Michael Juliano

Skim through the must-visit attractions in Los Angeles and you’ll notice a trend: It’s a lot of outdoorsy fun. So committing to a day inside of a museum might be a tall ask. In fact, choosing anything over a 75-and-sunny day at the beach is a hard ask—especially if you’re visiting from somewhere with a climate that’s not as consistently comfortable as SoCal’s.  But here’s the thing: No matter how good the weather, visiting L.A.’s museums is a must. In fact, not only are they among the city’s best things to do, but Los Angeles museums can increasingly stand toe to toe with ones in cultural capitals like New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C. And, lucky you, a handful of them have stunning outdoor campuses with hilltop views, sculpture gardens and sunny courtyards. I’ve spent the past decade-plus visiting all of L.A.’s museums (and revisiting them as each riveting new exhibition opens). There are even more institutions in the L.A. area than just the ones on this list (including plenty of quirky, off-the-beaten-path museums), but I think the 21 below are the very best—and I’d say the top five in particular are borderline essential for any trip to L.A. If you’re on a budget, don’t worry: L.A. is flush with free museums. In fact, of the ones on this list, nearly half of them don’t cost a dime, and most of the rest offer regularly scheduled free days. Sure, you might have to pay for parking or trek across town, but that’s nothing a Metro trip or ridesharing service can’t solve. Thi

Outdoor movies combine two things we love about L.A.: an appreciation of movie-making and spending as much time as possible outside. Alfresco screenings usually start to surge across the city in the early spring and continue into the fall and holiday season, be it atop rooftop bars, at L.A.’s best parks or even at a Hollywood cemetery. Most of our favorite outdoor series fall into two formats: Alfresco screenings where moviegoers bring their own chair or blanket and can pack together some picnic food, and rooftop ones where you’ll be offered a seat and some on-site snacks as you catch films both old and new. (If you’re looking for a fun date idea, this one takes the cake.) Be sure to check back all year long for updates on the list, as new screenings are always being added. Looking to see a new movie any night of the week? Check out the best movie theaters in L.A. or the few remaining old-school drive-in movie theaters. And for some at-home inspiration, you can always catch up on the best L.A. movies of all time. For screenings with multiple movies on a single night, each film is separately ticketed unless otherwise noted. Also, unannounced schedule changes tend to occur, but we’ll do our best to keep the list below updated on at least a monthly basis.

There are more things to do in West Hollywood than just drunkenly gallivanting down the Sunset Strip—not that we’re necessarily advising against that. The music venues along Sunset Boulevard and the colorful gay bars on Santa Monica Boulevard are ingrained in the city’s identity, but you’ll also find art galleries, parks and architecturally significant homes inside of WeHo’s irregularly shaped border. Explore the best of the city with these 17 things to do in West Hollywood. RECOMMENDED: See more in our guide to West Hollywood

Call us old-fashioned, but we like our haunted places in L.A. authentic. We’re not talking about manufactured scares at haunted houses; we searched the spookiest nabes for horror hot spots—and consulted our friends over at Ghost Hunters of Urban Los Angeles (GHOULA). Founder Richard Carradine has been collecting tales of L.A. haunted spots for years, and used to host monthly Spirits With Spirits mixers (at some of the city’s spookiest venues and on ghost tours), which later morphed into a podcast. Ready to scare yourself silly? Here’s your handy guide to a dozen of the most haunted places in L.A., including a Hollywood theater, a notorious Downtown hotel and a Long Beach ocean liner where ghosts of the past still rattle a few chains. 

When you’re putting together your Halloween outfit, raiding a costume store for supplies is the most expensive part of the process and actually assembling it is the most time consuming aspect. But the most difficult part? Coming up with a clever idea. Fear not: I’ve tapped the expertise of Time Out editors across the country to come up with nine Halloween costume ideas that are sure to impress at any party. Whether you’re chronically online or clueless about why the kids keep saying “six seven,” you should find a perfect option among these very-2025 ideas—including costumes that pull from film and TV and meme culture. Quick Picks: Best Halloween Costume Ideas For a group costume: The Ratliff family from The White Lotus For an easy off-the-shelf look: Anything from Wicked For a clever but low-effort idea: Your innie from Severance For a couple: The Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce engagement photo For the most popular look: Rumi from KPop Demon Hunters RECOMMENDED:🛏️ The 11 most haunted Airbnbs in the U.S.🏚️ The 18 most eerie haunted houses in the U.S.🎃 The best halloween events in the U.S.👻 The most haunted places in America for a creepy ghost hunt🍸 The most haunted bars and restaurants in America

