October 2025 events calendar for Los Angeles

Perhaps the Los Angeles area’s most iconic flea market, this event around the exterior of the Rose Bowl is staggeringly colossal—but what else would you expect from a 90,000-seat stadium? The sheer size and scale of this flea market means that it encompasses multitudes: new and old, hand-crafted and salvaged, the cheap and the costly. On the second Sunday of each month, an odd mix of vendors populates the loop around the stadium: for every eye-catching artwork, there’s a ratty $5 T-shirt, and for each elegant craft there’s a competing “as seen on TV” demo. But you may have more luck in the rows and rows of old furniture, albums and vintage clothes and accessories that fill the adjacent parking lot. There are plenty of duds, to be sure, but come out early enough and you may go home with that perfect purchase. This destination flea market attracts bargain hunters, collectors, and antique aficionados from all over the county, so the organizers have instituted an extensive tiered entry/admission system, allowing professional and dedicated shoppers early access at a premium.

Every Sunday, you can find dozens of food vendors at this market at ROW DTLA, a Brooklyn import that boasts a mix of much-loved pop-ups and future foodie stars. Over a dozen new vendors joined the lineup this year: Feast on Afro-Caribbean cuisine from withBee, Lebanese street food from Teta, ice cream tacos from Sad Girl Creamery and more. Wash it all down at the family-friendly beer garden. You’ll also find shopping stalls selling everything from framed vintage ads to jewelry made locally with ethically sourced gemstones. Entry and the first two hours of parking are free.

The term CicLAvia stems from a similar Spanish word for “bike way,” and in L.A. it’s become a shorthand for the temporary, festival-like closing of L.A.’s streets. The event (inspired by the first Ciclovías in Bogotá, Colombia) welcomes bikes, tricycles, skateboards, strollers and basically anything else without an engine to ride a rotating cast of car-free routes. You’ll inevitably always find a route each year around Downtown, but past events have taken it anywhere from the harbor to the San Gabriel Valley. Expect music, street performances and food trucks, as well as general whimsy and shenanigans along the way. Shop owners and restaurants along the CicLAvia route also tend to host specials. It goes without saying that you should bike or take the Metro to your desired spot along the route.

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. The exhibition spills into the upstairs galleries, too, with a surreal spacescape from Wendy Red Star and a multimedia installation from Virgil Ortiz, who’s reimagined the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 through a Dune-meets-MCU film-like lens. Also, make sure to check out the museum’s other PST ART show, which opened back in May and runs through January 5, 2025; “Out of Site: Survey Science and the Hidden West” tackles everything from mining surveys to nuclear blasts in its examination of documenting and surveilling Western U.S. landscapes.

Right on the heels of the release of his new film, Mickey 17, director Bong Joon Ho steps into the spotlight at the Academy Museum’s latest “Director’s Spotlight” exhibition (past subjects have included Spike Lee and Agnès Varda). The first-ever museum show dedicated to the Oscar-winning South Korean filmmaker will trace Ho’s career, creative process and cinematic influences. See over 100 storyboards, research materials, posters, concept art, creature models, props and on-set photos from the director’s archive and personal collection. On opening day, March 23, catch screenings of Okja (2pm) and Parasite (7:30pm) in the David Geffen Theater—Ho himself will be there in person.

On the 50th anniversary of the Norton Simon Museum, look back to when Simon took over management of the Pasadena Art Museum in 1975, then ahead to the museum’s exciting future at this retrospective exhibition. See rare photos from the museum’s archives, and learn about the history of its major acquisitions, exhibitions, building and gardens—which are currently undergoing a transformation.

Panic! at the Disco and Blink-182 top the now-annual Las Vegas festival that features just about every emo-pop act from the early 2000s. Seriously, we’re not kidding: Weezer, Avril Lavigne, the Offspring, All Time Low, the Used, Knocked Loose, the Gaslight Anthem, Bad Religion, Yellowcard and more are all set to take over the Las Vegas Festival Grounds on October 18 and 19, 2025, with a special focus on each band’s most beloved album.

The Skirball’s latest pop culture exhibition takes a deep dive into the six-decade career of legendary comic book artist Jack Kirby. You might know him as the co-creator of Captain America, Black Panther, the Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men and some of the Marvel universe’s most cosmic characters. But did you know he was also a first-generation Jewish American born to immigrant parents, World War II veteran and family man who split his time between New York and Los Angeles? Learn about his life and see Kirby’s original comic illustrations, as well as other works—many on view for the first time.

The disco pop queen is blessing us with two dates at the Forum on her “Radical Optimism Tour.”