The best things to do in Los Angeles this week

Whether you follow awards season like it’s your favorite sport or you haven’t yet seen any of this year’s buzzworthy films, get ready for the upcoming Academy Awards at—where else?—the Academy Museum, which will be hosting a series of nominee spotlights in its 1,000-seat David Geffen Theater (which Time Out just named as one of the best cinemas in the world). For just $10, you can catch screenings of all the nominated animated short films (Mar 7), documentary shorts (Mar 8) and live action shorts (Mar 9). For a handful of other categories—animated feature film, international feature film, best picture and makeup and hairstyling—the filmmakers themselves will be on hand at panels to share clips and behind-the-scenes stories from their films.

Can’t wait for Halloween? This off-season haunt from the producers of the Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor is a fittingly spooky way to mark this Friday the 13th. Featuring a fog-filled, circus-themed dance party and swapping out mazes for three heart-racing, story-driven experiences in the ship’s cavernous lower decks—including Sweethearts’ Slaughterhouse and the Search for Mary, where you escape the ghost of a little girl with nothing but a glow stick to guide you—the event also serves as an exclusive preview of this year’s Halloween attraction. Themed eats and signature cocktails will be available for purchase throughout the ship. Elegant attire—paired with comfortable footwear—is encouraged.

It’s a very Fast & Furious kind of year in L.A., between Universal Studio’s roller coaster and this 25th anniversary exhibition of the movie franchise. The Petersen Automotive Museum is showcasing movie vehicles, stunt cars and production prototypes in its second-floor galleries, including the 1993 Toyota Supra “Stunt #3” and 1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse driven by Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) in the original film, Dominic Toretto’s (Vin Diesel) 1968 Dodge Charger R/T and 1993 Mazda RX-7, Suki’s (Devon Aoki) 2001 Honda S2000 and more.

Pasadena’s underrated collection of museums and performance spaces open up their doors for free at this biannual arts and culture open house. Take advantage of the free shuttle buses to travel between local institutions such as the recently reopened USC Pacific Asia Museum, ArtCenter, Norton Simon Museum, Gamble House, Kidspace Children’s Museum and more, many of which will be offering special arts programming and live performances. And, of course, no arts fest would be complete without food trucks, which often include pop-ups from local bricks-and-mortar businesses.

Dry as a bone and sharp as a tack, the super-smart New York writer and comic contrarian (and pal of Martin Scorsese) returns to Los Angeles with a performance at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre.

It’s no Emerald Isle, but Hermosa Beach is full of Irish spirit during its annual St. Patrick’s Day parade. For the 30th year, bagpipers, marching bands, Irish dancers and classic cars decked out in green will all make their way along the coastal city’s parade route. The procession kicks off near City Hall on Valley Drive, heads west on Pier Avenue and ends at the corner of Hermosa Avenue and 8th Street. The free festivities also include live music and dancing nearby at Pier Plaza. If you want to start the shenanigans early, there’ll be a pre-parade party on March 13 with more music, food and drinks ($13, location and time TBA).

Support women-owned restaurants and dine at some of L.A.’s best spots during the return of this annual food fest in honor of Women’s History Month. Regarding Her's festival will offer themed menu specials, cooking classes, convos and collabs from women restaurateurs all month long. Highlights from this year’s lineup include the Echo Park Bop, a walking food and drink tour of 10 women-owned restaurants including Quarter Sheets, Bakers Bench, Bar Flores, Tsubaki, Little Fish and Valerie Confections (Mar 22); Maydan Market Monday (Mar 23); and a women-powered Lincoln Avenue Parking Lot Party Benefit for Altadena (Mar 29). You’ll also find other fun one-offs on the calendar, including a cacao tasting at the Chocolate Dispensary (Mar 12) and a “Sweetcute” ice cream social at the Very Best Cookie in the Whole Wide World (Mar 21). Check the website for the full lineup.