As the nights draw in and the chill sets through the air, there’s no denying it: spooky season has officially arrived. The pumpkins are carved, the costume’s nailed and now there’s just one thing left to summon… a Halloween playlist wicked enough to get even the undead on their feet. Sure, the classic Halloween songs still reign supreme – we’re talking ‘Thriller’, ‘Ghostbusters’ and all the usual heavy-hitters. But lately, a new wave of pop phantoms has emerged to soundtrack your October nights. From Olivia Rodrigo’s ex-boyfriend bleeding her dry, to the enchanting spellwork of Lady Gaga a.k.a Mother Monster herself, with a detour through the slick, otherworldly beats of K-Pop’s most stylish demons – Halloween playlists have, quite literally, come back to life. Our favourite Halloween playlist songs for 2025 at a glance: Most iconic Halloween track: ‘Thriller’ by Michael Jackson Best new Halloween anthem: ‘Abracadabra’ by Lady Gaga Most dramatic Halloween song: ‘There Will Be Blood’ by Kim Petras Best Halloween anthem with a K-Pop twist: ‘Your Idol’ by Saja Boys Best Halloween track to dance to: ‘Monster Mash’ by Bobby ‘Boris’ Pickett & the Crypt-Kickers RECOMMENDED: 👻 The best Halloween movies of all time 🎤 The best karaoke songs 🎵 The best songs of 2025 so far 🕺 The best albums of 2025 so far

Day of the Dead in Los Angeles is easily one of the city’s most vibrant holidays as far as local commemorations go. The celebration of the deceased isn’t about haunted spirits or prolonged mourning but instead offers a healthy perspective on the afterlife. Observers of the Mexican holiday (traditionally held after Halloween) visit loved ones’ gravestones, often as part of public gatherings. Typically you’ll find cultural affairs around the city with dance rituals, musical performances and plenty of calaca (skeleton) costumes. Get a taste of the holiday with some of our favorite Day of the Dead events, as well as the tastiest Mexican food in town. Some of the Los Angeles celebrations might look a little different this year out of concern for immigrant communities in light of the recent ICE raids. One celebration in Long Beach has even chosen to cancel its event altogether. But for the most part, these local traditions are continuing, with communities choosing to come together and celebrate both their culture and resilience. What is Day of the Dead? Day of the Dead is a Mexican holiday in which family and friends come together to remember loved ones who have passed away and to guide their journey into the afterlife. The living visit graves and build altars (or ofrendas) and often decorate them with sugar skulls and marigolds, as well as the deceased’s favorite food, drinks and possessions. When is Day of the Dead? Day of the Dead begins Saturday, November 1, and ends Sunday, No

When looking for the best places to trick-or-treat in Los Angeles, there are options all throughout the city. Like picking a pumpkin, choosing the best neighborhood where kids (and let’s be honest, parents) can score the best Halloween candy is a crucial aspect to nailing the holiday. There are plenty of options: Stroll through the posh streets of Brentwood, head over the hill to old-school Toluca Lake or hit Venice Beach for seaside trick-or-treating—gondola rides included. Dress up in your best Halloween costumes and hit the streets. And if you’re looking for something to do after you’ve put the kids to bed, L.A. has some of the best Halloween parties around!  RECOMMENDED: More Halloween in L.A. A quick heads up for all of our picks below: Just remember that it’s always up to individual homeowners whether or not they choose to partake in trick-or-treating festivities, so your experience may vary from year to year.

There’s something endlessly fascinating about a town frozen in time. It offers us the ability to get a glimpse of what life was like over a century ago, and the chance to witness the slow decay of things left behind. The ghost town is a concept most common in the West—mining booms and busts meant that towns sprung up and were abandoned as a matter of course. It also means that now, more than 100 years later, we can embark on our own adventures to visit these places, to see how the not-so-distant past has played a part in how (and where) we live today. Here are the nine most authentic ghost towns within road trip distance of L.A. Happy trails!

Halloween is approaching and all you’ve got is a vague idea of what you’ll be, an oversized bag of candy in your pantry, tempting you, and a half-baked plan on where you’ll go for the spookiest night of the year. Your first order of business: Nail down the outfit. Rather than go the Amazon route, we suggest starting your search for something to wear at America’s coolest costume stores. Not only will you find a ton of inspo from years of curation and creativity but you’ll also be supporting local as many of these spots have been staples in the communities they’ve serviced for decades. Below, we highlight independent costume shops nationwide, from Los Angeles and New York to Miami and Boston, ready to help with all your Halloween needs.

