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Standard Station (Night), after Ed Ruscha
Courtesy of J. Carter TutwilerVik Muniz (b. 1961), Standard Station (Night), after Ed Ruscha , 2008. Digital chromogenic print mounted on aluminum.

The best things to do in Los Angeles this week

Find concerts, screenings, performances and more of our critics’ picks with the best events and things to do in Los Angeles this week

Michael Juliano
Edited by
Michael Juliano
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If we could write the rules of living in Los Angeles this would be our No. 1, always at the top of our list: When you live in this city, there’s no excuse for boredom just because it’s a weeknight. There are hundreds of things to do in Los Angeles each week, whether you hit the beach at sunset or go for a morning bike ride, or catch a concert or a comedy show—and that’s really only scratching the surface. Well, we don’t make the rules, but we will provide you with plenty of ideas for your next free weeknight right here. Now go out and tackle these things to do in L.A. this week.

The best events in L.A. this week

  • Comedy
  • Stand-up
  • Playa Vista

Take your pup with you to this dog-friendly comedy show at the Annenberg PetSpace, with sets from Greg FItzsimmons, Craig Conant, Ahmed Al-kadri, Andrea Vicunia, Martin Morrow and Ashwin Jacob. Caitlin Benson hosts, with support from DJ VFRESH. Tickets include two drinks, and a portion benefits the PetSpace Extraordinary Care Fund.

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  • Music
  • Rock and indie
  • USC/Exposition Park

Mitski has a talent for swift transformation. Over the past several years, she’s rocketed from self-releasing her first two albums and playing DIY gigs to selling out major venues months in advance. Catch her at the Shrine in support of her latest album, The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We.

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  • Music
  • Rock and indie
  • Koreatown

Everyone reunites—it’s human nature—so it’s no surprise that Sleater-Kinney came back together in 2014. Though the comeback was welcome, the departure of drummer Janet Weiss a few years later sure wasn’t. Even so, this duo version of Sleater-Kinney with Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein still thrashes and swings with a sound quite unlike anyone else.

  • Comedy
  • Stand-up
  • La Cienega

Yes, that Ellen. Degeneres cemented herself as everyone’s favorite daytime talk show host for nearly two decades… until she wasn’t. Amid it all, though, you may have forgotten that she started as a stand-up comedian. Catch her during occassional sets at Largo.

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  • Things to do
  • USC/Exposition Park

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.

  • Music
  • Folk, country and blues
  • Westlake

Adored and decried in almost equal measure by the country-rock/alterno-pop community, Bright Eyes main man Oberst steps out solo. Expect songs with clever lyrics cloaked in a sweet wooziness and stripped-back, piano warmth, but also with gritty, kick-ass rockisms and occasional acoustic interludes.

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  • Things to do

Support women-owned restaurants and dine at some of L.A.’s best spots during the return of this annual food fest. Regarding HER’s RE:HER festival will offer themed menu specials, convos and collabs from women restaurateurs all month long. Highlights from this year include a paella night featuring Casa Vega and Gasolina Cafe (March 22), a chaat party at Benny Boy Brewing (March 10) and a “chefs of the Arts District” dinner (March 20).

  • Things to do
  • Talks and lectures
  • Santa Monica

L.A.’s star-studded lecture series returns—both virtually and in person—with a lineup of writers, artists, performers, scientists and business leaders who will graciously blow your mind. For both online and IRL events, you’ll often have the option of purchasing a signed copy of the speaker’s book, as well.

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  • Movies
  • Downtown

The masters of alfresco rooftop movie viewing have returned for another season of screenings 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.

  • Things to do
  • Markets and fairs
  • Downtown Arts District

Every Sunday you can find dozens of food vendors at this market at ROW DTLA, with a mix of much-loved pop-ups and future foodie stars. Look out for this year’s new vendors, including Basket Taco Co., Battambong Barbecue and Taste of the Pacific.

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  • Art
  • Installation
  • Boyle Heights

For one summer in 1987, a carnival popped up in Germany with traditional rides adorned with artwork by Salvador Dalí, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, David Hockney, Sonia Delaunay and a couple dozen others. And then… it kind of just vanished, sent off into storage for decades. But now, thanks to a couple of art world partners and Drake, Luna Luna has been revived in L.A., restored and reassembled in a soundstage in Boyle Heights.

  • Art
  • Sculpture
  • San Marino

You might’ve noticed Johnson’s beautifully carved and gilded redwood organ screen on recent visits to the Huntington. Now, for the first time in four decades, you can see it paired with other pieces he created for the California School for the Blind in Berkeley, California—with 41 works in total on display.

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  • Art
  • Miracle Mile

Judy Baca’s half-mile–long The Great Wall of Los Angeles, a collaborative mural painted in the ’70s along the Tujunga Wash, has received all sorts of museum love in the past few years. But LACMA has a particularly unique show to boast about: The local Chicana muralist and SPARC artists will paint two new sections of The Great Wall during museum hours. The exhibit also debuts a new section of the wall, in honor of activists known as the Freedom Riders, dubbed Generation on Fire.

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  • Art
  • Contemporary art
  • Downtown

This show at the Broad was supposed to debut in April of 2020 to kicks off the museum’s fifth anniversary, but, you know… the world had other plans. Thankfully, you finally have a chance to see this free collection exhibition with a focus on L.A. artists, including Sayre Gomez, Toba Khedoori, Patrick Martinez and Barbara Kruger alongside an entire gallery dedicated to John Baldessari and Mike Kelley.

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  • Art
  • Downtown Arts District

In 1993, artist Charles Gaines mounted “ The Theater of Refusal: Black Art and Mainstream Criticism,” a UC Irvine gallery show that responded to the country’s cultural and political crises with works from then-up-and-coming Black artists. Now, three decades later, Hauser & Wirth has revived the show in two parts: a small reprise of “The Theater of Refusal” with ’90s pieces from Gaines, Gary Simmons and Lorna Simpson, as well as a larger room that continues the show’s themes with recent works from Lauren Halsey, Rashid Johnson, Caroline Kent and more.

  • Art
  • Hollywood

What does living in L.A. look like? It’s a wildly different picture depending on each Angeleno’s point of view, and so to celebrate that diversity of perspectives, Hollywood gallery Jeffrey Deitch will display pieces from a dozen local artists that delve into underground economies, landscapes, surveillance, backyard hangouts and public transit, among other topics.

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