Celebrate Pi Day the sweetest way possible—surrounded by hundreds of pies at the Autry Museum. KCRW Good Food host Evan Kleiman will host the massive pie-baking contest, but even if you don’t plan on entering your own creation, show up to shop slices from over 25 dessert vendors, watch baking demos, play games, shop cookbooks and learn to weave. And though you won’t be taste-testing the home bakers’ entries, you can help the judges—including Will Ferrell, Roy Choi and other culinary celebs—pick winners in the visual categories. The Autry will be offering free admission as well; check out the new exhibition “Desert Dreams and Coastal Currents.”

Third Street Promenade has been making a concerted effort to become more of a nightlife destination, and this St. Patrick’s Day, its new Entertainment Zone will welcome revelers who want to feel Irish for a day. Head to the 1300 block of the pedestrian-friendly thoroughfare for live music by Shamrock Sean and the Irish Cabbage Band, plus trivia, games, photo ops and festive decor. You can order drinks from the outdoor bar, and the Promenade party also ties in to the local Lucky’s St. Patrick’s Day Pub Crawl.

So maybe you can’t score an invite to the Oscars, but attending the official watch party from the folks who put it on seems like the next best thing. On March 15, the Academy Museum will host a creative-cocktail-attire soiree that includes hors d’oeuvres from Wolfgang Puck Catering and wine. The Academy Awards will be telecast live inside the David Geffen Theater. If you can’t snag a ticket to the party, the museum’s restaurant, Fanny’s, will be hosting its own watch party with a champagne toast and prix-fixe menu. The restaurant is also offering a special menu of cocktails inspired by this year’s 10 best picture nominees.

After the acceptance speeches are over, get dressed up in red-carpet glam and head to Skybar’s swanky Academy Awards after-party. Toast the winners poolside while rubbing shoulders with film talent, fashion figures and musicians, with a panoramic view of Los Angeles in the background. 

This annual celebration of the short story—part of a public radio series hosted by author Meg Wolitzer—features Hollywood talent coming together at the Getty to bring classic and contemporary literary works to life. This year’s theme, “Virtue & Vice,” focuses on the struggle between good and evil, saints and sinners, inspired by the museum’s exhibition of early modern drawings. Hear actors like Liza Weil (Gilmore Girls), Michael Urie (Shrinking), Chris Sullivan (This Is Us), Milana Vayntrub (Silicon Valley), Sasheer Zamata (Saturday Night Live) and more breathe life into the written word. Check the website for the full lineups for each showtime.

Nasstive Entertainment hosts not one but two St. Patrick’s Day bar crawls in Los Angeles—one in Downtown and one in Hollywood—plus one in Long Beach. Channel the luck o’ the Irish with hundreds of other revelers as you hop from bar to bar and enjoy all-day drink specials, welcome shots, festive food, DJs and live music. For DTLA, you’ll check in at Karl Strauss Brewing, then grab a wristband and drink coupons and travel between participating bars including Pattern Bar, Broken Shaker, Beelman’s, Golden Gopher and more. In Hollywood, the crawl starts at Saint Felix on Cahuenga and includes stops at Jameson’s Irish Pub, Y2K-themed spot Zero Lounge, Boardner’s, Cabo Cantina and more. 

Spring at Knott’s Berry Farm means a celebration of its namesake fruit, and come mid-March you’ll be able to stuff your face with all things boysenberry. Knott’s turns its theme park into a food fest of sorts, with dozens of boysenberry-infused items that you can try to work your way through, thanks to an event tasting card. (Of course, there’ll be boysenberry-themed merch, too, plus crafts from local artisans.) Expect both delicious and questionable boysenberry creations alike—think elote, sausage, tortillas, smoothies, Brussels sprouts, bao buns, wings, sangria, beer and wine. Park admission starts at $65, while a pass with three tasting items and parking costs $95. If you already have a season pass or an admission ticket, a six-item tasting card costs $55.

Telling the story of Gorillaz, the animated band created by Blur’s Damon Albarn and British artist Jamie Hewlett, involves a bit of real-world history and a bunch of cartoon mythology. House of Kong manages to blend both of those into a truly transportive walkthrough that mixes an art-on-the-wall gallery show with a cartoon-come-to-life manifestation of one of this century’s most singular bands. The L.A.-by-way-of-London experience, which sets up in the Arts District’s Rolling Greens from February 26 to March 19, is an expertly assembled experience that’s brought to life through its tightly choreographed narration and music.

