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Echo Park Lake, lotus
Photograph: Rozette RagoEcho Park Lake

July 2024 events calendar for Los Angeles

Plan your month with our July 2024 events calendar of the best activities, including free things to do, festivals and our favorite summer concerts

Michael Juliano
Edited by
Michael Juliano
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July kicks off the wild, infectious summertime spirit around L.A. and there’s no shortage of things to do. Take advantage of warm summer nights and catch an outdoor movie screening, escape the heat and head for the beach or take an imprompu weekend getaway. Follow our guide to some of the best events and festivals in L.A. this month—including 4th of July events. And of course, make sure to catch one of L.A.’s excellent fireworks displays.

RECOMMENDED: Full events calendar for 2024

  • Things to do
  • Markets and fairs
  • price 0 of 4
  • Downtown Arts District

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.

  • Things to do
  • price 1 of 4
  • USC/Exposition Park

Nature lovers rejoice! Spend a day at the Natural History Museum’s Butterfly Pavilion, which will open from March 17 through August 25 with up to 30 butterfly and moth species and an assortment of California plants. The seasonal outdoor exhibit allows for adults and children alike to witness nature up close—we’re talking having bufferlies take flight and land on your arms or shoulders. Prime time for these unique butterfly flight experiences are between 10 and 11am each morning.

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  • Things to do
  • Walks and tours
  • price 2 of 4
  • Arcadia

Slow down and soak in the magic of the woods during this guided, moonlit forest walk at the Arboretum, inspired by the Japanese practice of shinrin yoku. Each meditative guided walk starts just before sunset and wraps up underneath the full moon with some herbal tea.

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  • Art
  • Film and video
  • Miracle Mile

See how the Hairspray and Pink Flamingos writer and director’s delightfully filthy style has redefined the possibilities of independent cinema—as well as what exactly goes into making an indie movie—during this career-spanning exhibition at the Academy Museum. “John Waters: The Pope of Trash” includes costumes, props, photos, handwritten scripts, correspondence and memos, scrapbooks and more. Highlights include an original Pink Flamingos script and Debbie Harry’s exploding wig and Ricki Lake’s roach dress from Hairspray. Look out for related screenings as well as an adjoining installation on the American avant-garde and New Queer Cinema.

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  • Music
  • price 3 of 4
  • Downtown

Treat your ears to a vibrant concert on a spring or summer night this year, by attending MUSE/IQUE’s annual program. This monthly series of performances, held venues (largely outdoors) across L.A., features a mix of performances inspired by landmark albums and public figures, including tributes to Ed Sullivan, Bob Dylan, Abraham Lincoln, Oklahoma! and more. In order to attend, you’ll need to become a MUSE/IQUE member; you could make a $75 donation for a single event, but if you’re interested in more than just one, it’s cheaper per event to become a full-fludged member.

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  • Things to do
  • Exhibitions
  • price 2 of 4
  • Westside

Let the wild rumpus start at this celebration of beloved children’s author and illustrator Maurice Sendak. The Skirball Cultural Center will be displaying more than 150 sketches, storyboards and paintings from the Where the Wild Things Are creator. Titled “Wild Things Are Happening: The Art of Maurice Sendak,” the exhibition debuted at the Columbus Museum of Art in 2022 and will sail off (metaphorically speaking) to visit L.A. from April 18 through September 1, 2024. Admission costs $18 for adults, with discounts for students, seniors and children; it’s completely free to visit on Thursdays. In addition to his own books, In the Night Kitchen and Outside Over There among them, the exhibition will spotlight art that Sendak created for a handful of other authors, including Else Holmelund Minarik’s Little Bear, as well designs for Mozart operas and books. The show will also focus on his personal and family life, with portraits he shot, toys he designed and insight into his life as a child of Jewish immigrants and a lover of Romantic music and art.

  • Music
  • Folk, country and blues
  • Hollywood

Born in Alabama where he was raised listening to the Grand Ole Opry, Jason Isbell came to prominence as a member of country rock act the Drive-By Truckers. Since leaving the group, Isbell has become a prolific Americana troubadour, writing songs that reckon with his Southern heritage and his struggles with addiction. He shares the bill exuberantly joyous electro-pop outfit Sylvan Esso, the unlikely duo of singer Amelia Meath (formerly of a cappella folk trio Mountain Man) and producer Nick Sanborn.

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