Looking for the best things to do in Los Angeles? We have you covered with the very best that L.A. has to offer. I’m a Los Angeles native and have lived here all my life, and take it from me: There’s always more to discover and explore. Whether you’re a culture vulture, an outdoorsy type or simply a lover of our fine city, you’ll find more than enough here to keep you busy. Even lifelong Angelenos can find something new to add to their to-do list, between the city’s landmark attractions, an ever-changing inventory of the best restaurants in Los Angeles, essential L.A. museums and even some off-the-beaten-path secrets. How many of the best things to do in Los Angeles will you try? Updated October 2025: We aren’t seeing temps in the 90s anymore, so it’s official: Things in Los Angeles have turned autumnal. We’re right in the midst of spooky season, so I’ve added lots of fall fun back into the list—think haunted houses, pumpkin-filled walks, costume parties, changing leaves and Oktoberfests. And right after Halloween, it’s time for Day of the Dead festivities across the city. October is also a great month for the arts. “Made in L.A.” has made its way back to the Hammer Museum, spotlighting the innovative work of dozens of local artists. And on October 25, Grand Ave Arts: All Access is back, filling the city’s Downtown cultural corridor with workshops, tours, live music and more.  Quick Picks: Best Things to Do in Los Angeles Griffith Observatory — Iconic attraction with a plan

L.A. is great and all, but sometimes you need a change of scenery. If you only have one day to spare, consider one of these quick day trips from Los Angeles to some amazing nearby destinations. Luckily, living in L.A. means it’s an easy (well, depending on traffic) and often scenic drive to SoCal’s best beaches, small towns, wineries and gorgeous desert landscapes—all within three hours of the city. Oddly enough, taking advantage of the ease with which you can get out of L.A. is easily one of the best things to do in L.A. From wine tasting in Santa Barbara and vintage hunting in Palm Springs to camping in Joshua Tree or feeling the sand between your toes in San Diego, you’re sure to find a short trip (as opposed to a longer road trip) worth taking on this list. Note that all of our commute time estimates are based on a trip originating from Downtown L.A. in light traffic (so your mileage may quite literally vary). RECOMMENDED: The best weekend getaways from L.A.

There’s nothing Christmassy nor even wintry about this hour-long Palos Verdes trail, yet its nine stellar installations are the most cosmically mesmerizing of the budding after-dark botanical garden shows that’ve come to blanket L.A. toward the end of the year. Astra Lumina, which debuted in 2022, returns to South Coast Botanic Garden with the same array of celestial-inspired displays. Last year’s edition was basically identical to its debut. But if you loved your first trip to Astra Lumina or haven’t been at all, we still think this is a worthwhile (albeit somewhat expensive) event—perhaps better suited for a date night than a large family affair. While some other year-end light shows seem less focused on moment-to-moment encounters and more on the photogenic snaps you’ll walk away with, Astra Lumina feels truly experiential. You’ll venture through scenes that interpret the arrival and departure of stars in an earthly garden: Archways pulsate with light and mist, perforated lanterns spell out a stargazing journey, shooting stars chase up and down a cylindrical frame, shimmery bulbs blanket a forest floor and tranquil lanterns float among the trees. There’s plenty of wonderfully atmospheric fog along much of the trail, including in a shower of lasers so thick that you’ll swear you can touch them. (It’s also worth mentioning how lovely it is to experience a celebration of the night sky in one of the few locations in L.A. where it’s actually dark enough to see plenty of stars.)

Street Food Cinema has put together a series of outdoor holiday screenings in the closest thing to a Dickensian town square in L.A.: Heritage Square. In between Victorian home tours, piano sing-alongs, strolls through a light tunnel and sips on hot chocolate and mulled wine, you can catch screenings—many of them double features—of flicks like Elf, Home Alone, A Christmas Story, The Muppet Christmas Carol and more. Just make sure to bundle up in your best Christmas sweater.

Walk, run, skate, bike and explore car-free stretches of El Monte and South El Monte during the latest “Corazón-del-Valle” edition of this open streets event series (formerly known as 626 Golden Streets). The Metro-presented Active Streets clears cars off the road in different parts of the San Gabriel Valley for one day only: On Sunday, November 2, you’ll be able to set foot on five miles of streets sans cars—on a new route that runs from Emery Street in El Monte, down Tyler Avenue and along Garvey, Potrero and Klingerman Avenues toward Central and Santa Anita Avenues in South El Monte—and enjoy music, food, art and entertainment along the way.

Though the Hollywood Bowl may be L.A.’s most iconic open-air theater, the Greek easily rivals it as far as the setting goes. A night at the nearly 6,000-seat venue feels like seeing a concert in the middle of the woods—because you quite literally are within the boundaries of the rugged Griffith Park. It’s about the biggest venue you can go to that still feels somewhat intimate while managing to bring in just-below-arena-sized acts. The classically-inspired space is beautiful, as are the perpetual-summer vibes; linger in the handsome forecourt before the show for some stadium-style snacks and drinks, or opt for a pair of beer and wine terraces on the northern side of the campus. The only downside? Traffic, of both the human and automotive variety. For all of the elbow room in the entry plaza, the pathways leading into the seating areas are an uncomfortably tight squeeze (made worse by their overlap with the bathroom lines). Meanwhile, traffic on Vermont Avenue comes to a notorious standstill ahead of shows, and getting out afterwards is nearly as jammed. Plus, the cheapest parking starts at $50, and the $135 “quick park” gets you closer to the entrance but really doesn’t avoid the bulk of the car traffic.   My advice: Opt for the off-site shuttle, especially if you’ll be driving to the Greek via a freeway. It only costs $10 per person in advance to park at the Pony Ride Train Lot near the 5, and there’s a steady stream of buses that’ll bypass nearly all of the car traffic (mak

