Things to do in Los Angeles today

Drive down the newly reopened PCH to the Malibu Pier and support the city’s small businesses as they rebuild and recover in the wake of the Palisades Fire. Every second Sunday this summer, the boardwalk will be filled with free live music (courtesy of Aviator Nation Dreamland), food and drink, plus pop-ups from local vendors. A portion of every purchase will support California State Parks. What better way to spend a summer Sunday?

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.

Every Sunday, you can find dozens of food vendors at this market at ROW DTLA, a Brooklyn import that boasts a mix of much-loved pop-ups and future foodie stars. Over a dozen new vendors joined the lineup this year: Feast on Afro-Caribbean cuisine from withBee, Lebanese street food from Teta, ice cream tacos from Sad Girl Creamery and more. Wash it all down at the family-friendly beer garden. You’ll also find shopping stalls selling everything from framed vintage ads to jewelry made locally with ethically sourced gemstones. Entry and the first two hours of parking are free.

Don’t go in the water, but do go to the Academy Museum to see the largest exhibition ever dedicated to Steven Spielberg’s quintessential 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 hear behind-the-scenes stories and see some 200 original objects from the film across multiple galleries. You can even have your own Martin Brody dolly-zoom moment in front of re-created beach cabanas from the film and see the lens used to film the famous shot.

Perhaps the Los Angeles area’s most iconic flea market, this event around the exterior of the Rose Bowl is staggeringly colossal—but what else would you expect from a 90,000-seat stadium? The sheer size and scale of this flea market means that it encompasses multitudes: new and old, hand-crafted and salvaged, the cheap and the costly. On the second Sunday of each month, an odd mix of vendors populates the loop around the stadium: for every eye-catching artwork, there’s a ratty $5 T-shirt, and for each elegant craft there’s a competing “as seen on TV” demo. But you may have more luck in the rows and rows of old furniture, albums and vintage clothes and accessories that fill the adjacent parking lot. There are plenty of duds, to be sure, but come out early enough and you may go home with that perfect purchase. This destination flea market attracts bargain hunters, collectors, and antique aficionados from all over the county, so the organizers have instituted an extensive tiered entry/admission system, allowing professional and dedicated shoppers early access at a premium.

Watch a slate of classics from the past couple of decades on one of the prettiest rooftops—now called 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 term CicLAvia stems from a similar Spanish word for “bike way,” and in L.A. it’s become a shorthand for the temporary, festival-like closing of L.A.’s streets. The event (inspired by the first Ciclovías in Bogotá, Colombia) welcomes bikes, tricycles, skateboards, strollers and basically anything else without an engine to ride a rotating cast of car-free routes. You’ll inevitably always find a route each year around Downtown, but past events have taken it anywhere from the harbor to the San Gabriel Valley. Expect music, street performances and food trucks, as well as general whimsy and shenanigans along the way. Shop owners and restaurants along the CicLAvia route also tend to host specials. It goes without saying that you should bike or take the Metro to your desired spot along the route.

Ready or not, spooky season is slowly stalking its way ever closer. The clearest sign? Universal Studios has already announced the haunted houses set to inhabit its Hollywood-adjacent theme park for Halloween Horror Nights—and there are some pretty big ones. Fallout will get its own haunted house at Universal Studios Hollywood this year (as well as the theme park’s Orlando location), which promises to be a blast. Wander through the post-apocalyptic Wasteland—complete with Scavengers, Raiders, the Ghoul and RAD Roaches the size of dogs—inspired by the award-winning video game franchise and Prime Video TV show. You’ll also find a maze celebrating 45 years of Friday the 13th’s iconic villain, Jason Voorhees, in “Jason Universe,” which will re-create the summer camp, cabin and forest as the hockey-mask-wearing killer goes on a vengeance tour. And a Five Nights at Freddy’s haunted house will bring the creepy animatronic characters to life. Over on the studio tour—ahem, Terror Tram—you can expect a “disturbing new turn” this year.  Halloween Horror Nights runs on select evenings from September 4 to November 2. Tickets cost $77 to $107, depending on the night; with Express Pass add-ons, options range from $209 all the way up to $529 (for the R.I.P. Tour option). See more of the best haunted houses in L.A.

It’s not quite the beachfront party of the erstwhile Twilight on the Pier, but Santa Monica’s Americana in the Park again sees the city teaming up with the much-loved local McCabe’s Guitar Shop and KCRW for a free concert series that explores the spectrum of Americana music, from traditional roots and blues to jazz and folk. This year, instead of a weekly series, there will be one mid-month extravaganza that celebrates the city of Santa Monica’s 150th anniversary. El Rayo X, Alice Howe & Freebo, the Gumbo Brothers and Babilonia featuring Celia Chavez will play the Sunday-afternoon concert at Gandara Park (right next to Bergamot Station and the E Line). You can bring a picnic, and local food trucks will also be on hand.

This special exhibition at the Broad makes its way to Downtown L.A. from the 2024 Venice Biennale—and Angelenos should consider themselves lucky that such a remarkable display has set up stateside. Jeffrey Gibson became the first Indigenous artist to represent the United States with a solo exhibition at the Italian art event, and this adaptation of that show, “the space in which to place me,” assembles 30-plus pieces of geometrically-patterned paintings and glass bead–adorned sculptures into the first-floor galleries of the Broad. Born in Colorado with tribal roots in the Southeast U.S., Gibson explores Indigenous identity as well as queer history by fusing pop music lyrics and foundational American documents into psychedelic statements on belonging, history and oppression; the Declaration of Independence’s “we hold these truths to be self-evident…” line—but not “all men are created equal”—is spelled out across brilliantly saturated beads that’ve been affixed to a literal punching bag. But this is ultimately a joyous show, an inclusive celebration of survival, resilience and empowerment that pays tribute to histories of resistance and looks optimistically forward. Unlike the rest of the otherwise free museum, you’ll need to buy a $15 ticket to see Gibson’s exhibition. And while it’s absolutely worth the price, you can save by taking advantage of free admission on Thursday evenings after 5pm. Expect an accompanying slate of performances, talks and workshops, as well.