Things to do in Los Angeles today

Well, we just found your taco heaven. L.A. Taco’s Taco Madness is back at Gloria Molina Grand Park for its 17th edition, and a curated lineup of 14 of L.A.’s best taquerias will be in attendance, including Sonoratown, Evil Cooks, Tire Shop Taqueria, Los Dorados LA and Taquería Frontera, just to name a few. Get ready to indulge in tacos galore and craft beer, complemented by live art and DJ sets, at this annual taco extravaganza. And don’t miss the official crowning of the people’s choice and best in show taco. Note: Entry to the event costs $25, but you’ll need to purchase food and drinks separately.

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.

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 festivities will transpire each weekend at the Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area; procureth day or season passes in advance by visiting ye olde online box office. And no, we can’t stop talking like this. When is the Original Renaissance Pleasure Faire? The event takes place Saturdays and Sundays (10am–7pm) from April 4 to May 17, 2026, at the Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area in Irwindale. How much are tickets? Tickets cost $53 for adults, $48 for seniors (62+) and military with ID, $28 for kids ages 5 to 12 and are free for kids 4 and under. A season pass costs $275. Parking is $15, with a VIP option available for $30.

The multisensory nature of art is explored in this exhibition, which looks at the intertwined relationship between contemporary art and living materials. With its focus on artists’ relationships to the materials they use, “Several Eternities” highlights that commonality and aims to reframe the discussion around artists and race. Twenty-two artists from North, Central and South America have employed mediums like soil, stones, avocado, cacao, achiote, cochineal and clay in their works—the organic matter making it an ambitious exhibition to mount. From the moment you walk in, you can smell the soil, feel a vibrating wall and listen to the many “sonic interventions” throughout the show. The large-scale installations and sculptures—many rooted in Indigenous worldviews—steal the show. The experience ends with a welcome moment to pause: a meditative, black-walled room, with ocean sounds and sand covering the floor.

Stay past closing time to see a new side of the Central Library at this after-hours festival presented in part by the Library Foundation of Los Angeles and LAist. The halls will come to life with art, music, storytelling and poetry in the form of live performances, interactive installations and hands-on activities. The art deco landmark—which is celebrating its centennial this year—will host contemporary dance in the rotunda, a puppet show by Bob Baker Marionette Theater, sound installations by dublab, live poetry, tarot readings, board games, librarian talks and more. You can even pick up some books to bring home with you at pop-ups from Angel City Press, Skylight Books and the Ripped Bodice, plus treats from Altadena Cookie Company and the Chocolate Dispensary. All in all, it sounds like a quintessentially L.A. night.

Ponyo loves Sosuke! And we love this exhibition at the Academy Museum dedicated to the wholesome Hayao Miyazaki film. Studio Ghibli donated more than 100 objects to the Academy Collection, and you’ll find everything from an animation desk to colorful art boards to dozens of frame-by-frame pencil drawings of the scene when Sosuke first finds Ponyo. Though you may recognize a couple of items from the museum’s debut Hayao Miyazaki retrospective, the vast majority of Ponyo pieces are new—and some have never been displayed in North America before. It’s also a colorful and super kid-friendly exhibition; you can watch clips of the gorgeously hand-drawn movie, recreate the wave-running scene and even make your own stop-motion animation. You’ll find it on the museum’s second floor, inside the first few galleries of the “Stories of Cinema’ space.

Calling all vintage lovers! Shop one-of-a-kind pieces from over 50 of the top local and national vintage retailers and private dealers at this pop-up market. A Current Affair is a major source for stylists, designers and anyone in search of everything from perfectly worn-in jeans to rare and collectible designer pieces. Shop an array of vintage clothing, accessories and jewelry dating all the way back to the Victorian era at the pop-up market’s West Hollywood Design District location.

What if there was a scare-free version of Halloween Horror Nights for fraidy cats (like me)? That’s the quickest way I can sum up Universal Fan Fest Nights, an after-hours event at the L.A. theme park that debuted last spring and is returning this year. The open-till-1:30am, specially ticketed series runs on select nights from April 23 to May 16 and brings together an unexpected mix of franchises for walk-throughs (Harry Potter, Dungeons & Dragons, Scooby-Doo), live shows (One Piece, Sailor Moon) and lots of special menu items. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter has a new immersive experience, “Forbidden Forest: Search for the Hippogriff,” for the occasion, where you’ll face an acromantula and pixies to save the majestic creature. And Super Nintendo World sees the return of meet-and-greets with multicolored Yoshis.  Elsewhere, the Dungeons & Dragons walk-through is back—featuring an excellent Xanathar puppet crafted by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. And though last year’s standout Back to the Future experience won’t be returning this time around, there are a couple of brand-new attractions in its place, including interactive whodunit “Scooby-Doo Meets the Universal Monsters: Mystery on the Backlot,” which finds you solving clues on the backlot where the original monster movies were filmed. Afterward, fuel up with a sky-high club sandwich and Scooby Snacks.  Last year, food and photo op lines were a little all over the place. (You’re welcome to come in costume, by the...

This laid-back, Gen X-ish music fest will once again take over the Redondo Beach coastline for three days in May. Duran Duran, the Chainsmokers, the Offspring, Slightly Stoopid and James Taylor and His All-Star Band headline the 2026 edition, with additional sets from My Morning Jacket, Sheryl Crow, Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, Grouplove, Peach Pit and more.

When I first stepped foot inside of this exhibition of decommissioned Confederate monuments and reflective contemporary art pieces, I was taken aback by the scale of it all. I’d seen the installation photos of the side-by-side statues of Confederate generals Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee on horseback, but as I craned my neck up at these towering tributes, they felt awe-inspiring in the most dreadful meaning of the phrase. Most Angelenos don’t need to be convinced of the immoralities of the Confederacy—but most likely haven’t been forced to come face-to-face with such Civil War iconography either. “Monuments,” displayed almost entirely at MOCA’s Little Tokyo warehouse with a single Kara Walker installation at the Brick in East Hollywood, presents tangible proof that these monuments removed from public view over the past decade were not simple, somber remembrances for the recently deceased, these were larger-than-life celebrations of the Confederacy forged in the Jim Crow era and often financed by folks seeking to twist its history. Works from 19 artists respond either directly or thematically to the many statues on display, or in some cases physically alter them: Bethany Collins’s Love is dangerous chisels pieces of the granite pedestal of a Stonewall Jackson monument into Carolina rose petals. Other graffitied or paint-splattered statues speak for themselves: The Robert E. Lee monument at the center of 2017’s Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia resides...