South Coast Botanic Garden’s adorable dog walking hours jumps from a once-a-month treat to an every-weekend affair just during the month of October at Dogtoberfest. In addition to dog-friendly walking paths, the garden throws a bunch of Oktoberfest-style activities into the mix. For the humans, you’ll find beer stations throughout the garden (including a roving Brew Choo Choo cart) as well as on the main lawn. That’s where you’ll find the bulk of the programming too, including polka performances plus stein holding and pretzel tossing contests. For the pups, expect training obstacles along the garden pathway as well as races in on the lawn. As for the beer aspect, a VIP ticket gets you a flight of beer (or root beer) samples, a pretzel necklace and a few other small perks, but I think most folks will be satisfied with saving money on a general admission ticket and opting for purchasing full pours instead.

The Hammer Museum’s excellent, ongoing series of biennial exhibitions ups the ante with each edition of its spotlight on emerging and under-recognized L.A. artists. This October’s exhibition—the seventh such show—brings together works from 28 artists, spanning film, painting, theater, photography, sculpture and video, that engage with the city of Los Angeles. Highlights include Kelly Wall’s penny press and wishing well, plus racks of postcards of L.A. skies fabricated out of glass; Patrick Martinez’s East L.A.–inspired cinder block wall, adorned with Mayan murals and neon trim (as well as another neon sign that reads “Agua is LIFE, NO ICE”); and re-creations and photo documentation of the late Alonzo Davis’s freeway murals from the 1984 Olympics. Before you even step inside, you’ll notice Alake Shilling’s Buggy Bear Crashes Made in L.A., which, yes, is a giant inflatable bear driving a car that’s careening toward the Glendon Avenue corner of the Westwood museum.

Explore the Huntington’s Chinese Garden by moonlight during this after-hours stroll, where all of the area’s pavilions, courtyards and pathways will be lit up. While you’re there, you can listen to live music or pick up something for dinner at the Jade Court Cafe, Freshwater Pavilion or the Terrace of Shared Delights. We’ve found this event to be an absolute delight—if not a little crowded. A few tips: If the permanent dining areas are too congested, check out a pop-up one near the roomy event space above the west side of the garden. Also, the line for the lantern launch—where you can write remembrances and well-wishes onto a paper lantern that’ll float across the central pond—seems to spike toward the middle of the event, so consider hitting it up on either end of the evening. Some of the pathways in the Chinese Garden are a bit narrow, and particularly crowded during the event, but overall you should still be able to find plenty of places to take a tranquil stroll.

This haunted Griffith Park hayride once again returns to the mid-’80s fictitious town of Midnight Falls, which borrows a little bit of the road culture of Sons of Anarchy and the isolation of Twin Peaks. And this year the Mistress of the Dark herself, Elvira, is taking up residence. The Griffith Park tradition, which has been running for 17 years now, centers on a relatively lengthy hayride, which runs on select nights from September 19 to November 2. The premise: A witch has summoned creatures that’ve hidden themselves among Halloween decorations in the town’s foothills. This year’s event promises new Elvira–themed takes on the Scary-Go-Round and Trick or Treat attraction, as well as a cozy lounge where apple cider and doughnuts provide a respite from the scares. The event’s various other attractions will be centered around the jack-o’-lantern–filled Midnight Falls Town Square, with a Janelle Monáe-headlined party manor as well axe throwing, water balloon–based paintball (or “Zombie Splat”) and the Hellbilly Halloween maze. Can I wear a costume? No. Costumes, face paint and props are not allowed. Where do I park for the Haunted Hayride? Prepaid parking is available but limited in the trio of nearby lots (Merry-Go-Round lots 1, 2 and 3). You can also park for free in the much larger L.A. Zoo parking lot and take a shuttle from the lot’s northwest corner to the event. Note: While the hayride used to take place at the Griffith Park Old Zoo, in recent years it’s moved downhill t

