Michael Juliano

We don’t know about you, but our mind is always focused on the weekend. It can never come soon enough—which is why we’re already thinking about what new restaurants we want to try or where we can drive for the day. Whether you’re looking to scope out the latest museum exhibitions or watch a movie outdoors, you’ll find plenty of things to do in L.A. this weekend. We curate an L.A. weekend itinerary of the city’s best concerts, culture and cuisine, every week, just for you.

Whether you enjoy the fresh smell of pine in your living room or prefer the convenience of a well-dressed, pre-lit fake tree, Los Angeles has a bounty of lots, shops and farms filled with Christmas trees of all sizes and shapes to suit your fancy—and picking one out is practically a Christmas event on its own. As the Thanksgiving food coma starts to wear off, you’re inevitably faced with figuring out where to buy Christmas trees in Los Angeles. Even if you only have space for a little tabletop tree, there are plenty of options: real or fake? Pre-cut or cut your own? Tinsel or tons of tinsel? After you’ve scoped out some Christmas lights and holiday markets for inspiration, start decorating with a tree from one of these places, including real, fake and live trees, along with Christmas tree farms where you can cut your own. RECOMMENDED: See more ways to celebrate Christmas in Los Angeles.

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.

After endless, premature teases from retailers, the holidays are here for real and they’ve taken over our December events calendar. Dive into the spirit of giving with a stop at one of the best gift shops in L.A. or behold one of the city’s best Christmas lights displays. If you’re sticking around town this year and feeling a little lonely, maybe consider embracing it with some me-time one of these secluded getaways. Whatever your plans are—even if you’re feeling like a bit of a grinch—you’ll find plenty of activities to take advantage of in our December events calendar. RECOMMENDED: Full events calendar for 2023

Make the city your winter wonderland and add ice skating in Los Angeles to your list of must-do Christmas events this season. These family-friendly rinks offer more than just skates—from wintry food and drinks to Christmas lights and meeting Santa, there’s something for everyone. RECOMMENDED: See more things to do for Christmas in Los Angeles After taking 2020 off, some of L.A.’s most notable outdoor ice rinks (notably Burbank and Glendale) never returned. But not to worry: We’ve filled their void by looking beyond the county borders to supplement this year’s picks—including one right by an OC beach and another tucked up in the mountains. 

It’s that time again. Every year, we ask thousands of city-dwellers to tell us the coolest spots in their cities. What are the places locals love and visitors flock to? Where are the exciting new openings across food, drink and culture? Where are people going out, hanging out and having fun? For the sixth year running, the results are in. Over 12,000 people had their say in this year’s shortlist, naming the neighbourhoods in their hometowns where everyone wants to be right now. Then, we narrowed down the selection with the insight and expertise of city editors and local experts who know their cities better than anyone else. To create and rank the final list, we considered factors including community and social ventures, access to open and green space, and thriving street life. In 2023, our neighbourhoods are more global than ever before. The rise and rise in post-pandemic digital nomadism has led to an explosion of brand-new community spaces, multi-purpose culture centres and more cafés than we can count on two hands. But while most of these neighbourhoods have experienced a transformation over recent years, they remain resolutely local at heart. Slick new developments and cool cafés might bring in new crowds, but neighbourhood stalwarts – from old pubs to family greengrocers – keep it real.  The world’s coolest neighbourhoods this year are, therefore, places with big personalities. Each area’s diversity is reflected in its food, culture and festivals. Community is key: local

Need help figuring out what to do for New Year’s? Whether you’re flying solo, heading out to dinner, hanging with friends or have the little ones in tow, we’ve got plenty of great things to do for New Year’s Eve and day, from movie screenings and ice skating to costume parties and fireworks. Here, our list of the best New Year’s Eve events in Los Angeles. RECOMMENDED: New Year’s Eve in Los Angeles guide

Looking for a foolproof way to ring in the new year beyond the usual New Year’s Eve parties and fancy-pants dinners? The answer is easy: New Year’s Eve concerts. Count down to midnight at a live music venue during one of these upcoming concerts in L.A. We’ve got plenty of options on our list of the best New Year’s Eve concerts in L.A. RECOMMENDED: Our complete guide to New Year’s Eve in Los Angeles

