Things to do in L.A. this weekend

L.A. doesn’t typically seem like much of a winter wonderland, until, that is, you create an ice skating rink right in the midst of Downtown skyscrapers. Come glide around and pretend there’s snow on the ground at Pershing Square’s outdoor holiday skating rink. Skate rentals are included in admission, though lockers and skating aids costs a few dollars extra.

Discovery and wonder once again inhabit the illuminated installations in Descanso Gardens’ holiday tradition. Each year, the botanical garden’s nighttime experience masterfully mixes hands-on art installations with atmospheric, luminescent forests, all against a background of uplit trees and shimmery sound effects.

The annual L.A. Kings ice skating rink once again returns to L.A. Live. Skate around the dazzling Christmas tree that stands in the middle of the outdoor rink, and take in an LED holiday light show on the huge screens around the plaza.

Like an Angelyne billboard on Sunset Boulevard, the Hollywood Christmas Parade is an essential part of L.A. kitsch. The nine-decade–old parade will feature floats, balloons, bands, equestrians and celebrities as they ride in a U-shaped route that begins at Hollywood and Orange and ends up at Sunset and Orange. Reserved grandstand seats can be purchased, with proceeds going to Toys for Tots, but free curbside seating is also available.

The L.A. Zoo is staying open after dark most nights through January during this delightful take on its light-up holiday tradition. For the 2023 edition, L.A. Zoo Lights has swapped out all of its silk sculptures and added the colorful “Winter Wildlands,” a section inspired by snow-loving animals.

Feeling like you and your four-legged friend are attached at the hip right now? Spend even more quality time together during this dog-friendly series at Palos Verdes’ South Coast Botanic Garden. Every third Sunday, you can roam the gardens’ 87 acres with your fur baby. You—the human—will need a reservation, while your best friend—the pup—will need to remain on their leash at all times, including in the parking lot.

Stroll across the grounds of King Gillette Ranch as the Santa Monica Mountains hideaway is illuminated during Holiday Road, which returns with a nearly mile-long walking trail. The event, which comes from the same team as Nights of the Jack, includes festive decor like a treetop canopy of icicle lights, a small Christmas village, freestanding oversized decorations and archways of lights. Look out for food trucks and a holiday bar while you’re there.

The beloved Bob Baker Marionette Theater brings its annual holiday production back to its new-ish Highland Park home. From just after Thanksgiving through the beginning of the year, you can see the charming play and its 100-plus handmade puppets on most weekends and, around Christmas, select weekdays—all with a post-show ice cream party. For a sensory-friendly version of the show, book tickets for December 9 at 10:30am. 

Tanaka Farms is opening up its Irvine fields for this after-dark wagon ride and walk-through. Hikari—which means “light” or “shine” in Japanese—has set up a long trail of lanterns, plus some festive theming that’s overtaken the farm’s scarecrows, tractors and trees. You’ll be able to explore the lantern field by both tractor and foot, and afterwards you can peruse a petting zoo, games, crafts and photo ops.

This show at the Broad was supposed to debut in April of 2020 to kicks off the museum’s fifth anniversary, but, you know… the world had other plans. Thankfully, you’ll finally have a chance to see this free collection exhibition with a focus on L.A. artists, including Sayre Gomez, Toba Khedoori, Patrick Martinez and Barbara Kruger alongside an entire gallery dedicated to John Baldessari and Mike Kelley.

Stroll through a garden illuminated by celestial-inspired lights during this year-end event at South Coast Botanic Garden. 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.

Riverside’s stunningly beautiful Mission Inn is bathed in 4.5 million twinkly lights during the annual Festival of Lights. The free seven-week-long holiday tradition runs from mid-November to early January and typically features more than 400 animated figures.

Drift into the Convention Center for the 10-day L.A. Auto Show with cars that would even make Bond drool. If you’re a car nerd, get behind the wheel to test drive one of the cherry rides (including an indoor EV track), while celebrities meet and greet at the manufacturer exhibits. With world and North American debuts from a slate of manufacturers, rev up for the machines of the future.

Uplit trees and illuminated installations once again dot 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—though a somewhat mixed bag.

Pantages hosts this musical about a young bride, her freewheeling mother and the three men who might be her daddy, all set to chart-busting tunes by ABBA.

Get lost in a world of Wockets and Truffula Trees contained within this immersive experience, inspired by the literary works of Dr. Seuss. Bringing to life the characters and landscapes of books like The Cat in the Hat and The Lorax, The Dr. Seuss Experience is filled with a series of rooms where guests can interact with characters and snap photos. At the center of the pop-up, there’s a maze inspired by The Sneetches made up of mirrors. Find the touring show at Santa Monica Place starting November 2023.

The American Contemporary Ballet returns to the holiday stage with their fantastical take on the tale from author E.T.A. Hoffmann. Experience the seasonal classic on a snow-shrouded stage set within an immersive space on the 28th floor of DTLA’s Two California Plaza. The hour-long production includes live musicians performing Tchaikovsky’s iconic score, as well as an artist reception following the show.