Stroll through a mile-long trail filled with all things pumpkins, including an illuminated forest of jack-o’-lanterns, during Descanso Gardens’ annual Carved. For three weeks this fall (Oct 3–30), the event lines a loop of the botanical garden with pumpkins in all sorts of forms: as a sea monster rising from a pond, in thick clusters on the ground and cobbled together into a house. For the 2025 edition, Carved is introducing a new route, as well as new vignettes on the Pumpkin Trail, treats at Harvest Acres and new ghostly characters carved from logs by chainsaw. The gardens’ model trains will also be illuminated during the event, and the popular neon-hued Rhizome light sculpture will return. Tickets ($27–$45, kids $17–$30) are on sale now. Look out for the expanded Día de los Muertos ofrenda altar near the entrance on your way to the two main jack-o’-lantern areas. The first is a forested section lined with expressively carved (but fake) pumpkins, some of which have been arranged into wonderfully whimsical characters (a crow-like scarecrow and a pumpkin holding its own head, among them). Meanwhile, there’s a pavilion in the rose garden with real gourds whose designs are inspired by pop culture characters (plus a station where you can see them being carved). There are a few familiar sights if you’ve ever attended Descanso’s other holiday tradition, Enchanted, but tweaked for Halloween (stomp along the trunk-encircling platforms in the oak grove, and you’ll hear shrill cackles

Walk across the grounds of the scenic King Gillette Ranch in Calabasas as the Santa Monica Mountains hideaway is illuminated with thousands of hand-carved jack-o’-lanterns. (Fun fact: Calabasas has a pumpkin-filled history—it’s actually named after the Spanish word for the gourd: “calabaza”.) Night of the Jack returns with an on-foot, mile-long trail this year, plus live pumpkin-carving, food trucks and a “Spookeasy,” too.  For 2025, the family-friendly Night of the Jack promises its biggest season yet, with new themed environments and multisensory experiences that make use of projection mapping.  Timed tickets are required each night. As is the case with all similar experiences, they’re not cheap and fluctuate ($29–$63) depending on the day of the week and time of night. Expect to spend an hour to an hour and a half there, though that could double on weekends (and closer to Halloween) when the entry crowds and food truck lines tick up.

Its past installments have found attendees stealthing their way through a Victorian home and embarking on a Blade Runner-esque bounty hunt. And now this celebrated immersive horror theater event is returning for spooky season at a new location: a century-old Historic-Cultural Monument in DTLA. Delusion, an interactive seasonal event that combines elements of immersive theater with a more story-based approach to a walk-through haunted house, will take over the Variety Arts Theater from September 18 through Halloween till November 9. This year’s theme, “Harrowing of Hell,” puts you in the role of a supernatural cult member who must pass a Dante’s Inferno–inspired set of challenges. Hollywood director and action coordinator Jon Braver, who hatched Delusion in 2011, has again teamed up with the Los Angeles Haunted Hayride producers Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group for a “choose your path” staging in which your choices will impact the story progression. Braver also teases a “new creature you will never, ever forget” in this year’s experience. Tickets don’t come cheap (they start at $113), but for true Halloween devotees, it might be worth it: Delusion regularly ranks among the best haunted houses in the city. There’s also a VIP tier for $40 more that lets you take a peek behind the scenes with a backstage tour and access a reserved lounge.

While some may scoff at the idea of Grand Avenue becoming L.A.’s Champs-Élysées, we’re too busy making the most of the Downtown street’s cultural treasures to even engage in that argument. For one afternoon, more than a dozen institutions will celebrate their Bunker Hill home with free performances, exhibitions and tours. Most of the action takes place on Grand Avenue between Temple and Sixth Streets. Highlights of this year’s event on October 25 include a singing workshop and a chance to try instruments at the Colburn School; a sugar skull workshop and Halloween necklace-making at the Los Angeles Central Library; LA Opera recitals at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion; a preview of the world’s first museum of AI arts, DATALAND; and a Day of the Dead celebration at Gloria Molina Grand Park. Other participating institutions include the Broad, MOCA, REDCAT, the Music Center, Center Theatre Group, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Grand Performances and Metro, which now has a station just off of Grand Avenue atop Bunker Hill.

Didn’t have a sick day to burn on Monday morning? Or simple didn’t want to deal with the road closures? Here’s what it was like for the thousands of Angelenos who descended on Downtown L.A. for the Dodgers’ World Series championship parade. A fleet of double-decker buses exited the 101 freeway around 11am, and about 10 minutes and a few blasts of confetti later, the team turned onto Temple Street to properly begin their nearly two-mile route through DTLA, mostly along Grand Avenue. (If you’re reading this early enough, you might still be able to tune into their afternoon rally at Dodger Stadium.) Lest you think the team’s second championship in two years would somehow be less exciting, seemingly every inch of sidewalk was packed with Dodger fans to see manager Dave Roberts hoist the Commissioner’s Trophy and all of the players soak in the atmosphere—and occasionally soak some fans in champagne. Take a look below to see what the experience was like from the many, many Dodgers fans who showed up on Monday. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Suzanne Mari (@suzannemari2013) View this post on Instagram A post shared by Dodger Doggies (@dodger_doggies) View this post on Instagram A post shared by Metrolink (@metrolink) View this post on Instagram A post shared by j Marie 💛 (@jennifermarieakajmarie) View this post on Instagram A post shared by Dr Samantha