Los Angeles may not have a Times Square ball drop equivalent when it comes to New Year’s Eve events, but it does have fireworks—lots and lots of ’em. No matter where you live, you’re sure to hear and maybe see them in your neighborhood well into the wee hours of the next morning. But outside of the barrage of illicit pyro, there actually are a few official shows that you can watch come December 31. If you’re in search of something more susbtantial than your neighbor’s Roman candles, here are few places to see some seriously impressive New Year’s Eve fireworks in L.A., including one right by the beach. RECOMMENDED: New Year’s Eve in Los Angeles guide

Sure, you won’t find snow-covered trees and below-zero temperatures in L.A., but there are still plenty of Christmas events and holiday activities to get you in the festive mood—even when it’s 70 and sunny in December. With outdoor movie screenings, illuminated walks in botanical gardens, holiday plays, festive takeovers of theme parks and Christmas lights all over town, our list of the city’s best events and things to do this season will help make L.A. a winter wonderland all month long. RECOMMENDED: Full guide to Christmas in Los Angeles

Guys, it’s L.A.: There are movie theaters, screening rooms, DIY projections, drive-ins, outdoor screenings and local film events everywhere. When Hollywood is the local industry, you can expect that there’d be no shortage of places to check out the resulting product.  But when you’re looking for the best possible place to plant yourself for two-plus hours of cinematic bliss, there are a few spots that rise above the rest. Whether you’re into arthouse, black-and-white, B-movie bonanzas or the most luxurious assigned-seating dine-in theater, this city has it all. Here are our picks for the best movie theaters and classic cinemas L.A. has to offer. RECOMMENDED: 57 best films about Los Angeles

When the rest of the country starts to lament the cheerless post-Christmas freeze, we Angelenos still have plenty to look forward to in the winter. A lot of that comes down to our relationship with snow: We have the luxury of seeing it on distant mountaintops—drought years aside—while still savoring warm and sunny weather closer to home. Sure, we have our “hardships”: It’s cold at night in our barely insulated homes and the occasional rain shower disrupts traffic and dominates the news. But that’s nothing a warm bowl of ramen or a hot cup of coffee can’t fix. On the whole, there are plenty of terrific things to do in the winter in Los Angeles.

Uplit trees and illuminated installations have once again dotted the roughly mile-long pathway at the third edition of Lightscape at the L.A. County Arboretum. For the 2023 season (Nov 17–Jan 2), the Arboretum has “reimagined” the event with a reconfigured route and a majority of new stops along the way. The light cathedral has, of course, made its return, as well as an iteration of the fire garden from Lightscape’s first year in Arcadia. But aside from those, everything else here is new: The field of lights on the front lawn are gone to make room for some welcome seating, while the projections on the Queen Anne Cottage have gone dark this year. Among the dozen named spots on the trail, a handful of installations are genuinely engaging—with some drawbacks. There’s a thick curtain of light strands you can walk through that’s legitimately trippy (though the walkway is a bit too narrow for all of the posing that’s bound to go on inside). A frame of swinging spotlights bathe the surrounding fog in a colorful glow (just don’t mind the utilitarian truss they sit on). Other areas, like an illuminated forest walk and the chasing lights along the Mario Kart-esque “rainbow road” are certainly photogenic. But large stretches here, particularly in the beginning, are just straight-up uneventful. RECOMMENDED: Where to see Christmas lights in L.A. Like Moonlight Forest before it, Lightscape’s glowing sculptures may look remarkably photogenic on your phone but everything in between them ofte

The L.A. Zoo is staying open after dark most nights through January during this delightful take on its light-up holiday tradition. Once again, the event’s “Animals Aglow” edition has gone all in on oversized animal-shaped lanterns, and the result is a colorful, charming trail that celebrates the zoo’s natural inhabitants. Though the theme has carried over from last year, the selection of lanterns inspired by the venue’s wild residents is completely different this time around; plentiful and vibrant, these parrots, bears, butterflies, scorpions and owls come to life with playful movements and animation. Flora shares some of the focus, too, particularly in the golden glow of the field of grazing bison. This year’s biggest change comes to the northern edge of the grounds, where you’ll find the Winter Wildlands area. The too-narrow lights tunnels here have been ditched in favor of a vision-filling polar playground, a gleefully gaudy burst of rainbow lights and icy structures that’ll make sure you don’t leave wishing that there’d been more lights. Though Zoo Lights has eschewed most overtly Christmassy elements outside of this area (a thematically focused upgrade to its original versions, in our opinion), it hasn’t ditched interactive spectacle. You can stomp on a color-changing hopscotch path, relax on illuminated swings, dance inside a shell of kaleidoscopic mirrors and bounce on some glowing seesaws. Buy your timed tickets (available in two sessions nightly) in advance to avoid

