November 2024 events calendar for Los Angeles

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. This year’s event, which runs from November 17 through January 5, adds in garden’s new model railroad, which will be all lit of for the season.

Cirque du Soleil is leaving behind DTLA for the beach with this staging of KOOZA in Santa Monica. The high-flying troupe heads under the big top for its first show next to the Santa Monica Pier since 2014.

Explore the Autry into the evening at the Griffith Park museum’s Thursday-night series that spotlights the city’s emerging and established artists, musicians, poets, writers. Programming ranges from a sound bath to alfresco music to a meet-and-greet with the world’s first Indigenous droid.

See what’s cutting-edge in the city’s vibrant performing arts scene at REDCAT’s 21st annual festival, where it turns its theater into a creative artistic laboratory for Los Angeles artists à la its namesake institution, CalArts. Each of the three weekends boasts unique, daring and distinctive performances of new original works for the stage—from dance, theater and music to multimedia performance art. If you can’t make it to the fest in person, the performances will also be livestreamed.

If you loved Greta Gerwig’s Little Women (or even, gasp, Louisa May Alcott’s original), head to the Heritage Square Museum and step into the lives of Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy in this immersive ballet—the wintry final installment of a seasonal trilogy developed by Emma Andres, the resident choreographer for Pasadena Civic Ballet. If you can’t make the weekend of site-specific performances in Victorian houses, you can catch the full-length ballet December 7 at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre.

The beloved Bob Baker Marionette Theater’s year-end production, Holiday on Strings, is back onstage at the puppet troupe’s new-ish Highland Park location. The hour-long show, which follows the Wizard of Fantasy and his sidekick, Demetrius Nova Twinklestar III, on a tour of the holiday galaxies, covers every festive angle: It’ll transport audiences to Santa’s workshop, the world of Charles Dickens and a Hanukkah celebration. For a sensory-friendly version, book tickets to the 10:30am show on Saturday, December 14.

Aasif Mandvi (The Daily Show) and Rainn Wilson (The Office) star as Estragon and Vladimir, who are, as you may have guessed, waiting for the elusive Godot in Samuel Beckett’s timeless, tragicomic classic. The Geffen’s production is produced by Gare St Lazare Ireland, an Irish theater company dedicated exclusively to Beckett’s works.

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 will go all in on oversized animal-shaped lanterns, and—based on last year’s edition—the result is a colorful, charming trail that celebrates the zoo’s natural inhabitants. 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.

Be transported to a European Christmas market by way of ROW DTLA this holiday season at this alfresco addition to the city’s gift-shopping landscape. The ticketed shopping experience promises handmade goods by local artisans, festive food and drink (think soft pretzels, crispy schnitzel and hot cocoa), photo ops and wholesome holiday activities like listening to carolers and decorating cookies.

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.

Astra Lumina, which debuted in 2022, returns to South Coast Botanic Garden with the same array of celestial-inspired displays. Last year’s edition was basically identical to its debut. But if you loved your first trip to Astra Lumina 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 actually dark enough to see plenty of stars.)

Astra Lumina comes from Canadian entertainment company Moment Factory and replaced GLOW, which ran at South Coast in 2020 and 2021. There are more than a dozen other “Lumina Enchanted Night Walk” events that Moment Factory has produced around the globe, and that pedigree brings a clear level of polish: the lighting and sound design are absolutely beautiful, the loose celestial story is uplifting and the installations are well paced (the duration markers at each are much appreciated, as are the QR codes that lend a little background story to what you’re looking at). It’s rarely flashy and often understated—maybe just slightly too inert in a few installations, if we’re splitting hairs—which makes it stand out among other light shows. If you want an overwhelming barrage of lights and kitsch holiday tunes, know that you won’t find those here; but you will be able to soak up a truly special experience.

The show runs most nights through mid-December 2024 (if it’s like previous years, expect that to get extended), and you’ll need a timed ticket to visit. You could zip through the whole thing in less than 45 minutes, but you’re welcome to—and absolutely should—spend as much time as you’d like once inside. Base ticket prices ($32 to $43 depending on the night and time) actually fall toward the somewhat more reasonable end of these quite-expensive sorts of shows, but the parking fees are pretty disappointing: It’s $22 to park on-site, with the alternative of a paid shuttle from an off-site lot about two miles away on peak evenings—otherwise there’s essentially zero street parking within a reasonable walk of the very dark area surrounding the garden. Also, just a heads up that it took us about 20 minutes just to park on opening night last year, but hopefully these traffic woes get sorted out this year.