Phew. After seven stressful games and a particularly nail-biting extra innings finale, the Los Angeles Dodgers won the World Series—again (the frenzy of fireworks might’ve tipped you off). After taking down the Toronto Blue Jays, it makes the Dodgers the first MLB team in 25 years to win back-to-back championships. Like last year, the team won on the road, which turns their upcoming victory parade into an extra sweet homecoming for Angelenos. Here’s everything you need to know ahead of Monday’s parade through Downtown L.A.—plus some insight from attending last year’s parade. We’ll also continue to update this story as more info is released. When is the Dodgers parade? The parade will be Monday morning, November 3, at 11am. What’s the parade route? The parade route is slightly different from last year’s so pay close attention: It’ll kick off at Temple Street and Broadway, just above the northern edge of Grand Park. From there, it’ll head west on Temple, then south on Grand Avenue until 7th Street, where it’ll again head west, and then finally north for a few blocks along Figueroa Street (it’ll wrap up at 5th Street). Courtesy Los Angeles Dodgers Do I need a ticket? Nope, and it’s free to attend. But there will be a ticketed celebration at Dodger Stadium afterwards, slated for 12:15pm; tickets for that went on sale Sunday at noon (and quickly sold out). The team notes, however, that it won’t be possible to attend both the parade and the stadium celebration based on the timing

Halloween is tomorrow, and while the scariest thing for Dodger fans might be tuning in to Game 6 of the World Series, the largest costume party in Los Angeles is proceeding as planned: That’s right, the West Hollywood Halloween Carnaval is upon us once again. Every year on Halloween night, WeHo welcomes countless costumed attendees—like, up to half a million—to a mile-long street party on Santa Monica Boulevard filled with food trucks, a performance stage and an absolutely electric atmosphere. After taking three years off, the All Hallow’s Eve tradition made its triumphant return in 2023, and it’s been going strong since. Carnaval’s annual appearance also means it’s bringing lots of road closures along with it. Here’s a quick rundown on everything you need to know about this year’s return of the West Hollywood Halloween Carnaval. When is the West Hollywood Halloween Carnaval? The event takes place on Halloween night (Friday, October 31, 2025) from 6 to 11pm, though you can expect to find plenty of after-parties along the route. Where does it take place? Along—and literally on—Santa Monica Boulevard from Doheny Drive to La Cienega Boulevard. What street closures will be in effect? Oct 31 at 12:01am–Nov 1 at 7am N San Vicente Blvd between Santa Monica Blvd and Melrose Ave All alleyways between Santa Monica Blvd and Melrose Ave In addition, West Hollywood Park, including its dog parks, basketball court and parking garage, will be closed during this span. Oct 31 at 10am–Nov 1 a

Whether you feel like you’ve exhausted all of the familiar Christmas lights in L.A. or are planning a ski trip toward the end of the year, you’ll be excited to hear that a new holiday event is bound for L.A.’s closest alpine escape. The Big Bear Alpine Zoo will turn on 1.5 million lights starting November 6 for the debut of Alpine Zoo Wild Lights. The zoo’s first-ever after-hours Christmastime event will sport four themed zones that celebrate the sanctuary’s flora and fauna. Following a ribbon cutting ceremony on November 5, Alpine Zoo Wild Lights will run Wednesday through Sunday from November 6 through January 4 (with expanded hours around Thanksgiving and Christmas). Tickets cost $20 (kids under five are free) and support the zoo’s wildlife rehabilitation and conservation programs, as well as Care For Big Bear, the city’s sustainability initiative.   Photograph: Courtesy Visit Big Bear   The trail starts with the Wilderness Gateway & Great Pine, where you’ll find a 20-foot illuminated archway, a two-story teddy bear and a 100-foot pine blanketed in lights. Next, the Village of Light & Moonridge Coffee Co. Zoo Café will serve cider, cocktails and cocoa alongside a playground. From there, the North Pole Path sports an oversized 20-foot ornament, snowmen and Santa’s sleigh, illuminated and all ready for photo ops. Finally, the Care for Big Bear – Dark Sky Grove features a large illuminated white tree flanked by glowing mushroom lights, with meteor shower–like lights overhea