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. After its 2022 debut, Astra Lumina returns to South Coast Botanic Garden with the same array of celestial-inspired displays. This year’s show is basically identical; if you feel like you got your fill last year, there’s nothing new to explore. But if you loved last year’s version or haven’t been at all, we still think this is a worthwhile (albeit 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 from one of the few locations in L.A. where it’s actua

The prolific singer-songwriter finds room for lo-fi garage-rock riffs and acoustic strums at his shows, sometimes performed solo and at other times with the backing of his many associated bands.

Organized by New York’s Museum of Modern Art and presented by the Hammer Museum, “The Contenders” series presents 10 influential, innovative films made in the past year that MoMA’s Department of Film believes are bound for big things (whether that means awards season glory or cult classic status). In addition to screenings of all 10 films, most are normally accompanied by a discussion with some of the creatives involved in the project—though the ongoing strike has excluded any actors for now. This year’s picks include Oppenheimer, The Boy and the Heron, The Taste of Things (with director Trần Anh Hùng), The Zone of Interest, Priscilla (with costume designer Stacy Battatt), Maestro, May December (with director Todd Haynes and screenwriter Sammy Burch), You Hurt My Feelings, Past Lives and Killers of the Flower Moon. “The Contenders” isn’t strictly an awards season spoiler; MoMA considers its picks as movies that will stand the test of time. But the series has turned out to be a pretty good Oscars predictor, with nearly all films nabbing nominations in recent years. Tickets go on sale November 15 to the general public; they’re already on sale to Hammer members.

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, mulled wine and craft beer, you can catch screenings of flicks (showing twice each night, typically at 6 and 8pm) like Elf, Home Alone, Scrooged, The Muppet Christmas Carol and more. Just make sure to bundle up in your best Christmas sweater.  

Pop-punk heavyweights Blink-182 underwent an unlikely renaissance about a decade back thanks to its 2011 comeback album, Neighborhoods—which turned out to be the last release with its original trio. Cofrontman Tom DeLonge departed, and though his trademark hyperexaggerated whine is nigh impossible to replicate, Alkaline Trio’s Matt Skiba brought a fresh perspective as his replacement. Now, as the 20-year nostalgia cycle has brought aughts-era pop-punk back into popularity, DeLonge will rejoin Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker for a world tour that includes a stop in L.A. at SoFi Stadium. Tickets go on sale Friday, October 27 at 10am.

It’s only the greatest Christmas song of all time, and now you can belt it out with a chorus of more than 17,000 other fans and the Queen of Christmas herself. Mariah Carey is bringing her “Merry Christmas One and All!” tour to Los Angeles with a stop at the Hollywood Bowl on November 17 and 19 (as well as at the Yaamava’ Casino in San Bernardino County on November 15). And yes, “All I Want for Christmas is You” will absolutely be in the setlist; if last year’s concerts at Madison Square Garden are any indication, expect around 20 other holiday standards, plus at least one performance of Carey’s most famous festive earworm during the encore. Of course, there’s just one thing you’ll need if you want to see the show: a ticket. For the second date (the 19th) presale for American Express cardholders starts on Wednesday, October 18 at 10am followed by several presales on Thursday, October 19 at 10am. Finally, general sale starts Friday, October 20 at 10am. In the meantime—or if Ticketmaster Santa doesn’t make your wish come true—you can listen to nothing but Mariah’s Merry Christmas album for 12 days straight, as one of our editors once did.