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.

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Like a holiday edition of Fiesta Hermosa, this weekend-long event transforms the coastal city’s downtown with an open house among existing retailers, plus an artisanal pop-up marketplace (Pier Avenue between Valley Drive and Monterey Boulevard), as well as a carnival—complete with Ferris wheel—at Pier Plaza. Also on the schedule: a tree lighting ceremony and community concert on Sunday, and fun family activities including the culmination of a citywide Elf on a Shelf Scavenger Hunt. 

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 outdoor 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.

Pop culture icon Cyndi Lauper is embarking on her first major tour in a decade—but also one that’s being billed as her farewell. The ’80s songstress and Kinky Boots composer is sure to bring timeless hits like “Girl Just Want to Have Fun” and “Time After Time” to the Intuit Dome.

Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at the Music Center is kicking off its 2024–2025 season by making Music Center history. Groundbreaking Brooklyn-based dance company Urban Bush Women, known for amplifying the stories of Black women, is celebrating its 40th anniversary by becoming the first-ever professional dance theatre company to perform in the Mark Taper Forum. The troupe will grace the stage with the West Coast premiere of SCAT!… The Complex Lives of Al & Dot, Dot & Al Zollar, a jazz-club-set love story set amid the Great Migration.

A world of glam electro-pop anthems and and glittering costumes hits the Hollywood Bowl when the disco-inspired duo Empire of the Sun comes to town. Local duo Neil Frances opens with bouncy, psychedelic electronic pop beats.

We could spend hours wandering the Huntington’s gardens—and about just as long in its wonderful gift shop. Well, here’s an excuse to spend even more time there: this one-day-only artisan pop-up market, which brings more than three dozen art, home, jewelry, craft and fashion vendors to the visitor center’s Haaga Hall. We recommend French-style caramels from Le Bon Garçon, old-Hollywood-inspired makeup from Bésame Cosmetics, and retro L.A. menus turned into art from Vintage Menu Art. Admission is free and doesn’t require a museum ticket.

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. Look out for treats for sale, plus special themed nights.

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Feeling like you and your four-legged friend are attached at the hip? Spend even more quality time together during this dog-friendly series at Palos Verdes’ South Coast Botanic Garden. One Sunday a month (usually the last one of the month), you can roam the gardens’ 87 acres with your fur baby. Nearly all of the paths are open to pups, except for the rose garden and a couple of other small areas. You’ll find plenty of water stations set up across the grounds, as well as an optional obedience class for purchase. 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.

Can’t get enough of his yearly appearance at the Bowl? The LA Phil wraps up its two-year John Williams at Disney Hall with a second season of live scores and concerts in his honor. Listen to a selection of pieces from the entire Star Wars saga, hosted by C-3PO actor Anthony Daniels (Nov 21–24).

Nope, that’s not some sort of catastrophic explosion in the center of the city—that sound’s just the arrival of Christmas at the Grove. Brace yourself: L.A.’s shopping mall metropolis lights up its Christmas tree with fireworks and a slew of special guests, including Santa himself (may we humbly suggest that you ask Santa this year for a prime spot in that mammoth parking garage). Lance Bass hosts this year’s show. Stick around for the fireworks finale (and we’ll reiterate that, yep, anxious Angelenos, those are indeed fireworks that you’re hearing on November 25).

After welcoming more than 5 million guests worldwide, the Balloon Museum is making its way to Los Angeles with Let's Fly. This immersive inflatable art experience lands at the iconic Ace Mission Studios and is opening its doors to the public on October 30. Featuring mind-blowing installations from 21 world-renowned artists, the pop-up installation blends contemporary art with hands-on experiences. Here you're meant to touch, interact and explore. From a visit to an extra-terrestrial planet to a collection of graceful bubbles and a kaleidoscopic fountain, these exhibits will let your imagination take flight.

LA Compost’s annual autumnal event gives “smashing pumpkins” a whole new—and very literal—meaning. Now that Halloween is over, you likely have at least one pumpkin rotting on your doorstep. Did you know that trashing it and sending it to the landfill releases methane, which contributes to global warming? Instead of adding your jack-o’-lantern to the 1.3 billion pounds of yearly pumpkin waste, bring it (as long as its free of paint, glitter or anything else nonorganic) to one of these composting parties to help nourish the earth. Check here for the different locations and to sign up.

