May 2021 events calendar for Los Angeles

True to its name, this exhibition transforms the iconic paintings of Vincent van Gogh into moving, wall-filling projections. “Immersive Van Gogh” promises half-a-million cubic feet of projections that pull from some of the post-Impressionist’s most recognizable pieces, including The Bedroom, Sunflowers and, yes, The Starry Night.

Live dance returns to the Music Center—outdoors only for now—with this series of ticketed ballet, tap and modern dance performances on a new stage set up in the Jerry Moss Plaza, plus a free stream on Sunday evenings.

Originally staged at Alcatraz, “Trace” displays portraits of activists and prisoners of conscience made from millions of LEGO bricks. Chinese artist Ai Weiwei was inspired to create this installation after he was imprisoned in Beijing due to his political activism.

The masters of alfresco rooftop movie viewing have returned, with both a Santa Monica drive-in and a new rooftop in El Segundo.

Make up for a year of missed celebrations with this joyous installation in Grand Park. The free, month-long display from web radio collective dublab, artist Tanya Aguiñiga and curator Mark “Frosty” McNeill is blanketing the Downtown L.A. park in a series of five visual and audio pieces.

See more than 100 works pulled from the archives of Judson Studios, L.A.’s celebrated 123-year-old glass studio, in this examination of its collaborations with contemporary artists pushing the boundaries of art glass. Objects on display at the Forest Lawn Museum include stained glass artworks, preparatory drawings, oil paintings, watercolors and archival photographs.

Partake in some goat yoga on the front lawn of one of SoCal’s most handsome homes during this series at the Gamble House. Pasadena’s Arts and Crafts masterpiece is inviting yogis to come stretch and practice their posture as a trip of goats trots around. The Nigerian Dwarf kids come from goat yoga specialists Hello Critter, and the Gamble House notes that its class suits both first-timers coming just for the goats and more experienced attendees looking for a challenge. Each half-hour class is bookended with 15 minutes of petting and pictures. You’re encourage to bring your own yoga mat or towel, but if you don’t want it to collect with little goat presents, you can rent a sanitized mat for $5.

This Mental Health Awareness Month event is pulling together a bunch of community events, like a CicLAvia-hosted bike ride and a BLM LA-endorsed workshop on breathwork and healing; digital programming from Get Lit and Drag Queen Story Hour, among others; and a total of 21 in-person art installations.

The Oscar-winning Joker composer chats with Academy Museum curator Jenny He about Guðnadóttir’s work and her approach to designing the museum’s composer’s inspiration gallery.

The Hammer Museum’s excellent, ongoing series of biennial exhibitions ups the ante each year with its spotlight on emerging and under-recognized L.A. artists, and the fifth edition is no exception—with a co-presentation at the Huntington Library, too.

The already-mostly-outdoors Manuela recently expanded into the Hauser & Wirth complex’s street art-filled garden, and now the boozy spinoff has hatched a weekly series to wind down into the weekend. Every Friday night, from 5:30 to 9pm, you can step into the art gallery’s Garden Bar to find eight tiki-inspired cocktails.

Catch a series of movies in the Valley screened at the locations where they were shot or at a local landmark that fits the film’s theme. So far, My Valley Pass, the area visitors’ guide that runs the event, has lined up showings of the Bow Wow-starring roller skating flick Roll Bounce at car-hop-serving Cupid’s Hot Dogs in Winnetka; ’80s BMX movie RAD at the Valley Relics Museum; and Punch-Drunk Love at Eckhart Auto Body, which was used as Adam Sandler’s office. Chairs will be provided and the sound will be broadcoast via speakers, but you can also opt to rent wireless headphones for $5.

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.

Travel a few millennia back in time to see jewelry, sculptures and cuneiform writing from the ancient Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians. The objects on loan from the Louvre are broken up into three galleries, each themed to a different “first”—cities, writings and kings—and filled with items that date from the initial Mesopotamian cities in about 3200 B.C. to Alexander the Great’s conquest of Babylon in 331 B.C. Timed reservations are currently required to visit the Getty Villa (and do note that you may have a brief wait when moving between the exhibition’s limited-capacity galleries).

