November 2025 events calendar for Los Angeles

This haunted Griffith Park hayride once again returns to the mid-’80s fictitious town of Midnight Falls, which borrows a little bit of the road culture of Sons of Anarchy and the isolation of Twin Peaks. And this year the Mistress of the Dark herself, Elvira, is taking up residence. The Griffith Park tradition, which has been running for 17 years now, centers on a relatively lengthy hayride, which runs on select nights from September 19 to November 2. The premise: A witch has summoned creatures that’ve hidden themselves among Halloween decorations in the town’s foothills. This year’s event promises new Elvira–themed takes on the Scary-Go-Round and Trick or Treat attraction, as well as a cozy lounge where apple cider and doughnuts provide a respite from the scares. The event’s various other attractions will be centered around the jack-o’-lantern–filled Midnight Falls Town Square, with a Janelle Monáe-headlined party manor as well axe throwing, water balloon–based paintball (or “Zombie Splat”) and the Hellbilly Halloween maze. Can I wear a costume? No. Costumes, face paint and props are not allowed. Where do I park for the Haunted Hayride? Prepaid parking is available but limited in the trio of nearby lots (Merry-Go-Round lots 1, 2 and 3). You can also park for free in the much larger L.A. Zoo parking lot and take a shuttle from the lot’s northwest corner to the event. Note: While the hayride used to take place at the Griffith Park Old Zoo, in recent years it’s moved...

The masters of alfresco rooftop movie viewing have returned for another season of screenings to LEVEL in Downtown L.A. Known for excellent film choices and a steady supply of snacks and booze, Rooftop Cinema Club is your snazzy, comfortable and less stressful alternative to other outdoor movie screenings. You don’t even need to bring your own camping chair—Rooftop Cinema Club provides you with your very own comfy lawn chair (with optional blankets for purchase to up the coziness). And instead of listening to the movie over loudspeakers, you’ll get a set of wireless headphones so you never have to miss a word. Find the full schedule on their site, or in our outdoor movie calendar.

It isn’t summer in L.A. until the first cemetery screening brings hoards of movie-lovers to Hollywood Forever Cemetery, toting folding chairs, picnic blankets, snack spreads and lots of booze. Each year, Cinespia brings classic cult favorites to the hallowed resting place of such Hollywood greats as Rudolph Valentino and Bugsy Siegel. The series typically releases its slate one month at a time, with summertime screenings at the cemetery and a few off-site ones on either end (usually at L.A. State Historic Park). For each evening at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, pack a picnic (yes, booze is allowed), pose in the photo booth and enjoy DJ sets, dance parties and all sorts of other magical mischief that’d otherwise be strictly forbidden behind the cemetery gates. The outdoor screenings are an L.A. rite of passage, a quintessential summer experience and one of the best film venues in the city. Just be sure to get your ticket early, arrive early, pee early… it’s a popular affair, to say the least.

The Hammer Museum’s excellent, ongoing series of biennial exhibitions ups the ante with each edition of its spotlight on emerging and under-recognized L.A. artists. This October’s exhibition—the seventh such show—brings together works from 28 artists, spanning film, painting, theater, photography, sculpture and video, that engage with the city of Los Angeles. Highlights include Kelly Wall’s penny press and wishing well, plus racks of postcards of L.A. skies fabricated out of glass; Patrick Martinez’s East L.A.–inspired cinder block wall, adorned with Mayan murals and neon trim (as well as another neon sign that reads “Agua is LIFE, NO ICE;” and recreations and photo documentation of the late Alonzo Davis’s freeway murals from the 1984 Olympics. Before you even step inside, you’ll notice Alake Shilling’s Buggy Bear Crashes Made in L.A., which, yes, is a giant inflatable bear driving a car that’s careening towards theGlendon Avenue corner of the Westwood museum.

This traveling horror-themed Halloween cocktail pop-up will have three locations in L.A. this year: Melrose Umbrella Club in Beverly Grove, the Corner Door in Culver City and the Ordinarie in Long Beach. Halloween lovers can sip expertly mixed cocktails amid metal music and goth decor, including the famous 12-foot-tall skeleton from Home Depot. Drink highlights include the Corpse Flower (tequila blanco, ube syrup, Giffard Banane, lime juice, sherry) and the Creature’s Curse (rice-washed rye and rum, sherry, sweet potato or pumpkin syrup, bitters). Non-alcoholic options will also be available.

