Free things to do in Los Angeles this month

Catch sets from up-and-coming performers, local legends and global talents during this free music series at the Getty, which features a pair of shows from a different band each weekend. The concerts kick off in February with Inuit soul musicians Pamyua and continue in March with gospel choir Jimetta Rose & the Voices of Creation and April with Persian poets Mahsa and Marjan Vahdat. Get there early to check out the museum’s exhibitions, then head to the Harold M. Williams Auditorium for the show.

It’s no Emerald Isle, but Hermosa Beach is full of Irish spirit during its annual St. Patrick’s Day parade. For the 30th year, bagpipers, marching bands, Irish dancers and classic cars decked out in green will all make their way along the coastal city’s parade route. The procession kicks off near City Hall on Valley Drive, heads west on Pier Avenue and ends at the corner of Hermosa Avenue and 8th Street. The free festivities also include live music and dancing nearby at Pier Plaza. If you want to start the shenanigans early, there’ll be a pre-parade party on March 13 at local Irish pub Patrick Molloy’s, with more music, food and drinks (6pm, $13).

Pasadena’s underrated collection of museums and performance spaces open up their doors for free at this biannual arts and culture open house. Take advantage of the free shuttle buses to travel between local institutions such as the recently reopened USC Pacific Asia Museum, ArtCenter, Norton Simon Museum, Gamble House, Kidspace Children’s Museum and more, many of which will be offering special arts programming and live performances. And, of course, no arts fest would be complete without food trucks, which often include pop-ups from local bricks-and-mortar businesses.

Celebrate Pi Day the sweetest way possible—surrounded by hundreds of pies at the Autry Museum. KCRW Good Food host Evan Kleiman will host the massive pie-baking contest, but even if you don’t plan on entering your own creation, show up to shop slices from over 25 dessert vendors, watch baking demos, play games, shop cookbooks and learn to weave. And though you won’t be taste-testing the home bakers’ entries, you can help the judges—including Will Ferrell, Roy Choi and other culinary celebs—pick winners in the visual categories. The Autry will be offering free admission as well; check out the new exhibition “Desert Dreams and Coastal Currents.”

Help L.A. get ready to co-host the FIFA World Cup this summer with this free volunteer opportunity at Gloria Molina Grand Park. Head Downtown Saturday morning to build a shared community table and decorate huge soccer balls alongside local artists. The art installations will celebrate the spirt of soccer culture and welcome the world to L.A. in time for the matches.

Third Street Promenade has been making a concerted effort to become more of a nightlife destination, and this St. Patrick’s Day, its new Entertainment Zone will welcome revelers who want to feel Irish for a day. Head to the 1300 block of the pedestrian-friendly thoroughfare for live music by Shamrock Sean and the Irish Cabbage Band, plus trivia, games, photo ops and festive decor. You can order drinks from the outdoor bar, and the Promenade party also ties in to the local Lucky’s St. Patrick’s Day Pub Crawl.

Shop local at this free, pet-friendly celebration of small businesses, which is expanding and trading in its Mar Vista setting for the heart of Venice Beach: You’ll find live music, art, fashion and food under the famed Venice sign at Windward and Pacific Avenues. The festival brings together over 300 local brands and artists three times a year, attracting thousands of shoppers. This time around, there will be four stages for live music—with a TBA lineup of local musicians and surprise guests sponsored by the upcoming BeachLife Festival—as well as DJs, fitness and kids’ entertainment.

L.A. cultural organizations will come together at the historic Wilshire Ebell Theatre to celebrate Women’s History Month with live performances, interactive art, dance, music and a marketplace. Bob Baker Marionette Theater, Chevalier’s Books, Self Help Graphics, the Ebell Chorale, Leigh Purtell Dance Theatre, Vox Femina and the Korean Cultural Center are just some of the highlights of the lineup, as well as an art show, vintage fashion, film-focused tours of the Ebell and a family-friendly musical about Rosie the Riveter. 

Lincoln Heights brewery and cider house Benny Boy is celebrating its fourth anniversary with a carnival-themed bash, complete with face painting, flash tattoos, music, live portraits, tarot card readings, carnival games and, of course, plenty of beer. Correa’s Mariscos, Zef BBQ and Nyletta will be on hand to sell fair food and treats.

