When we look back on 2024 in L.A., there’s one through line that sticks out the most: welcome returns. Barnsdall’s wine tastings began pouring again and Broadway Night Lights threw a party in DTLA, both after roughtly half-decade hiatuses. Helms Bakery got a revival in Culver City after a half-century of dormancy, and a Souplantation dupe sprouted in Rancho Cucamonga while the Lucky Tiki found new life in WeHo. Even Clifton’s reopened… again.
There were some unexpected arrivals, too: The shuttered Arby’s in Hollywood flipped into a drive-through pizzeria and we scoped out a pair of Sanrio surprises, a Gudetama cafe in OC and a Hello Kitty one at Universal. And then there were some true oddities: a for-charity parody of that notorious Willy Wonka experience, an anime-filled meal of McNuggets and a rooftop bar buzzing with wax celebs.
We spent hours attending comedy shows in the spring and art exhibitions in the fall (including one particularly explosive event), and all night watching a space shuttle being lifted into position and rockets streaking across the twilight sky—plus who knows how long hooked on a 24/7 Huell Howser stream.
And we were, of course, glued to the usual L.A. news fixtures this year. Sports: the Dodgers’ World Series parade (props to the Galaxy’s title, too), the Olympic handover and the Clippers’ swanky new arena. Traffic: the Hollywood Bowl’s pro-transit parking changes, the L.A.-to-Vegas train groundbreaking, Hollywood Boulevard’s bike-friendly makeover and Waymo’s wider robotaxi rollout. Weather: Seattle-besting rainfall totals and land movement so quick that Wayfarers Chapel had to be dismantled. And then a handful of topics that really got Angelenos talking, including an about-face on restaurant service fees and a hip-hop beef that culminated in a concert for the ages.
We could go on and on and on about this year, but instead we’ll let you relive it for yourselves with our “best of” lists below—plus some of our original predictions for 2024 in L.A.