Each March, holiday-themed theme park SkyPark at Santa’s Village swaps out Santa for Seamus the Leprechaun leading up to St. Patrick’s Day. Kitsch meets Irish with live trad music, entertainment, a hunt for gold coins, the Pot O’ Gold puppet show and more. Pair the festive fun with food and drink specials at SkyPark’s dining venues: Think Irish nachos and corned beef and cabbage at St. Nick’s Patio & Grille and a SkyPark Shamrock Shake at Kringle’s Coffee & Gifts.

Known for its engaging and exciting performances, American Contemporary Ballet will present a double bill of choreographer George Balanchine’s Concerto Barocco and La Source—it’s the first time the two ballets have been paired together in L.A. (and the latter, in particular, hasn’t been staged in full here in 40 years). Compare and contrast the differences between the two works, which are similar in structure but worlds apart, as the dancers of ACB perform to live music.

Disneyland’s already the happiest place on earth, but throw in a massive parkwide food festival—and now it’s somehow even happier. Running nearly two full months, the Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival takes over the state-themed park with eight different culinary marketplaces with themes such as garlic, local breweries and wineries, peppers and food-truck fare. Just be sure you don’t forget the rides in all of the culinary whirlwind—fan-favorite Soarin’ will temporarily bring back its California-themed version just for the occasion.

The reopened Getty Villa will descend into the underworld with this exhibition, which looks at the ritual spells and religious writings ancient Egyptians employed to garner favor with Re and Osiris in the afterlife. See the Getty’s collection of rare Book of the Dead rare hieroglyphics-adorned and illustrated manuscripts, dating back to around 1000 BCE, which were last displayed in 2023. The show should dovetail nicely with the museum’s “Sculpted Portraits From Ancient Egypt,” which runs through January 2027.

When Mexican director Alejandro G. Iñárritu made his debut feature, Amores Perros, over a million feet of film didn’t make it to the final cut (to put that into perspective, the finished two-and-a-half-hour movie used around 18,000 feet of film). Twenty-five years later, some of these unearthed reels of celluloid now zip through a ground-floor gallery at LACMA as part of a multi-channel film installation. As much a piece of sculpture as it is film or video art, Sueño Perro assembles six 35mm projectors that pierce the hazy near-dark space with raw, nonlinear snippets of the movie, fed from a mesmerizing curtain of film stock speeding along sprockets. It’s an intense experience, both sonically and visually.

Made up of a Melrose Avenue workshop and two galleries—including one designed by Frank Gehry—Gemini G.E.L. has been at the forefront of fine art printmaking for 60 years now, an accomplishment it’s celebrating in this show which doubles as a love letter to L.A. On display are innovative works by artists including David Hockney, Roy Lichtenstein, Ed Ruscha and Robert Rauschenberg—many of which haven’t been shown in decades—which are inspired by the atmosphere and streets of Los Angeles.

Explore the Autry into the evening at the Griffith Park museum’s Thursday-night series that spotlights the city’s emerging and established artists, musicians, poets and writers. Programming ranges from free salsa lessons to DJ sets to old-timey radio plays. The museum galleries stay open late, too, plus drinks and food trucks are also on offer.

You can currently see a handful of his works at the Broad, but Takashi Murakami is the star of the show at a new solo exhibition at Perrotin Los Angeles, where 24 new paintings by the Japanese artist grace the walls. Known for marrying traditional Japanese painting with Western influences, Murakami found inspiration for this show from a visit to Monet’s Garden in Giverny, France, and here explores how the Japanese art form of ukiyo-e, or “floating world pictures,” later inspired artists including Monet, Degas and Van Gogh. Next door, limited-edition Murakami prints and merchandise are for sale at a pop-up Perrotin Store through February 28 (Tue–Sat 1–6pm).

