mary, which has again revived its on-board party—a ticketed masquerade soirée).

Riverside’s stunningly beautiful Mission Inn is bathed in over 10 million twinkly lights during the annual Festival of Lights, which has lit up the city for 33 years now. The free, six-week-long holiday tradition runs from late November to early January and typically features more than 400 festive, animated figures. Having been voted the “Best Public Lights Display” by USA Today, the festival attracts over 500,000 visitors each year. The spectacle will kick off with a Switch On Ceremony on November 22, followed by live music from Matt Mauser and the Tijuana Dogs, and there’ll be holiday-themed kiddie rides outside the hotel all season long.

You probably know of Shepard Fairey through “Obey Giant” stickers and later his Obama “Hope” poster, but his body of work comprises so much more than that. A new exhibition at Beyond the Streets explores the artist’s relationship with printmaking, displaying more than 400 of his original screen prints—including some rare and historic editions and hybrid works that combine screen printing with stenciling—and offering a behind‑the‑scenes look at Fairey’s methods. The exhibition runs though January 11 and will kick off with an opening reception on Saturday, November 15, from 7 to 10pm.

Anonymous feminist art collective the Guerrilla Girls—whose members gained notoriety for donning gorilla masks and fighting the patriarchy—is coming up on its 40th anniversary, and the Getty Center is marking the occasion with a behind-the-scenes look at the group. See photography, protest art and the group’s famed posters—sporting statistics, bold visuals and satirical humor—that showcase the tactics the members used to demand recognition for women and artists of color. The Guerrilla Girls have even created a newly commissioned work for the exhibition. And you can add your own mark on the “graffitti wall” installation, giving visitors a creative outlet for their complaints about the world today. 

Japan House Los Angeles is bringing an exhibition of shokuhin sampuru—hyper-realistic food replicas that have crossed over from marketing tool to art form (think Is It Cake? but cultural)—to Los Angeles for the first time. See mouthwatering faux food representing each of Japan’s 47 prefectures, from coffee house parfaits to izakaya skewers, as well as Chinese and Western cuisine, and try your own hand at food presentation by filling a bentō box yourself.

The California Science Center is inviting kids to get in the game with a new 17,000-square-foot exhibition about the power of play and the human body in motion. Besides teaching about the science behind sports, it also offers interactive challenges and video coaching from a team of Los Angeles-based mentor athletes including dancer Debbie Allen, the Dodgers’ World Series hero Freddie Freeman, Olympic medalist softball player Rachel Garcia and more. And for the first time ever, the center has commissioned public art—all by local artists—to complement the exhibition, including a Dodgers mural by Gustavo Zermeño Jr. The free exhibition will run at the Science Center through the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The Getty Villa reopens to the public five and a half months after its Palisades Fire closure with this international loan exhibition dedicated to the Greek Mycenaean civilization and the kingdom of Pylos, which Homer immortalized in the Iliad and Odyssey. It’s the first major museum show in North America devoted to the Late Bronze Age Mycenaeans. See treasures excavators unearthed from Messenia, the Palace of Nestor and burial sites including the tomb of the Griffin Warrior (1450 BCE)—think clay tablets, gold cups, ornate weapons and tiny signets and sealstones adorned with awe-inspiring amounts of detail. 

Robert Therrien’s Under the Table has long been one of the most popular pieces in the Broad’s collection (you know the one—the giant table and chairs that you ask your friend to snap a photo of as you stand underneath). Well now the museum is hosting the largest-ever solo exhibition of the artist’s work, displaying more than 120 pieces, including many that have never been shown in museums before. Expect more huge housewares and striking works, plus some intimate drawings and surprises from the late L.A.-based artist. While tickets for the special exhibition normally cost $19, it’s free to visit every Thursday from 5–8pm.

Dealing with a difficult subject head-on, the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA’s new show, “Monuments”—co-presented by the museum and nonprofit the Brick (formerly LAXART)—juxtaposes both intact and vandalized Confederate monuments with contemporary artwork. The show looks at the recent wave of monument removals from a historic perspective and encourages discourse about challenging topics amid an ongoing national debate about the role of these statues and what they represent. Tickets for the special exhibition are typically $18, though if you book far enough ahead of time, you can take advantage of free admission on the first Friday of every month.

The Skirball’s latest pop culture exhibition takes a deep dive into the six-decade career of legendary comic book artist Jack Kirby. You might know him as the co-creator of Captain America, Black Panther, the Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men and some of the Marvel universe’s most cosmic characters. But did you know he was also a first-generation Jewish American born to immigrant parents, World War II veteran and family man who split his time between New York and Los Angeles? Learn about his life and see Kirby’s original comic illustrations, as well as other works—many on view for the first time. Tickets to the Skirball will cost you $18—except on Thursdays, when entry is free with a reservation.