Things to do in L.A. this weekend

It’s been months since we’ve seen a live music performance in the flesh. And while seeing a show at a drive-in might not be quite the same as being in the pit, it’s a much-appreciated socially-distanced substitute. Concerts in Your Car is doing, well, just that this summer at the Ventura County Fairgrounds. The sprawling parking lot there has been converted into a theater-in-the-round that fits 700 cars, all pointed toward a stage with a band performing live (plus four massive video screens in case your view isn’t the best). Just tune in via your car’s FM radio and you’ll be able to catch sets through September from the likes of Ozomatli, Third Eye Blind, Fitz and the Tantrums and more.

Theaters are still darkBut their marquees can still glowPerfect for poems Downtown L.A.’s Ace Hotel has always been creative with the text on its marquee, but the hotel and theater’s latest programming puts the focus squarely on the exterior sign instead of the stage. Through December, 12 poets, songwriters, essayists and visual artists will each have a turn in taking over the 1929 United Artists Theatre building’s marquee with a haiku (if you need a refresher, that’s a three-line poem that starts with five syllables, followed by seven and five again). The lineup includes David Horvitz, Jibade-Khalil Huffman, Sophia Le Fraga, Lawrence Weiner, Harry Gamboa Jr., Kim Gordon, Charles Gaines, Carlos Lara and Joyelle McSweeney.

New name, sort-of-same beloved literary event: Bibliophiles typically flock to the USC campus for this L.A. Times-curated event, which has now added “Stories & Ideas” onto its bookish title. But after postponing the in-person book fair, it’ll now be held virtually. So while you won’t be able to roam stalls from booksellers, you’ll still be able to catch four weeks of streaming readings and panels. This digital edition is set to host 25 events over four weeks, starting October 18, with a lineup of writers, poets, artists and storytellers that includes Ayad Akhtar, Jerry Brown,Maria Hinojosa, Marlon James, Natalie Portman and Marilynne Robinson, among others. Check the website for the full lineup and schedule.

Photographer Michael Muller spent part of the past decade capturing bold, high-contrast, mostly black-and-white portraits of the late Lakers legend, which—timed with Kobe Bryant Day—are now on view virtually thanks to Beverly Hills’ Plastic Gallery. The first in a series of Mamba portraits from Muller, “8/24” features a mix of never-before-seen stoic studio portraits from 2010 and on-court scenes from his final season in 2016. Since it’s a gallery show, all of the pieces are available for sale in various sizes; a portion of proceeds will be donated to STEAM education organization GENESIS in Bryant’s name.

Neither experienced from your car nor bent on scaring the gourd out of you, Descanso Gardens’ new monthlong event is bringing some fresh air and family-friendly fun to Halloween. Throughout October, you can take a socially-distanced stroll through the La Cañada Flintridge gardens and its seasonal displays: a hay maze, a pumpkin arch, wooden jack-o’-lantern boxes, a scarecrow trail through a forest and a house made entirely out of pumpkins. And over at the Oak Grove, you’ll find mandalas of orange, white and green pumpkins swirling around the trunks of trees. Halloween is included in regular admission ($15, kids $5), and reservations (and masks, of course) are required. Tickets are currently sold out for weekend dates, but if you can visit on a weekday, that’ll probably make for a more peaceful and leisurely experience anyway; we swung by on a Saturday and found most of the pumpkin photo ops near the entrance area bustling with families, though the farther reaches of the gardens were still uncrowded. You’ll be able to visit Descanso daily from 9am to 5pm, with extended 5 to 8pm hours the final week of October (Halloween night is reserved for Family Plus members).

Trick or treating will look a little different this year, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get the whole family together for a drive-through experience to get spooky. Coming to Woodland Hills on October 9, a new Haunt’oween L.A. event promises jack-o’-lantern tunnels, pumpkin picking, family-friendly sights and even a bit of “door-to-door” trick or treating—all socially distanced, of course. The new drive-through event will run through Halloween and comes by way of Experiential Supply, a company that recreates sets and builds immersive activations for big-budget movies like IT: Chapter 2 and Ready Player One. Now, they’re building driveable mini maze paths, a tunnel featuring 1,000 lit pumpkins, a sanitized pumpkin patch station and even two rows of residential streets where costumed, masked characters will hand out wrapped candy with poles and buckets to safely recreate trick or treating. If you want to keep the memory of Halloween going all year round—and don’t we all?—every car gets a photo op and a green screen video to remember the trek. The entire experience runs between 25 and 35 minutes and costs $70 per car. You’ll find it at 6100 Topanga Canyon Boulevard on the site of the former Westfield Promenade. Tickets are on sale now.

Halloween is basically canceled and seemingly every other event in SoCal has made the jump to the drive-in. So it was only a matter of time: A drive-through haunted house is coming to Costa Mesa this fall. Urban Legends of Southern California will roll into the OC Fair & Event Center most evenings in October. The experience will translate bits of spooky folklore into a series of special effects and creature-filled sets, plus three interactive show zones that you can park inside of. (Fingers crossed there are sets about earthquake weather and the death of the streetcar—oh, not those kinds of urban legends? Whoops.) The event comes from the producers of Winter Fest OC and the creators of the Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor; you can hear them talk a bit more about the experience here. As you might expect, you’ll need to remain in your vehicle the entire time and keep to a 3mph speed limit. You can open your windows if you want, but you’ll need to wear a mask—and don’t worry, the monsters will be practicing social distancing, too. Urban Legends of Southern California runs Wednesday through Sunday nights from October 1 through November 1. Tickets cost $50 per vehicle on Wednesdays, $60 on Thursdays and Sundays, and $70 on Fridays and Saturdays—but prices will increase on August 23.

Catch drive-in screenings outside of a 91-year-old theater with the Hollywood Hills as your backdrop during this new series. The American Legion Hollywood Post 43 will host up 30 cars a night, seven days a week during the veterans organization’s new drive-in (with films digitally projected onto a 38-foot screen and transmitted via your car radio). Each reservation includes popcorn, soda and candy, and you can also choose to donate to the theater so that it can add a 35mm projector to its new outdoor setup.

This annual film festival—now in its 36th year—simultaneously celebrates and launches the careers of Asian and Asian-American filmmakers. For this virtual edition, the fest expands to five weekends with streaming Q&As and movies from more than 225 filmmakers.

Pedal your way past vineyards and toward mountain backdrops during this bike tour and wine tasting at Saddlerock Ranch. You’ll do all of the pedaling first, with some light refreshments provided along the way, and then wrap up the hour-and-a-half guided tour with a flight of four two-ounce pours of Saddlerock wines. The two-mile route tackles mostly flat terran, but the bikes are equipped with electric assist if you need a little extra help with the pedals; helmets are required (and will be provided). In case the wine didn’t tip you off, you must be 21 or older to make a reservation, and eight spots are available per time slot.