Billed as a “pre-meal celebration of turkeys,” the Gentle Barn’s Thanksgiving-morning event lets you cuddle turkeys, feed them treats and appreciate them for the intelligent and majestic fowl that they are. (This event will likely appeal more to the “animals are friends, not food” set, otherwise you might feel a little guilty sitting down to your Turkey Day feast after your farm visit.)

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 thousands of lights, festive decor like a small Christmas village, larger-than-life holiday displays and lit-up archways. Look out for Santa and Mrs. Claus, and fill up with food trucks and a holiday bar while you’re there. Prices start at $25 before fees and go up depending on the day and time you visit.

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.

Broadway travels back in time to the 1950s, by way of the 1980s, in a noisy musical adaptation of the hit 1985 movie.

You can’t seem to get more a stone’s throw away from a huge festive light display in Los Angeles come holiday season. Well, except for this new entry to the scene, which is making its L.A. debut all the way at Raging Waters. If you feel like making the trek out to San Dimas, though, Lektrik looks like quite the impressive display, boasting over 1,000,000 LED lights and larger-than-life lanterns through miles of illuminated trails. Adding to the experience are acrobatic performers, artisan vendors, food trucks and even some stone-carving.

It’s always Christmas at this charmingly kitsch amusement park outside of Lake Arrowhead. But it’s extra Christmassy toward the end of the year at Santa’s Village—especially if we’re lucky enough to have had some fresh mountain snowfall. Swing by from November 14 to January 5 for lighting displays, a train ride, a magical nighttime walk through the forest, seasonal snacks, breakfast with Santa and tea with Mrs. Claus (those require a separate ticket) and ice skating.

The American Contemporary Ballet returns to the holiday stage with its 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 in DTLA’s Bank of America Plaza. The 75-minute production includes live musicians performing Tchaikovsky’s iconic score, as well as an artist reception following the show.

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.) 

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 and mulled wine, you can catch screenings—many of them double features—of flicks like Elf, Home Alone, A Christmas Story, The Muppet Christmas Carol and more. Just make sure to bundle up in your best Christmas sweater.

Judging by the fussing toddlers we see at just about every performance of The Nutcracker, it might not be quite as magical for kids as parents expect. So why not pair the iconic holiday ballet with something a little more hands-on? The Los Angeles Ballet will take excerpts of its Nutcracker show to teatime at the Waldorf Astoria. The Beverly Hills hotel will host morning and afternoon sessions of high tea that include holiday crafts, dancing with Clara and her doll friends, and photo ops with Santa. Meanwhile, grown-ups can get some shopping done, thanks to the on-site boutique and its luxury pop-ups. Tickets support the ballet company’s outreach and education programs, so you’ll need to pay fundraiser prices to attend.

Commuting through Union Station around the holidays? Make sure to take a detour into the historic ticket concourse for the train station’s ninth annual tree lighting on November 25, with musical performances by Kingston Ska Collective and Los Rebeldes Romanticos. You’ll also find a “North Pole” on the north patio, where you can enjoy arts and crafts with a side of milk and cookies. Little ones can pose for photos with Santa. The holiday décor will stay up through Christmas.

This Christmas-themed Costa Mesa event is celebrating 10 years of turning Orange County into a winter wonderland. Expect a North Pole walk-through, snow play, ice tubing and photo ops, plus an all-new holiday light show twinkling with more than 2 million lights. Upgrade your experience with an expanded carnival, ice skating, VIP arctic cabanas, “polar putt putt” golf, and fireside igloos. Hot cocoa and seasonal treats will help keep things cozy.

Celebrate Thanksgiving with this catchall family-friendly event along Downtown’s Spring Street, a morning chock-full of races, games and activities centered around Los Angeles City Hall. Preemptively work off calories from your upcoming feast in either the 5K or the 10K run/walk. There’s also a “Widdle Wobble” for kids 12 and under and, for the first time this year, a 1K Dog Jog where your four-legged friends can join in. Turkey Day costumes are encouraged. Each year, the race benefits the Midnight Mission.

Everyone’s favorite murder mystery parody of true crime podcasts makes the jump from TV to IRL with this Only Murders in the Building escape room. Part of the Westfield Century City will flip into a faux movie set, where you’ll be tasked with tracking down a missing film reel.

Shop Etsy goods IRL at these local markets, which pop up at malls and shopping centers across Southern California throughout the holiday season. Shop both handmade and vintage treasures, plus artisanal food. You’ll also find DIY activities, live art and giveaways.

