Rose Bowl Stadium

It isn’t summer in L.A. until the first cemetery screening brings hoards of movie-lovers to Hollywood Forever, toting folding chairs, picnic blankets, snack spreads and lots of booze. Each year, Cinespia brings classic cult favorites to the hallowed resting place of such Hollywood greats as Rudolph Valentino and Bugsy Siegel. The series typically releases its slate one month at a time, with summertime screenings at the cemetery and a few off-site ones on either end (including at L.A. State Historic Park and, for the first time, at the Rose Bowl). For each evening at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, pack a picnic (yes, booze is allowed), pose in the photo booth and enjoy DJ sets, dance parties and all sorts of other magical mischief that’d otherwise be strictly forbidden behind the cemetery gates. The outdoor screenings are an L.A. rite of passage, a quintessential summer experience and one of the best film venues in the city. Just be sure to get your ticket early, arrive early, pee early… it’s a popular affair, to say the least.

AmericaFest at the Rose Bowl has been squashed due to budget reasons, but this MLS match certainly isn’t a bad subsitute. For the second straight year, the L.A. Galaxy and LAFC will play in Pasadena on July 4, with a post-match fireworks show shot off from the adjacent Brookside Golf Course. With the match slated to start at 7:30pm, expect the fireworks to commence well after 9pm, if not closer to 10pm. If you’re not interested in the soccer part, you’ll only be able watch the fireworks from the areas around—but not in—the Arroyo. This is where things get a little tricky this year: Traditionally most people flock toward the Colorado Street Bridge and the neighborhoods west of the 210, as well as parking garage rooftops in Old Pasadena for a somewhat distant show. But AmericaFest only had patchy attendance in part of the stadium, whereas the hometown soccer rivalry will bring 70,000-plus ticketholders to the stadium and countless others in nearby bars—in other words, expect things to be more crowded than in years past.