The American Cinematheque settles back in at the Egyptian with this festival of large-format classics at the just-renovated Hollywood movie palace. From November 10 to 21, you can watch a slate of glorious 70mm selections that includes Boogie Nights, West Side Story, Spartacus, The Master, The Wild Bunch, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Nope and Lawrence of Arabia (plus, for members only, Playtime and Aliens).

Located just blocks from the ocean, Ice in downtown Santa Monica brings a bit of winter to the comfortable coastal city. The 8,000-square-foot outdoor rink runs daily from November to mid-January on the corner of Fifth Street and Arizona Avenue (less than a 10-minute walk from the E Line). Tickets for an hour-long slot ($22) include skate rentals, and you can book private parties and cabanas if you’re looking for something a bit more premium.

Bluey, the delightful animated show that you’re about as obsessed with as your toddler, is bringing its imaginative Brisbane living room a little closer to home with this Century Century pop-up. Toy store and craft center CAMP will recreate Bluey’s playroom complete with a two-story pillow fort and cardboard box castle as well as some of her favorite games (including magic asparagus and keepy uppy).

If you’re in Orange County and dreaming of a white Christmas, the Irvine Spectrum Center is your answer. Located in Giant Wheel Court by Nordstrom, this rink offers an opportune time out from shopping. Following each 90-minute skating session, the rink is closed for resurfacing, so you’ll never have to skate on slush. Head to the adjacent Ferris wheel during the half hour the rink is closed for nonstop fun.

Step inside an oversized, crystalline Christmas ornament and a tree made of lights during the return of this Downtown installation. Sparkle DTLA is setting up shop at the Bloc through the end of the year, and every night you can expect its displays to dance to music on the hour (5–9pm).

West Hollywood rooftop bar E.P. & L.P. is transforming its second-story restaurant into a holiday wonderland, complete with floor-to-ceiling tinsel, festive cocktails and holiday-themed bites. Book via Bucketlisters for single tickets ($23 per head) or group tables for two to four. Each ticket includes a 90-minute reservation and welcome drink. Highlights inckude the sugar-rimmed Milk and Cookies (Tito’s, Disaronno, Baileys, vanilla syrup, oat milk) and the mezcal-based Feliz Navidad, which comes with a deconstructed s’more.

This international Christmas cocktail bar pop-up is landing at Neighbors in Playa Vista this year, with over-the-top decor and a themed cocktail menu in novelty mugs like Rudolph’s Replacement and Jingle Balls Nog. Said mugs will also be available for purchase. Neighbors is located at 12751 Millennium Dr, suite 140.

For a darker take on holiday cheer, look no further than this Hollywood speakeasy’s collab with the award-winning Halloween pop-up bar the Black Lagoon. Running from Friday, November 24 to December 31, Krampus’ Cove will pay homage to the creepy Alpine legend with black Christmas trees and chilling remixes of classic holiday cocktails with names like Violent Night, Better Watch Out and Santa’s Slay.

Downtown’s Pattern Bar will host this Christmas speakeasy pop-up throughout the holiday season. A $22 timed ticket (which included a welcome drink) grants you 90 minutes access to plenty of tinsel, Christmas music and themed cocktails, including non-alcholic options. Mocktail-only, family-friendy sessions are available at 1pm on the weekends, but the event is otherwise 21-and-over only.

Judy Baca’s half-mile–long The Great Wall of Los Angeles, a collaborative mural painted in the ’70s along the Tujunga Wash, has received all sorts of museum love in the past few years. But LACMA has a particularly unique show to boast about: The local Chicana muralist and SPARC artists will paint two new sections of The Great Wall during museum hours. The exhibit also debuts a new section of the wall, in honor of activists known as the Freedom Riders, dubbed Generation on Fire.

The Hammer Museum’s excellent, ongoing series of biennial exhibitions ups the ante each year with its spotlight on emerging and under-recognized L.A. artists, and the sixth edition is no exception. Titled “Acts of Living,” this year’s show focuses on how art is inseperable from everyday life and includes a mix of new commissions and historical works from 39 up-and-coming and prolific artists, including Marcel Alcalá, Sula Bermúdez-Silverman and Jibz Cameron, among others.

See how the Hairspray and Pink Flamingos writer and director’s delightfully filthy style has redefined the possibilities of independent cinema—as well as what exactly goes into making an indie movie—during this career-spanning exhibition at the Academy Museum.

Face your fears and head to the Natural History Museum’s Spider Pavilion, where you can observe several hundred orbweaver spiders in a living exhibit just outside of the museum. Scared the spiders might be hard to spot in the wild? Fret not. In previous iterations we’ve spotted ones about the size of an adult’s palm. Gulp. (But don’t worry: The scariest ones are in enclosed habitats.) 

The Sunset Strip’s famed Roxy is celebrating its 50th anniversary, and to mark the occassion the GRAMMY Museum will display a half-century-worth of photos and memorabilia. Highlights include behind-the-scenes photos of and the piano from the music venue’s celeb-filled upstairs lounge, a documentary short on the club and more than 60 photos of performers like Cheech & Chong, the Clash, Bob Marley, Patti Smith, Guns N’ Roses, Neil Young and Frank Zappa. You’ll even find items from The Rocky Horror Show, a nine-month-long run at the Roxy of the stage show that soon after spawn the legendary movie musical.