Chances are, you either see AI as an indispensable tool or a fundamental threat—it’s the type of technology that doesn’t seem to inspire many middle-of-the-road takes right now. But set aside your love or hate for ChatGPT for a few minutes to consider a very different sort of AI application. DATALAND, which has dubbed itself the world’s first museum of AI arts, announced that it’ll debut in Downtown L.A. in spring 2026 (a bit later than its initial 2025 goal). The Refik Anadol Studio–helmed space will set up at the Grand L.A., the Frank Gehry–designed mixed-use complex across the street from the Walt Disney Concert Hall (which Anadol blanketed in projections back in 2018). Turkish-born, L.A.-based artist Refik Anadol and his wife and studio cofounder Efsun Erkılıç have been translating troves of data into morphing images and rippling particles for about a decade. And DATALAND will house an installation inspired by one of Anadol’s very first pieces, an Infinity Room that he designed in 2014 at UCLA and debuted the following year as a piece of floor-to-ceiling projection. This latest iteration of his Infinity Room will incorporate AI-generated scents into the fold, pulled from the studio’s Large Nature Model—an open-source repository trained on audio, visual and environmental data from 16 rainforests across the planet. The Infinity Room will anchor one of the five galleries within DATALAND’s 25,000-square-foot venue. While we don’t know much about the rest of the space qui

It’s 2022. Life in Los Angeles feels a little on the gloomy side of normal, but you at least remember that, yes, I’ll finally be able to take a train right into the center of LAX for that revenge travel trip you’re taking in 2023. So the new year arrives, but the airport’s Automated People Mover doesn’t, and you think, alright, I’ll just have to wait a little bit longer until it opens in 2024. But when 2024 comes, this time you think, I’m smart, I won’t hold my breath for 2025. And that’s a good call because it turns out the APM won’t actually start service until 2026. So here we are again: After once eyeing a January 2026 opening—which then got pushed to “early” 2026—the 2.25-mile elevated train has been delayed yet again. According to a report in the L.A. Times, the airport connection should hopefully be ready by the World Cup in June of 2026. But even that doesn’t seem like a sure thing, as Los Angeles World Airports says it’s working on contingency plans for shuttle buses in case there’s a further delay. The problems stem from a dispute between LAWA and LAX Integrated Express Solutions, the project’s contractor. Drive into LAX right now and you’ll see the white automated cars sitting at the stations, just waiting to whisk you over traffic. But the project has been crawling toward completion (it’s currently hovering around 95%) due to disagreements over compensation and the timeline. Photograph: Michael Juliano for Time OutThe LAX Automated People Mover (March 2025) When

At Time Out, we’re always focused on telling Angelenos how to keep up with the best things to do and L.A.’s best restaurants. But we know that an essential ingredient in any strong relationship is listening, so we want to hear what you think about L.A. Channel your inner out-of-towner and be brutally honest about Los Angeles: Do you actually take Metro or do you really just drive everywhere? Does the local dating scene deserve its reputation? What about making friends? Which neighborhoods would you rate a 10 and which ones should go get lost on the 10? Just how much do you love the city’s parks and beaches? We want to know your opinion on all things nightlife, live music, art, theater, restaurants and shopping in L.A.—and whether you’re satisfied with the city’s offerings and affordability. You’ll be asked to rate all these and more on a scale from one to five—one is “awful” and five is “amazing”—as well as which aspects of L.A. bring you the most joy. The whole survey takes just 10 minutes, and as a thank you, we’ll give you the chance to enter into a raffle for a $500 Amazon gift card. Act fast, though: The raffle closes on October 12.   You’ll need to be 18 years or above to take part in the survey. Find the terms and conditions here.  Take the survey here.

And here we thought the Coachella lineup would be this week’s biggest surprise when it comes to massive SoCal events. But now organizing committee LA28 has shared the detail that Angelenos want to know about the 2028 Summer Olympics: how to get tickets. It’ll be a multi-step process to secure LA28 tickets, starting with a registration period that opens in January 2026 for the Olympic Games and then ticket drops that follow that same year. For the Paralympic Games, tickets will go on sale in 2027. According to the organizing committee, single tickets will start at $28 (there’s no mention of any pricing beyond that floor, nor any specific mention of the opening ceremony). In addition, LA28 says that “locals around Games venue cities” will be given an early shot at tickets; as a reminder, in addition to the City of Los Angeles, the 2028 Olympics will have additional venue clusters in Long Beach, Carson, Inglewood, Pasadena, Arcadia, Pomona and San Clemente (…and Oklahoma City, for softball and canoe slalom). With all that in mind, here’s a quick rundown of how things should work. When do tickets for the 2028 Olympics go on sale? A registration period for the Olympic Games will begin in January 2026, followed by ticket drops later in 2026. Tickets for the Paralympic Games will go on sale in 2027. How much will tickets cost for the 2028 Olympics? Single tickets will start at $28, though we don’t know how high they’ll climb from there (hospitality packages will be available too). W