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 6–29), 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 ground and cobbled together into a house. For the 2023 edition, Carved has slightly reconfigured the route, with an expanded Día de los Muertos ofrenda altar near the entrance (you can leave your own remembrance photo) and a new, larger area for the neon-hued tangle of the Rhizome installation. You’ll find two main areas of jack-o’-lanterns. 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 ones 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 instead of sparkly sounds). Like Enchanted, the music is moody (but not spooky or scary; this is definitely made for families) and the installations are artfully assembled: Sure, they could’ve just

This Halloween, the Pacific Design Center will host spooky photo ops and mini experiences inspired by a half-dozen horror films and series on Hulu. Dubbed Huluween: Now Screaming, the free event (Oct 29–31) will be broken up into three zones: “scary,” “very scary” and “very, very scary” (“corporate synergy levels of scary” must not have made the cut). In the “scary” zone, you can get your photo snapped during a jump scare themed to the new Goosebumps streaming series. Moving up to “very scary,” you can scope out costumes from American Horror Story (plus spider webs and a self-rocking cradle from the current Delicate season) and explore shelves of organs and an evil scientist’s lab from spin-off anthology series American Horror Stories. Finally, the “very, very scary” zone will set the terrifying namesake doll from the Annabelle series upon you, stick you in a therapy session gone wrong from The Boogeyman and interact with a contortionist inspired by The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Timed tickets are preferred, though there’ll be a standby line, as well (which will be somewhat hilariously disguised as a hedge maze).

“You know where you are? You’re in the jungle, baby.” So squeals Axl Rose these days with a little less sex appeal but still a spark of that Sunset Strip chaos. The band’s blistering, if often uneven and overlong, sets have all of the marks of an old-school stadium tour—or amphitheater, in the case of this two-night stint at the Hollywood Bowl. The ever-reliable Black Keys open the show with bluesy, crunchy grooves. A portion of proceeds from tickets and special edition T-shirt sales benefit the Los Angeles County Parks Foundation.

Presumably far less deadly than the fictional competition it’s based on, this real-life adaptation of Squid Game lets you compete in six challenges inspired by the Netflix series. Over the course of 70 minutes, you’ll rack up points in a series of games presented to you by the Front Man himself. Both before and after, you can grab a bite at a night market curated by chef Katianna Hong of the Arts District’s excellent Korean American deli, Yangban. Of course, there’ll be Squid Game merch for purchase, too, alongside photo ops and games. The event debuts at Television City on December 6 for a limited run. You’ll need a timed ticket, which starts at $39.

UPDATE (11/20): The 10 reopened on Sunday evening, well ahead of the promised Tuesday deadline. UPDATE (11/16): On Thursday night, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that the 10 will reopen by Tuesday at the latest—weeks ahead of the initial estimate. We’ve updated our story below with the latest info. Just when you were probably thinking, hey, fire season isn’t so bad this year, a blaze comes and rips through a spot we certainly didn’t see coming: underneath one of the busiest freeways in Los Angeles. On November 11, an eight-acre fire broke out underneath the 10 freeway in a pallet yard roughly between Alameda Street and Santa Fe Avenue. As a result, the 10 has been completely closed along that same stretch ever since—effectively eliminating one of the region’s most vital east-to-west roadways. Thankfully, it now looks like the end might be in sight for this unplanned Carmageddon. Here’s the latest info on the freeway’s possible reopening date and what alternatives are available in the meantime. When will the 10 reopen? After initially estimating that reopening was at least a few weeks off, on Thursday night California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that the 10 would reopen by Tuesday (November 21) at the latest. “One thing we can guarantee you is we will be open five lanes in both directions at the latest Tuesday of next week,” he said. “Things continue to move favorably in our direction. That is not guaranteed. We still have chemical sampling that comes in on a d

UPDATE: As we enter the final two months of Space Shuttle Endeavour’s current horizontal display, the California Science Center has continued its “Go for Stack” process, which will assemble the ship vertically, with two towering additions.  On November 7, the museum lifted a pair of solid rocket motors into the future Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center and then secured them to the previously placed aft skirts (which you can read more about below). We had a chance to step into the construction site later that week to photograph the two 116-foot long boosters—and the scale is absolutely staggering. Photograph: Michael Juliano for Time Out Photograph: Michael Juliano for Time Out Photograph: Michael Juliano for Time Out This won’t even be the highest point of the completed shuttle stack: The cone-shaped forward assemblies, which are currently visible just across from the stack, will soon be placed on top of the motors, and then the orange-red external fuel tank between them. (The shuttle itself will finally follow after it goes off display at the start of 2024.) While the public isn’t allowed to peer into the construction pit, you can catch a glimpse of the rockets towering above the concrete walls—but you’ll have to be quick, as they’ll soon be encased in scaffolding for protection. Photograph: Michael Juliano for Time Out Photograph: Michael Juliano for Time Out Our original story from July 21, 2023 appears below. While suspended in the air, the 18-foot-wide, 13,000-

