The best things to do in Los Angeles this week

Carb lovers, rejoice: this two-day festival dedicated to all things pizza is returning to L.A. Live. Sample over 40 different vendors, watch live dough demos and hear from pizza experts like Danny Boy’s Daniel Holzman and food writer and pizza maker Karen Palmer. More than a handful of Time Out’s favorite pizzerias in town: Pizzana, Schellz Pizza Co, Apollonia’s, La Sorted’s and Ozzy’s Apizza. Newcomers this year include Pizzeria Sei and Triple Beam.

Walk, run, skate, bike and explore car-free stretches of South Pasadena, Alhambra and San Gabriel during the latest edition of this open streets event series. The Metro-presented 626 Golden Streets clears cars off the road in different parts of the San Gabriel Valley for one day only. On Sunday, April 28 you’ll be able to set foot on five miles of streets sans cars, from Mission Street in South Pasadena, down Marengo Avenue and along Alhambra Road, Main Street and Las Tunas Drive toward Mission Drive in San Gabriel (hence the “Mission-to-Mission” name of this particular event).

The food truck and live music-filled outdoor movie screening series returns for the season with a kickoff screening of Barbie at the Autry.

Strap on your cowboy hat and make the pilgrimage to country music’s biggest jamboree, taking up residence at Coachella’s digs, the Empire Polo Club. Stagecoach is coming back for a three-day fest; expect the usual mix of contemporary and classic country. Eric Church, Miranda Lambert and Morgan Wallen headline the 2024 edition, with additional sets from Jelly Roll, Elle King, Post Malone, Willie Nelson and more.

In case “uncensored” wasn’t enough warning, make sure you leave the kids at home for this one. Part puppet show, part improv show, “Puppet Up! Uncensored” combines top puppeteering talent with music, jokes and shenanigans. The show will host a string of special performances on the historic Jim Henson Company Lot in Hollywood, formerly Charlie Chaplin’s studio.

Let the wild rumpus start at this celebration of beloved children’s author and illustrator Maurice Sendak. The Skirball Cultural Center is displaying more than 150 sketches, storyboards and paintings from the Where the Wild Things Are creator.

Named for the Canadian electro-tech jacker’s cat (how sweet!), the rodentia-head-sporting deadmau5 (Joel Thomas Zimmerman) brings his mind-melting array of flashing lights and sonic boom to the Hollywood Bowl for “retro5pective,” a show to celebrate two decades of his music. You might want to pack your sunglasses.

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.

Home studio Two Faced Ceramics is setting up poolside at DTLA’s Hotel Figueroa for this series of classes. Each $75 class includes all of the equipment and materials you need, plus mimosas and a hotel tote bag. The made-for-beginners classes cover a different theme each time, including handle-less tea mugs, celestial catchall dishes and a succulent holder.

See works from 32 photographers projected onto an 80-foot-wide, three-story-high wall during this free outdoor art event. You can catch two screenings on the side of a building from familiar names like Jeff Bridges, Ringo Chiu and Estevan Oriol; find it at 713 North Hill Street in Chinatown.

The most appropriately named shoegaze band of the early ’90s heads back to L.A. for more nostalgic dreamweaving. Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell float their opium vocals over sun-on-lake guitar shimmer, including on tracks from their seminal album, Souvlaki.

Feeling like you and your four-legged friend are attached at the hip right now? Spend even more quality time together during this dog-friendly series at Palos Verdes’ South Coast Botanic Garden. Every third Sunday, you can roam the gardens’ 87 acres with your fur baby. You—the human—will need a reservation, while your best friend—the pup—will need to remain on their leash at all times, including in the parking lot.

See works from seven contemporary artists (Eliseo Art Silva, Allison Hueman, Anthony Francisco, Maryrose Cobarrubias Mendoza, Christine Morla, Maria Villote and Junn Roca) who address issues related to Filipino culture and the Filipino-American experience during this exhibition at the Forest Lawn Museum.

No, the Academy Museum isn’t staying open past midnight—but it is celebrating films that have typically screened then. To complement the museum’s John Waters exhibition and Pink Flamingos’ place as a late-night mainstay, it’ll be screening some cult favorites this April and May, including Eraserhead, Up in Smoke, Donnie Darko and The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Need a little lunch break relaxation? Catch one of these free concerts at the Colburn School Plaza, held Wednesdays at noon throughout April.

Watch a slate of classics from the past couple of decades on one of the prettiest rooftops—now called Anita’s Oasis—in Hollywood at this outdoor screenings series. All movies are piped in over sets of provided wireless headphones. Before showtime, make sure to hit up the bar or the on-site kitchen.

The hour stands before another springtime, and the Renaissance Pleasure Faire is nigh. Good mistresses and masters, prepareth thy schedules and costumes for the return of the oldest Ren Faire in the country, a spectacle that cov’reth 20 Irwindale acres with Elizabethan libations and amusement: fully armored joust tournaments and tea parties with the Queen along with beguiling stage acts, rides, games, delicious edibles and ales abound. The fesitivies will transpire each weekend at the Santa Fe Dam Recreational Area; procureth day or season passes in advance by visiting ye olde online box office. And no, we can’t stop talking like this.

This biomusical about Ziegfeld Follies comedian Fanny Brice had never been revived on Broadway since its original 1964 production, which helped propel Barbra Streisand to megastardom. Beanie Feldstein stepped into an ill-received production in 2022, though replacement Lea Michele significantly turned things around. For this touring production, newcomer Katerina McCrimmon has stepped into the role.

Nonprofit arts organization the Billboard Creative mounts this annual show around town which, as you probably guessed, covers about 30 billboards around L.A. with works from artists. The 10-year-anniversary edition will run from April to 30.

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.