Best Things to Do in Los Angeles Today with Concerts & Events (2024)

Roam the stalls at this Memorial Day arts festival, sample the food and listen to the music—and then take a dip in the nearby Pacific. A few logistical changes for the last few fests have streamlined the layout: You’ll still find on-the-street stalls and sidewalk vendors along Hermosa and Pier Avenues, but the live music has been moved to the beach while there’s a proper carnival (with a wine garden) and arts festival inland behind the Hermosa Beach Community Center.When is Fiesta Hermosa?This year’s event takes place Saturday through Monday, May 25, 26 and 27, 2024 from 11am to 7pm. You’ll find it along Hermosa Avenue and Pier Avenue.Is Fiesta Hermosa free?Yes, though food, drink, games and craft vendors will of course cost you. Also, the Garden, a 21+ area with drinks and music, has a $5 cover fee.Is the event dog friendly?Thegated Garden area of the event isn’t dog-friendly (and as is the case in nearly all of L.A. County, neither is the beach), but you’re welcome to bring a dog with you to the rest of the Fiesta.

The masters of alfresco rooftop movie viewing have returned for another season of screeningsto 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.This spring and summer, look out for a slate of wedding season picks and AAPI Heritage Month selections in May, as well as Pride and Black Music Month screenings in June. Also, select “wooftop” screenings will be dog-friendly starting in May.Find the full schedule on their site, or in our outdoor movie calendar.

It’s more than just the low clearance: This exhibition at the Petersen explores the custom paint, engraving, upholstery and, of course, thegravity-defying suspension of the lowrider scene. In addition to iconic cars, the exhibit spotlights influentialartists inthe Chicano lowrider art scene. Even if you have no interest in cars, this colorful showcase of 20-plus lowered cars and bikes is excellent: The candy-colored paint jobs are dazzling, and the craftsmanship of the customizations—many vehicles are on display with their enginesand undercarriages visible—is remarkable. You’ll learn a little bit of history here, how the “low and slow” movement is rooted in the postwar Mexican American zoot suit counterculture, but largely this is an excuse to ogle someL.A. automotive icons.

Tucked away in picturesque Topanga Canyon, this Memorial Day weekend festival has become a favorite local tradition. Bohemianresidents of all ages as well as curious onlookers converge to celebrate music, food, arts and Mother Earth. Some complain that the masses have commercialized this neighborhood event, but there are still plenty of true hippies, vegan food vendors and healing arts to make you think you’re in a West Coast offshoot of Woodstock. Let the kids enjoy their own arts and crafts section, dance to local bands and don’t miss the quirky DIY Memorial Day parade on Monday morning.

L.A. has changed immeasurably since 1921, when this event was first staged as an agricultural fair. However, the perennially popular event still has farm-friendly appeal (livestock beauty contests, local produce) alongside the more modern acrobats, wine tastings, exhibitions and concerts.RECOMMENDED: A guide to the L.A. County Fair

Hollywood’s Japan House has tapped artistSebastian Masuda to dive into the roots of all things cute and colorful with this exhibition on Japanese kawaii culture. The free show includes multiple pieces and installations from Masuda.

Weekly Arts District market Smorgasburgheads to Arcadia for this Memorial Day Weekend collab. You’ll find a Smorg-curated lineup of seven BBQ vendors in the infield at Santa Anita Park, alongside corgi races (on May 26), carnival rides and horse racing.

Oof. Honk. Spam. Ed Ruscha’s laconic canvases are familiar fixtures for L.A. museumgoers, and LACMA hasbrought them all together in this major, floor-fillingretrospective. Ruscha’s background in commercial art is evident in the big, bold text that draws your attention in his earliest Pop art paintings. But so too is his fascination with urbanism and infrastructure: the vibrant colors andsharp angles of his Standard station paintings, the black-and-white shapes of his catalog of L.A. apartments, the mesmerizing aerial shots of some of L.A.’s largest parking lots and his meticulous photos of the Sunset Strip. The retrospective also presents the opportunity to see the fiery paintingLos Angeles County Museum of Art on Fire on display at LACMA for the first time ever, as well asa reconstruction of his Chocolate Room (which, yes, is a distinct-smelling room made out sheets upon sheets of chocolate).

Nature lovers rejoice! Spend a day at the Natural History Museum’s Butterfly Pavilion, which will openfrom March 17 throughAugust 25 withup 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.

After years on theCentral Coast, the annual event has more recently made a move significantly closer to L.A., at Bakersfield’s Buena Vista Aquatic Recreational Area. Sure, it’s still a bit of a trek, but where else can you find a sustainable, vegetarian festival dedicated to equal parts music, food, art, yoga and wellness? Expect to do some serious soul-searching during this six-day retreat, all while immersing yourself in everything from a speaker series at the Lucent Temple of Consciousness to the old timey Grand Artique trading post. Skrillex, Labrinth, Lane 8, James Blake and M.I.A. top the 2024 lineup.