Despite the industry gridlock, cinema lovers in L.A. are feasting right now. First it was the arrival of Vidiots’ Eagle Rock cinema over the summer. Then it was the Netflix-funded renovation of the Egyptian Theatre, which debuts this week. And now comes word that the Vista Theatre has wrapped up its own two-year restoration. (Your move, Cinerama Dome.) After going dark during the pandemic and then finding a new owner in iconic director Quentin Tarantino, the single-screen Los Feliz theater will finally return on November 11 with a 35mm screening of True Romance, hosted by Tarantino himself (it’s, of course, already sold out). After that, you can expect regularly scheduled screenings to begin on November 17. According to Variety, the programming kicks off with a run of Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving in 35mm on November 17, and then Ridley Scott’s Napoleon in 70mm on November 22 (the theater is now outfitted for both film formats). The publication also confirms that the venue will actually feature two theaters: the main 400-seat Egyptian-themed auditorium that we all know and love, as well as a tiny 21-seat screening room and café dubbed Coffy that’ll debut later on. If you’ve gone by the century-old theater lately, you’ve probably noticed some exterior changes: Its bold red paint job has given way to a creamy gold one, and its graphic marquee has been swapped with a still-blank hand-lettered one. As for the inside, a sneaky redditor shared a snap last month that shows the main audito

When every movie theater in Los Angeles went dark in 2020, we weren’t sure which ones would be able to survive the lengthy shutdown (R.I.P. ArcLight). But around that same time, the temporary shuttering of one of Hollywood’s most historic theaters came with a silver lining: Netflix announced that it had bought the Egyptian Theatre and was embarking on a multi-year renovation. Now, on the 101st anniversary of the venue’s opening, Netflix and the American Cinematheque are readying the Egyptian Theatre to reopen on November 9 after a three-year, $70 million restoration project. Photograph: Yoshihiro Makino/Netflix Photograph: Michael Juliano for Time Out Photograph: Yoshihiro Makino/Netflix Though Netflix now owns the building, it’ll share programming duties with the American Cinematheque. L.A.’s beloved not-for-profit film organization revived the venue in the late ‘90s and has kept it stocked with double bills and top-talent conversations ever since—including going forward on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. (Netflix will use the space for premieres and special events on weekdays.) So looking ahead, you’ll find both organizations’ fingerprints on the lineup: The theater will debut with a screening of David Fincher’s The Killer on November 9, including a Q&A from the director himself, as well as additional Netflix-distributed films like Bradley Cooper’s Maestro (Nov 22–Dec 7), Wes Anderson’s The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (Dec 5) and a 70mm presentation of Zack Sny

Forget jump scares and frightening costumes: The most startling experiences in L.A. this Halloween aren’t lurking in a haunted house. No, instead it’s the weird, mundane realities like navigating L.A.’s traffic and bracing for its natural phenomena that keep us up at night. And that’s apparently true for lots of you, too: We turned to our Facebook followers to find out what everyday L.A. experiences scare you the most, and we’ve included some of our favorite responses below. 1. Merging onto the 110 from any of the ramps north of the 5. Avenue 57, south: You’re basically making a right turn at a stop sign onto the freeway. Avenue 43, north: A blind curve behind you and only a few feet to floor it ahead of you. Merging onto one of the country’s oldest freeways just might be the most terrifying commute in town. 2. Picking someone up at LAX. Braving the loop of traffic hell at LAX is daunting no matter the hour, but there’s one time of day that sticks out to us for maximum misery: meeting a friend on the arrivals level on a Friday night—and then enduring the drive-through line at the In-N-Out up the street. 3. Looking at Zillow. You mean you haven’t dreamed of getting into a bidding war over a million-dollar two-bedroom fixer-upper? 4. Getting stuck at the light on La Cienega and Sunset and rolling backward. Your car’s hill start assist will truly be tested at this busy Sunset Strip intersection, where bumper-to-bumper traffic will have you frantically alternating between the bra