Celebrated Chicana artist Judy Baca’s half-mile-long The Great Wall of Los Angeles, a collaborative mural begun in the ’70s along the Tujunga Wash, has received all sorts of museum love in the past few years, including at a LACMA show where the muralist and her team painted new sections of the work during museum hours. Now, Baca and the Social and Public Art Resource Center are returning to Jeffrey Deitch Los Angeles to exhibit the newest segment of the mural—which documents activism and resistance in the 1970s—continuing their mission to give voice to the voiceless through art.

Step back into the era of grunge, supermodels and the dawn of the internet at this free exhibition at the ASU FIDM Museum in DTLA. This retrospective explores the decade’s spirit of rebellion and experimentation, featuring high-fashion couture from icons like Vivienne Westwood and Gianni Versace alongside the flannel shirts, slip dresses and bold prints that defined everyday style. Through a curated mix of garments, vintage magazines and video footage, visitors can trace how 1990s innovation continues to shape contemporary trends.

First up on the Academy Museum’s 2026 calendar is a deep dive into Studio Ghibli’s Ponyo. One of Hayao Miyazaki’s most beloved films, Ponyo was notable for its focus on hand-drawn animation, with not only the characters but the backgrounds drawn frame-by-frame rather than using animation cels or CGI. Last year, Studio Ghibli donated original production materials to the Academy Collection, so this show will highlight those items, including art boards, posters, a Studio Ghibli animation desk and original drawings—some of which will be displayed in North America for the very first time—pairing them with immersive and interactive elements like an animation table and a play environment for kids.

A display of over 30 mummified people and animals is back at the California Science Center. This time around, you can see a selection of specimens never before shown in Los Angeles. Mummies are, of course, most often associated with ancient Egypt, and while Egypt is represented here, you’ll also see mummified remains that were discovered in Germany, Hungarian, Peru—even the University of Maryland. Memorable artifacts include two “bundle” mummies making their West Coast debut, amulets and organ jars, an ancient Egyptian cat mummy and a shrunken sloth head. The museum’s IMAX theater will be screening the complementary Mummies 3D: Secrets of the Pharaohs.

Whether or not you follow soccer, you probably know by now that Los Angeles is hosting eight matches of the World Cup in summer 2026. In celebration of its arrival, this LACMA show will display Lyndon J. Barrois Sr.’s ode to the world’s most beloved sport. The artist’s miniature “sportraits” re-create classic moments in both women’s and men’s soccer using materials like gum wrappers, glue and paint—even if you’re not a sports fan, the playful sculptures and stop-motion animations will win you over.

The Pacific Asia Museum’s galleries have been closed for months in preparation for this immersive new exhibition, which is taking over the entire museum and marks a new, artist-centered shift to its programming. The ambitious show will use the visual language of mythology to take visitors on an immersive journey through the immigrant experience, combining objects from USC PAM’s 5,000-year-spanning historical collection with new media technology and works by over 20 contemporary artists, led by L.A.-based Korean American muralist Dave Young Kim. Highlights include a wrap-around video installation in a reconstructed airplane cabin and an AI feature that puts visitors in the shoes of an immigrant. Along the way, mythical creatures—dragons, cranes, guardian spirits and shapeshifters—nod to intergenerational legacies.

This display of film and video art, billed will take over all six stories of the abandoned, historic Variety Arts Theater in Downtown L.A. (the theater served as the setting for this past Halloween’s immersive haunt Delusion). Over a century of visual storytelling will be explored, blurring the line between visual art and cinema. Contemporary video works by artists including Marina Abramović, Doug Aitken, Chris Burden, Cyprien Gaillard, Arthur Jafa and Precious Okoyomon will be juxtaposed with cinematic works by the likes of Walt Disney and Georges Méliès. Admission—and popcorn—are free.

The masters of alfresco movie viewing are keeping outdoor screening season alive throughout winter with their Fireside Films series, which ensures you’ll stay cozy, with outdoor heaters and a complimentary hot beverage with each ticket. Enjoy a steady stream of modern classics (The Notebook, When Harry Met Sally…) local favorites (La La Land, Friday) and recent releases (Freakier Friday, Sinners) screened atop LEVEL DTLA throughout the winter months.