We don’t really report on discounts and limited-time promos too often; the incentives are often just alright compared to the annoying hoops you need to jump through to claim them. But that’s absolutely not the case with this new shop-local initiative from the City of West Hollywood. Here’s the deal: The small-but-lively city has just launched a new gift card program dubbed WeHo Loves Locals, and for a limited time, any purchase will be matched with a bonus card for 50% of that value (so if you buy a $100 gift card, you’ll get a $50 bonus card). But perhaps most importantly, the card is valid at a pretty legit array of spots—everything from dinner and drinks at Gracias Madre to a spa day at the Sunset Marquis to shopping at Staud—and you can mix and match your credit across multiple businesses. The digital gift cards—open to residents and visitors alike—are available in four denominations, and after buying one, you’ll be emailed a bonus card as well; so if you buy a $50 gift card you get a $25 bonus, $100 gets an extra $50, $200 gets $100 and $300 gets $150. (Put another way: It’s like getting a 33% discount off your total purchase.) Note that bonus cards are limited to one per purchaser and will expire a year from purchase. As for those redemption sites, the city currently has 45 locations listed on its site. These include dining and drinking spots like the Abbey, BOA Steakhouse, the Butcher’s Daughter, Dialog Cafe, Fiesta Cantina, Gracias Madre, Gym Bar, Katana, Ladyhawk, Mi

Last year’s late-November drop already felt pretty early for the Coachella lineup to come out, but this formerly-early-January tradition has now arrived startlingly early. Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber, Karol G and Anyma will headline the 2026 edition of the festival. Coachella will once again stage two weekends of nearly identical lineups in Indio from April 10 to 12 and April 17 to 19, 2026. Presale technically already came and went in the late spring. But additional passes will go on sale Friday, September 19 at 11am (2024 and 2025 attendees and American Express card members can also access them a day earlier, on Thursday, September 18 at 11am). Including fees, general admission starts at $649 for weekend one—and weekend two actually costs less at $549. Compared to last year, weekend one is $50 more, while weekend two’s price has held steady. With a shuttle pass included, it’s $779 for the first weekend and $679 for the second. VIP costs $1,299 for weekend one and $1,199 for weekend two. It’s worth noting that all of these prices are listed as “starting at”; in the past, this has meant that prices increased slightly after the initial batches of tickets were snatched up, and the ticketing page lays out how much the “next price” will cost in each of these ticket categories. So who’s headlining Coachella 2026? Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber, Karol G and Anyma will headline 2026’s festival, with additional sets from the XX, the Strokes, Addison Rae, Young Thug, BIGBANG an

UPDATE: It seems like there may actually be some hope for the future of the Reel Inn. According to a statement from California State Parks—and published by Eater and ABC—the agency says that its recent communications “may not have fully conveyed our values and intent to parter with [the restaurant’s owners],” and that it’s committed to “thoughtfully exploring a path forward that makes it possible for the Reel Inn to thrive on state parks property.” While the department doesn’t spell out exactly what form that’ll take, it says it hopes the Reel Inn can return as “a place where residents and visitors alike gather in a vibrant, welcoming setting.” Our original story appears below. Nearly eight months after the catastrophic Eaton and Palisades Fires, there’ve been some positive rebuilding stories: Debris removal has progressed significantly ahead of schedule, and some shuttered museums and restaurants in Pacific Palisades and Altadena have recently been able to reopen. Of course, not all stories have been as optimistic: Concerns about soil quality still linger while the remains of formerly middle-class homes now change hands to the ultra-rich. And then there are some developments that are just… complicated. The Reel Inn Malibu, an iconic no-frills seafood shack destroyed by the Palisades Fire, said that despite its desire to rebuild, it won’t—or rather can’t. According to a report this past weekend in The Wall Street Journal, the California Department of Parks and Recreation has

Even before its 50th anniversary Jaws exhibition debuts this weekend, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures has announced that it’s green-lit another major show from that film’s prolific director.  The first-ever Steven Spielberg retrospective exhibition will open at the Academy Museum in 2028. The Los Angeles institution announced the news at a press event on Wednesday morning for “Jaws: The Exhibition.” “He has explored new themes and ideas, sometimes treating us to dazzling thrill rides and other times guiding us through introspective journeys into our own histories, our dreams and the depths of our own souls,” Academy Museum director and president Amy Homma said. “American cinema and world cinema would not be the same over the past half-century without Steven Spielberg.” Photograph: Michael Juliano for Time OutSteven Spielberg (left) at a preview for “Jaws: The Exhibition” Video still: Michael Juliano for Time OutSteven Spielberg at a preview for “Jaws: The Exhibition” Homma—who was on stage to introduce none other than Spielberg himself—added that the exhibition “will not only honor the undeniable legacy of Steven Spielberg, but it will also give visitors insight into his creative process and bring them closer than ever to his filmography.” And what a filmography that is. While you eagerly await more info on the exhibit, allow your imagination to fill in some of the gaps as you consider all of the astounding Spielberg-directed films that could factor into the show: J