It brings thousands upon thousands of costumed revelers to Santa Monica Boulevard and it’s finally back after a four-year absence: That’s right, the West Hollywood Halloween Carnaval is upon us. Every year on Halloween night, WeHo welcomes countless attendees to a mile-long street party filled with food trucks, a performance stage and an absolutely electric atmosphere. At least, that was usually the case until the pandemic forced the cancellation of the 2020 edition (in 2021 and 2022, the city encouraged local venues to host their own celebrations but didn’t shut down the street). But now, the bona fide Carnaval is back—and that 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 (Tuesday, October 31, 2023) 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 at 6am Santa Monica Blvd b

Silver Lake has regularly topped the polls in our annual Time Out Index, in which we ask readers around the globe to let us know what they love most about their cities. But this year the coolest neighborhood crown is heading just down the 101. The Arts District, the colorful, (maybe overly?) revitalized area on the eastern edge of Downtown L.A., claimed the title in L.A.’s reader-voted coolest neighborhood poll—and landed the Arts District at #13 on the list of the world’s coolest neighborhoods. Once a railroad-driven swath of warehouses, Downtown L.A.’s Arts District adorns its century-plus-old buildings with vibrant murals, sidewalk seating and a surprising amount of greenery for a formerly industrial area. A little less arts and a little more luxe these past few years, the neighborhood now beckons Angelenos for its booming craft brewery and restaurant scene: Expect Michelin-starred meals at Hayato, Kato and Camphor, unexpected riffs on Korean cuisine at Yangban and two of the very best meals in L.A. at superb siblings Bestia and Bavel. The biggest development over the past year or two in the Arts District might just be about how you get there. Parking is often tight but the recently reopened Metro A and E Line station will let you avoid that whole process; it’s only a few blocks from the neighborhood’s closest thing to a walkable center, roughly the intersection of 3rd Street and Traction Avenue. And, of course, the neighborhood sits on one side of the instantly-iconic new

The persistent pace of openings in Los Angeles means that there’s always something new to check out—but that also inevitably means we have to witness the loss of some of our favorite hangouts, whether they’ve wound down on their own terms or against their will. With that in mind, we turned to our readers and posed this hypothetical question on our Instagram: If you could bring back any L.A. business, which one would you? The answers spanned categories, neighborhoods and eras. Some spots closed during the pandemic, others shuttered years ago. Some were decades-old institutions that made an impact on generations of Angelenos, and others were short-lived but no less beloved. No matter the circumstances surrounding their demise, these are the restaurants, bars, museums and music venues that our readers wish they could bring back, with a few words explaining each pick. Koo Koo Roo Titled after the sound of a crowing rooster, this L.A.-born chain specialized in its skinless charbroiled chicken—a relatively healthy option among the fast food landscape. After a quick expansion in the early ’90s, the number of locations began to dwindle, and to stay afloat Koo Koo Roo at one time purchased both Color Me Mine and now-defunct local chain Hamburger Hamlet; eventually, the last location in Santa Monica closed in 2014. “I would love to see Koo Koo Roo come back because their mac and cheese and grilled chicken were simply the best! Even as a young picky eater, I would look forward to whenev

When you spend your life in Los Angeles, there are some downright weird things you just get used to that seem peculiar to anyone else from out of town. But those sorts of things tend to happen around or to you; what about the odd behaviors that you personally pick up? So we turned to our social media followers to find out which habits people pick up here that are uniquely L.A. (After all, who’s a better authority on these than Angelenos?) As you’d expect, the majority of the responses were related to traffic and weather. There were also many mentions of alternative diets and not signaling, and while those are definitely pretty common occurrences here, they don’t strike us as uniquely L.A. The same goes for being able to watch sports games without staying up late or complaining about “cold” winter weather, which are more regional than L.A. things. With all that said, here are 11 uniquely L.A. habits people pick up after living here—whether for a few years or an entire lifetime—as chosen by our followers. 1. Driving an hour-plus to eat at a new restaurant that’s just opened. To be fair, that’s not much longer than the In-N-Out drive-through wait around dinnertime. 2. Straight-up making a left on red. Pulling up into the middle of an intersection while you wait to turn left? Totally legal, and the proper way to make an unprotected left. Having to wait until the light has turned red—while still in the middle of the intersection—to make a left turn? A necessary and surprisingly st