Walk across the grounds of the scenic King Gillette Ranch in Calabasas as the Santa Monica Mountains hideaway is illuminated with thousands of hand-carved jack-o’-lanterns. (Fun fact: Calabasas has a pumpkin-filled history—it’s actually named after the Spanish word for the gourd: “calabaza”.) Night of the Jack returns with an on-foot, mile-long trail this year, plus live pumpkin-carving, food trucks and a “Spookeasy,” too.  For 2025, the family-friendly Night of the Jack promises its biggest season yet, with new themed environments and multisensory experiences that make use of projection mapping.  Timed tickets are required each night. As is the case with all similar experiences, they’re not cheap and fluctuate ($29–$63) depending on the day of the week and time of night. Expect to spend an hour to an hour and a half there, though that could double on weekends (and closer to Halloween) when the entry crowds and food truck lines tick up.

Perhaps the Los Angeles area’s most iconic flea market, this event around the exterior of the Rose Bowl is staggeringly colossal—but what else would you expect from a 90,000-seat stadium? The sheer size and scale of this flea market means that it encompasses multitudes: new and old, hand-crafted and salvaged, the cheap and the costly. On the second Sunday of each month, an odd mix of vendors populates the loop around the stadium: for every eye-catching artwork, there’s a ratty $5 T-shirt, and for each elegant craft there’s a competing “as seen on TV” demo. But you may have more luck in the rows and rows of old furniture, albums and vintage clothes and accessories that fill the adjacent parking lot. There are plenty of duds, to be sure, but come out early enough and you may go home with that perfect purchase. This destination flea market attracts bargain hunters, collectors, and antique aficionados from all over the county, so the organizers have instituted an extensive tiered entry/admission system, allowing professional and dedicated shoppers early access at a premium.

Head to Gloria Molina Grand Park for a two-week display of 19 altars created by professional artists and community organizations. This year, in light of the recent ICE raids, the ofrendas will not only honor deceased loved ones but also L.A.’s immigrant communities. The displays officially kick off on October 25, during Grand Ave Arts: All Access, complemented by an afternoon of face painting, printmaking and sugar-skull crafting, plus live mariachi music (11am–4pm). On November 2, the event closes with the illuminating Noche de los Muertos, which will feature an Aztec ceremonial dance, local artisans selling goods at a mercado, and activities including lantern-making. Latin Grammy nominee Lupita Infante will wrap up the celebration with a candlelight set (3–7pm). All of the festivities are free.

Every Sunday, you can find dozens of food vendors at this market at ROW DTLA, a Brooklyn import that boasts a mix of much-loved pop-ups and future foodie stars. Over a dozen new vendors joined the lineup this year: Feast on Afro-Caribbean cuisine from withBee, Lebanese street food from Teta, ice cream tacos from Sad Girl Creamery and more. Wash it all down at the family-friendly beer garden. You’ll also find shopping stalls selling everything from framed vintage ads to jewelry made locally with ethically sourced gemstones. Entry and the first two hours of parking are free.

Hollywood Forever Cemetery claims to host the largest Day of the Dead celebration in California, and we wouldn’t doubt it: Each year, the cemetery grounds are covered with altars to the dead created by community artists, dance rituals, arts and crafts projects, amazing costumes and food vendors (and crowds) aplenty.  Though it’s promising an intimate, community-centered format this year, the display is sure to be spectacular, as always. A few programming notes: It looks like this year the musical performances are being replaced with two showings of Disney’s Coco. The 2025 edition will again be split into sessions: three, to be precise (1–3:30pm, 4:30–9pm and 9:30pm–1:30am), and you’ll have to exit once your time slot is up. Ticket prices differ depending on what time you’re attending. The later two sessions include a Coco screening, and the 4:30pm slot in particular will feature a drone show after the film. We suggest trying to go then: Besides the drones, the glowing, flickering altars look absolutely incredible after dark—though that’s also when the crowds tend to be the thickest.