The beloved late singer, who’s ascended to music and fashion icon status since her untimely death in 1995, is the focus of a new show at the Grammy Museum. Co-curated by the singer’s sister, Suzette Quintanilla, the exhibition will peek behind the curtain of Selena’s life, artistry and career, exploring how her legacy continues as a symbol of empowerment for both young women and Latin communities. You can see the singer’s personal artifacts displayed for the first time outside of the Selena Museum in Corpus Christi, Texas, including her Grammy Award, cellphone, hand-drawn fashions and microphone, still marked with her signature red lipstick. In preparation for the opening, artist Mister Toledo recently created a mural of the singer outside the museum.

Celebrate the history, diversity and wildlife of our fair city with the locally beloved Bob Baker Marionette Theater. This puppet-filled ode to L.A. first debuted in 1981 for the city’s bicentennial, and while it retains its retro charm, it’s been refreshed for 2026 with new animal puppets and updates that reflect Los Angeles today.

Robert Therrien’s Under the Table has long been one of the most popular pieces in the Broad’s collection (you know the one—the giant table and chairs that you ask your friend to snap a photo of as you stand underneath). Well now the museum is hosting the largest-ever solo exhibition of the artist’s work, displaying more than 120 pieces, including many that have never been shown in museums before. Expect more huge housewares and striking works, plus some intimate drawings and surprises from the late L.A.-based artist. The specially ticketed show will fill the first-floor galleries through April 5, 2026.

Anonymous feminist art collective the Guerrilla Girls—whose members gained notoriety for donning gorilla masks and fighting the patriarchy—is coming up on its 40th anniversary, and the Getty Center is marking the occasion with a behind-the-scenes look at the group. See photography, protest art and the group’s famed posters—sporting statistics, bold visuals and satirical humor—that showcase the tactics the members used to demand recognition for women and artists of color. The Guerrilla Girls have even created a newly commissioned work for the exhibition. And you can add your own mark on the “graffitti wall” installation, giving visitors a creative outlet for their complaints about the world today. 

Accompanying programming throughout the run of the show will include a conversation between the Guerrilla Girls and author Roxane Gay, a feminist Valentine’s Day mail art workshop, cocktail receptions with the exhibition curators, tours and more.

Dealing with a difficult subject head-on, the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA’s new show, “Monuments”—co-presented by the museum and nonprofit the Brick (formerly LAXART)—juxtaposes both intact and vandalized Confederate monuments with contemporary artwork. The show looks at the recent wave of monument removals from a historic perspective and encourages discourse about challenging topics amid an ongoing national debate about the role of these statues and what they represent. Tickets for the special exhibition are $18, though if you book far enough ahead of time, you can take advantage of free admission on the first Friday of every month.

Don’t go in the water, but do go to the Academy Museum to see the largest exhibition ever dedicated to Steven Spielberg’s original summer blockbuster, Jaws—which is celebrating its 50th anniversary. The museum was already home to the last surviving model shark from filming, but now you can go behind the scenes and see some 200 original objects from the film across multiple galleries. Some highlights: a re-creation of the Orca fishing boat, the dorsal fin used both in Jaws and its sequels, costumes worn by the central trio and a room full of vintage film posters and merch promoting the film. There are interactive elements, too: You can have your own Chief Brody dolly-zoom moment (and see the lens used to film the famous shot), play the iconic John Williams two-note score and control a replica of the mechanical shark.

The Natural History Museum’s taxidermy dioramas turn a century old this year, and to celebrate the museum is reviving an entire hall of displays that’ve been dark for decades. Expect some fresh approaches to these assembled snapshots of the wilderness, including alebrijes made of recycled materials, a crystalline depiction of pollution and a tech-driven display of the L.A. River.

More than 50 works on display at the Autry showcase how Indigenous artists have crafted visions of alternative futures in the face of enduring colonial trauma, with surreal spacescapes from Wendy Red Star, pop culture commentaries by Andy Everson and a site-specific space odyssey created by Virgil Ortiz.