Stroll through the Huntington’s globally themed gardens and you’ll feel as though you’ve been whisked off to a Chinese lake or a desert oasis. But amid all of these convincing recreations, the San Marino museum’s latest addition just might be its most genuinely enveloping one yet. A 320-year-old rural house that was built in Japan and occupied by one family for more than three centuries has been relocated to the Huntington. After a five-year restoration and shipping process, the Japanese Heritage Shōya House finally makes its public debut on October 21. We had a chance to tour the home ahead of its official opening, and as we meandered along the lush upper pathways of the Japanese garden, through the flower-fronted gatehouse and into the traditional home, it truly felt as if we’d left L.A. behind for a slice of countryside an ocean away. The home hails from Marugame, a coastal city in the southwest of Japan with a climate not too dissimilar from Southern California (and, yes, it’s the namesake of the noodle chain). It was built as a live-work space for shōya, village leaders who were a liaison between the government and the local farming community. At 3,000 square feet, it’s considerably larger than most other Edo period homes, which were typically closer to 400 square feet. All of that space would allow the shōya to collect taxes, store rice yields and entertain dignitaries. But it was also a private residence, one that might have accommodated as many as four generations at

It’s impossible to underestimate how surreal it is to ride in a car with an empty driver’s seat. The wheel is spinning on its own, the pedals are depressing without any feet on them and the autonomous vehicle’s touchscreens are visually reassuring you that, don’t worry, it can see those pedestrians, too. It’s seemingly just as strange for those onlookers as they all gawk, point and snap photos. These self-driving cars are about to become a much more common occurrence on the streets of Los Angeles, and average Angelenos will be able to go for a ride in them—for free. That’s thanks to the arrival of around-the-clock service from Waymo, the autonomous vehicle division of Google’s parent company Alphabet. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Time Out Los Angeles (@timeoutla) You might’ve already seen Waymo’s cars cruising L.A.’s streets with a human in the front seat over the past year, but starting this month the company will offer 24/7 autonomous passenger service that ditches the test drivers. The “early access” Waymo One Tour starts on October 11 in Santa Monica before moving on to Century City, West Hollywood, Mid City, Koreatown and Downtown L.A. into early 2024. Though the rides are free, you’ll need an access code (valid for a week) to start using the app. To get one, you can either join the waitlist (which will prioritize people in each service area) or nab a physical ticket at an in-person pop-up. Look out for ones at the Santa Monica Farmers

Ridesharing apps have significantly transformed how many of us get around in Los Angeles, whether we’re headed to concerts or home from a bar. But have you ever wondered where exactly everyone else is summoning a ride to? We found out exactly when Lyft shared some exclusive data with us about the most popular spots in L.A. among users of its ridesharing service (specifically for trips completed between July 2022 and July 2023).  About a third of the top 30 destinations in the L.A. area for Lyft riders are bars in West Hollywood. In fact, the Abbey, WeHo’s famous three-decade-old gay bar, is the most popular spot in all of L.A. for Lyft. Hi Tops, Barney’s Beanery, Rocco’s, Micky’s and Trunks were among some of the other destinations in the neighborhood toward the top. It’s no surprise to us that WeHo would be this popular among Lyft riders. The neighborhood is absolutely packed with worthwhile drinking dens (including Employees Only and the nearby Roger Room, which are both on our list of the best bars in all of L.A.), plus buzzy (and boozy) restaurants like Ardor, Merois and Catch. The other thing most of these spots have in common? Parking is often neither cheap nor easy, and though the city’s free trolley will shuttle you along Santa Monica Boulevard, there’s no rail line to get to there to begin with. Moving beyond WeHo, Santa Monica charted highly with both the Victorian and Jameson’s Pub toward the top; Bar Lis in Hollywood and the Waterfront Venice were also among the m