This Hollywood exhibit puts the focus on a pair of Japanese cultural exports and the collision between a decades-old gaming franchise and centuries-old crafting techniques.

See seven artists’ colorful takes on asbtraction at this free exhibition at the Forest Lawn Museum. You can scope out sculptures, paintings, an augmented reality work and interactive video projection from the likes of Jen Stark, Molly Larkey, Shane Guffogg, Michelle Jane Lee, Christine Nguyen, Rema Ghuloum and Sara Ippolito.

The GRAMMY Museum celebrates hip-hop’s 50th anniversary with interactive DJing, rapping and sampling stations and instantly recognizable artifacts like LL Cool J’s red Kangol bucket hat and the Notorious B.I.G.’s red leather pea coat.

West Hollywood’s ultra-chic restaurant and rooftop bar, E.P. & L.P., is serving much more than handcrafted cocktails and modern American bites. The spot also hosts Melrose Rooftop Theatre, an outdoor screening series that runs much of the year on the rooftop space attached to its open-air bar, L.P.

The masters of alfresco rooftop movie viewing have returned for another season of screenings in the Arts District, DTLA and El Segundo. You don’t even need to bring your own camping chair—Rooftop Cinema Club provides you with your very own comfy lawn chair. 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.

Every Sunday you can find dozens of food vendors at this market at ROW DTLA, with a mix of much-loved pop-ups and future foodie stars. Look out for this year’s new vendors, including the Golden Skewer, Shlap Muan and Thai Town’s Rad Na Silom.

You can step inside a recreation of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s studio and see hundreds of items tied to the iconic neo-expressionist painter at the L.A. debut of this touring exhibition. Blessed by the late artist’s estate (his sisters Lisane Basquiat and Jeanine Heriveaux serve as producers and curators), “Jean-Michel Basquiat: King Pleasure” brings over 200 pieces—a mix of paintings and drawings alongside ephemera and artifacts—to the Grand in Downtown L.A.

Hellish landscapes, imposing bearded figures, muscular dragons: Poet and painter William Blake’s bold biblical pieces still look trippy today, let alone in the 1800s. In cooperation with the Tate, the Getty has assembled some of the British artist’s most imaginative, celebrated works.

See more than 150 powerful photographs shot by nine photographers in this civil rights movement exhibition at the Skirball. A mix of photos of daily life, protests and key figures like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the black-and-white photos on display here put the focus on both the people in front of the camera and the activists beind the lens.

“This Light of Ours: Activist Photographers of the Civil Rights Movement” is part of a trio of exhibitions at the museum this fall, including “The American Library,” a colorful collection of six thousand textile-wrapped books with the names of immigrants on their spines from artist Yinka Shonibare, and “RECLAIMED: A Family Painting,” a portrait of multiple generations of the Bloch as told through the Nazi seizure and eventual recovery of a painting that hung in their living room in Czechoslovakia.

Artist Glenn Kaino’s grandfather, Akira Shiraishi, was a star high school football player whose dreams were cut short when he was incarcerated at the Heart Mountain concentration camp in Wyoming during WWII. When he returned to East L.A., he and his wife Sachiye opened a market on the corner of Blanchard Street and Geraghty Avenue—which Kaino has recreated via virtual reality and a contemporary store at the Japanese American National Museum.

See seven artists’ colorful takes on asbtraction at this free exhibition at the Forest Lawn Museum. You can scope out sculptures, paintings, an augmented reality work and interactive video projection from the likes of Jen Stark, Molly Larkey, Shane Guffogg, Michelle Jane Lee, Christine Nguyen, Rema Ghuloum and Sara Ippolito.

Glance quickly at these sculptures by artist Jason Seigel and you’d be convinced that they’re simply assault rifles. But take a closer look: The photographer has replicated the structure of weapons using solely recycled camera parts (think: lenses, flashes and camera bodies). You can see a mix of sculptures and photos during this pop-up at 118 South La Brea Avenue; a portion of the proceeds will be donated to non-violence advocacy charity Everytown for Gun Safety.

See over 250 artifiacts, many of which are being displayed outside of Guatemala for the first time, inside this spotlight on Mayan civilizations at the California Science Center. Objects on display include a nine-foot-long jaguar warrior sculpture and a mask made of obsidian and jade.

Whenever, wherever, you’re meant to be at this exhibition of 40 pieces from Shakira’s personal archive. The GRAMMY Museum is surveying the Colombian singer’s career with the display of Super Bowl outfits, crystal-embellished guitars and handwritten lyrics, among other objects.

Snow falls and rises in a dystopian origin story that muddles by without Jennifer Lawrence.

Brie Larson leads a super-trio that works hard to blast some fun into this confusing adventure.

Serrated with political edge, Scorsese’s true-crime epic is impeccably constructed and utterly gripping.

This lavish, action-packed sci-fi from Star Wars director Gareth Edwards fills the Dune: Part Two gap nicely.