The beloved Bob Baker Marionette Theater is back with its annual holiday production, which dates back to 1969. This year, it’s taking the stage at the Sierra Madre Playhouse for the first time. From just after Thanksgiving through the beginning of the year, you can see the charming play, with its large-scale marionettes and intricate sets, on most weekends and, around Christmas, select weekdays. 

L.A.’s star-studded lecture series returns—both virtually and in person—with a lineup of writers, artists, performers, scientists and business leaders who will graciously blow your mind. For both online and IRL events, you’ll often have the option of purchasing a signed copy of the speaker’s book, as well.

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 Basket Taco Co, Battambong Barbecue and Taste of the Pacific.

Take a seat under the arch at the former Hollywood & Highland for this free series of movie screenings, typically held on the last Friday of the month. Stop by the Ovation Hollywood booth for free popcorn and discounted treats from the TCL Chinese Theatre concessions stand.

This spectacular exhibition from the Icelandic–Danish artist brings a new series of optical installations to MOCA’s Little Tokyo location. Don’t let the reflective, colorful pieces fool you into thinking this is some run-of-the-mill “immersive” exhibit: Olafur Eliasson’s works invite you to admire the everyday miracles of physics that shape how we see the world.

As you might expect, the Getty has a sizable slate of free PST Art exhibitions this fall, and this one is easily the largest and most notable. “Lumen” takes a multi-faith approach to how astronomy and optics impacted art and religion in the Middle Ages—in other words, you’ll find illuminated Hebrew Bibles and a Byzantine chandelier alongside an Islamic astrolabe from the 1200s and a 12th-century manuscript that documented how monks used constellations to tell time.

It’s more than just the low clearance: This exhibition at the Petersen explores the custom paint, engraving, upholstery and, of course, the gravity-defying suspension of the lowrider scene. In addition to iconic cars, the exhibit spotlights influential artists in the 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 engines and undercarriages visible—is remarkable.

“Color in Motion” features close to 150 objects—pieces of technology, costumes, props and film posters—from the 1890s to today. Broken up into six themes, the exhibition will look at the connection between color, music and movement, like in early dance and animated shorts; decades of color technologies, from Technicolor processes and Disney’s women-led Ink & Paint Department to contemporary digital tools; monochrome silent films; the narrative role of color; and experimental works. The final gallery in the show is dubbed the Color Arcade, an interactive, neon-hued space that includes a corridor inspired by the trippy stargate from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Hatched during the pandemic and 2020’s social justice demonstrations, this exhibition—guest curated by Glenn Kaino and Mika Yoshitake—examines how environmental art intersects with equity. In practice, that means you’ll find pieces that contemplate the power dynamics of our changing natural world, like Tiffany Chung’s floating model of a flooded Southeast Asian village or LaToya Ruby Frazier’s photos of the water crisis in Flint, Michigan.

The large-scale installations perched above the museum’s courtyard are most likely to grab your attention, though: Lan Tuazon’s plastic recycling station, a green oasis from South L.A.’s self-described “gangsta gardener” Ron Finley and a literal hive of activity around Garnett Puett’s Untitled (Paradoxical Garden Downstream), a trio of wax figures buzzing with honeybees (they’re behind glass and a few curtains but you may still find some nearby wild bees attracted to it).

See over 50 garments from Diane von Furstenberg, best known for her iconic wrap dress, during this career-spanning exhibition at the Skirball. Alongside artwork and fabric swatches, the show will also focus on her philanthropic work as well as how her life was shaped as the daughter of a Holocaust survivor.

A collaboration with the Carnegie Observatories and the Griffith Observatory, this LACMA exhibition brings together a global collection of pieces, from the Stone Age to today, that reflect humans’ ever-evolving attempts to explain the origins of the universe. Alongside pieces of sacred artwork and architecture, you can expect some heady, scientifically-minded contemporary works—like a teaser from Josiah McElheny that’s already on display in the center of the Resnick Pavilion. Island Universe features five reflective, rod-encircled spheres; each individual sculpture is supposed to represent a different parallel universe, and each branching rod the passage of time.

More than 50 works on display at the Autry showcase how indigenous artists have crafted visions of alternative futures in the face of enduring colonial trauma. The bottom-floor exhibition opens with a semicircle of high fashion, including remarkable crow attire from Cannupa Hanska Luger, which is paired with video footage from his accompanying performance piece. Star Wars plays a surprisingly large role in the vibrant show, including Andy Everson’s Northwest Coast-inspired take on stormtrooper helmets.