Jetsetting-yet-cozy LAX-adjacent jazz bar Sam First is hooking up with East Hollywood coworking space Second Home for this series of outdoor concerts. On Tuesdays in May, Second Home Hollywood is opening up its lush campus (which happens to share the same distinctive architect, SelgasCano, as Sam First) for live, in-person concerts from the Mike Cottone Quartet, Artyom Manukyan Trio, Dan Rosenboom Quartet and Josh Nelson Group. Tickets are available by table, up to a maximum of six people.

All Time Low, Fitz and the Tantrums, lovelytheband and Charlotte Lawrence top this drive-in concert from the Ventura County Fairgrounds. Event proceeds support the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Ventura.

Follow the history of the culture-defining record label with this decade-spanning dive into Motown. The Grammy Museum exhibition includes stage outfits from the Supremes, the Jackon 5 and Boyz II Men, as well as some more recent additions like Migos; Stevie Wonder’s harmonica; and a station where you can learn the Temptations’ signature dance moves.

This Yoshitomo Nara exhibition had been sitting there, just waiting to welcome visitors for about a year now. But finally, LACMA is open again, and this exhibition along with it. The museum is assembling 30 years of works from the wildly popular Japanese artist (known for canvases of fiendish, wide-eyed children and animals) and examining them through the lens of his longtime passion for music.

This free show features neon and mixed media works from over a dozen artists that are taking over the windows of the Hollywood Palladium.

Ever wondered what a show would look like at the Hollywood Bowl with no crowd? You can find out—for free—with this series of recorded performances from the LA Phil.

Nature lovers rejoice! Spend a day at the Natural History Museum’s Butterfly Pavilion with up to 30 butterfly and moth species and an assortment of California plants.

Neo-Concrete movement founder Lygia Pape was largely known for her colorfully political geometric pieces, and though her late-career Tupinambá series may lack hard edges, it certainly has something to say. Balls of red artificial feathers covered in breasts and bloody hands channel Brazil’s indigenous populations and a particular cannibalistic ritual.

We might not have hit go-in-the-pool season quite yet, but sit-by-the-pool season is all the time. You can do just that—and eat dinner and watch a movie while you’re at it—during this poolside screening series at Downtown’s JW Marriott. Each $45 reservation includes one appetizer or snack, one entrée and unlimited popcorn.

L.A.’s star-studded lecture series returns—albeit in virtual form—with a lineup of writers, artists, performers, scientists and business leaders who will graciously blow your mind. Like the in-person events, you’ll have the option of purchasing the speaker’s book—otherwise, some of the discussions are free to view.

This collection of photographs and ephemera at the California African American Museum examines how stereotype-challenging organizations support young Black women’s in vital race work, from the 1890s to the 1960s.

Plunge into the deep end while watching a slate of classics during this outdoor screening series at the Hollywood Roosevelt’s Tropicana Pool & Cafe. You’re welcome to get wet (towels, blankets and heaters are available on a first-come, first-served basis) or stay dry; either way, arrive in a costume themed to the night’s film selection and you’ll nab a free cocktail or candy. Tickets are available by the table (up to four people) or bed (two to four people comfortably).

Joshua Tree Music Festival welcomes live music back into SoCal with this series of distanced shows, with tickets available in pods of four.

Walk through a pavilion of fluttering butterflies and peep a chamber with pupae and caterpillar’s at South Coast Botanic Garden’s new exhibition. In the spring and first half of the summer SOAR will feature tropical butterflies, while in the late summer and fall it’ll flip to monarch butterflies. Timed reservations are required.

Budding engineers and artists will be equally enthralled by the masterpieces Nathan Sawaya has intricately crafted with over 1,000,000 toy blocks. (No, that number is not a typo.) Visitors who love dinosaur activities will gawk at the artist’s 20-foot T. Rex, which is comprised of over 80,000 pieces alone.

Crash into this Grammy Museum exhibition on the sort-of-jam-band’s three-decade career, with a specific focus on its live shows and charitable efforts. Items on display include Dave Matthews’s Chet Atkins guitar, LeRoi Moore’s tenor sax, Carter Beauford’s 1990s-played drum kit and a whole bunch of set lists, lyrics sheets, posters and tour ephemera.

Eat a meal while listening to Daft Punk tunes during this tribute dinner at Downtown warehouse 1720.

Think Cinco de Mayo is like any other holiday? Think again—in this town, the fifth of May is a citywide celebration.

Take full advantage of the three-day weekend and pack it full of food and time outdoors.