This display of film and video art, billed as “a sweeping odyssey into the depths of human experience,” will take over all six stories of the abandoned, historic Variety Arts Theater in Downtown L.A. (the theater served as the setting for this past Halloween’s immersive haunt Delusion, and the expansive space was as impressive as the production itself). Over a century of visual storytelling will be explored, blurring the line between visual art and cinema. The contemporary video works by artists including Marina Abramović, Doug Aitken, Chris Burden, Cyprien Gaillard, Arthur Jafa and Precious Okoyomon—juxtaposed with cinematic works by the likes of Walt Disney and Georges Méliès—come from the time-based art collection of the Germany-based Julia Stoschek Foundation.

The reopened Getty Villa will descend into the underworld with this exhibition, which looks at the ritual spells and religious writings ancient Egyptians employed to garner favor with Re and Osiris in the afterlife. See the Getty’s collection of rare Book of the Dead rare hieroglyphics-adorned and illustrated manuscripts, dating back to around 1000 BCE, which were last displayed in 2023. The show should dovetail nicely with the museum’s “Sculpted Portraits From Ancient Egypt,” which runs through January 2027.

Stop by the Original Farmers Market on St. Patrick’s Day for corned beef, cabbage and potatoes at the market’s first eatery, Magee’s Kitchen, plus green beer, Guinness and other imported Irish beers at E.B.’s Beer & Wine and Bar 326. Afternoon Celtic tunes (12:30–3:30pm) from a strolling bagpiper provide a fitting soundtrack.

Celebrated Chicana artist Judy Baca’s half-mile-long The Great Wall of Los Angeles, a collaborative mural begun in the ’70s along the Tujunga Wash, has received all sorts of museum love in the past few years, including at a LACMA show where the muralist and her team painted new sections of the work during museum hours. Now, Baca and the Social and Public Art Resource Center are returning to Jeffrey Deitch Los Angeles to exhibit the newest segment of the mural—which documents activism and resistance in the 1970s—continuing their mission to give voice to the voiceless through art.

Made up of a Melrose Avenue workshop and two galleries—including one designed by Frank Gehry—Gemini G.E.L. has been at the forefront of fine art printmaking for 60 years now, an accomplishment it’s celebrating in this show which doubles as a love letter to L.A. On display are innovative works by artists including David Hockney, Roy Lichtenstein, Ed Ruscha and Robert Rauschenberg—many of which haven’t been shown in decades—which are inspired by the atmosphere and streets of Los Angeles.

You can currently see a handful of his works at the Broad, but Takashi Murakami is the star of the show at a new solo exhibition at Perrotin Los Angeles, where 24 new paintings by the Japanese artist grace the walls. Known for marrying traditional Japanese painting with Western influences, Murakami found inspiration for this show from a visit to Monet’s Garden in Giverny, France, and here explores how the Japanese art form of ukiyo-e, or “floating world pictures,” later inspired artists including Monet, Degas and Van Gogh. Next door, limited-edition Murakami prints and merchandise are for sale at a pop-up Perrotin Store through February 28 (Tue–Sat 1–6pm).

“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. 

Spend an afternoon underneath Torrance’s cherry blossoms as dancers and Japanese folk musicians perform at this annual Pan-Asian celebration. You’ll also find a craft fair with everything from ceramics to intricate textiles handcrafted by local artisans, plus food from South Bay vendors. Bring a blanket and picnic amid the pink and white blooms.

Artist Ralph Steadman—known for his unmistakable illustrations, cartoons and collaborations with Hunter S. Thompson—has imbued his work with political, satirical, environmental and spiritual threads throughout his six-decade-plus career. Now, on the eve of his 90th birthday, you can see 149 of Steadman’s works, including some influenced by Los Angeles, for free at the Torrance Art Museum—it’s the only Southern California stop on the show’s national tour. If you’re feeling inspired, you can embark on your own off-the-page adventure, thanks to the exhibition’s accompanying interactive Gonzo Art Trail (find details here).

Step back into the era of grunge, supermodels and the dawn of the internet at this free exhibition at the ASU FIDM Museum in DTLA. This retrospective explores the decade’s spirit of rebellion and experimentation, featuring high-fashion couture from icons like Vivienne Westwood and Gianni Versace alongside the flannel shirts, slip dresses and bold prints that defined everyday style. Through a curated mix of garments, vintage magazines and video footage, visitors can trace how 1990s innovation continues to shape contemporary trends.

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 “graffiti wall” installation, giving visitors a creative outlet for their complaints about the world today. 

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.

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.