Things to do on Thanksgiving in Los Angeles

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.

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. The show is open 9am–4pm on Thanksgiving and will stay open later the rest of Thanksgiving weekend.

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.)

Those eager to get a run in on Thanksgiving morning but not eager to drive Downtown can register for Drumstick Dash, which takes place in the Valley and touts itself as the city’s largest Thanksgiving 5K/10K run. Runners, joggers and walkers will make their way through the NoHo Arts District starting at 9am to a soundtrack of cheering bystanders and spinning DJs. Kids can get in on the fun, too, with the Lil’ Gobblers Race at 8:15am, and early birds can compete in the dance contest (7:15am) or costume contest (7:30pm). It all kicks off at the intersection of Lankershim and Chandler Boulevards in North Hollywood. All proceeds will help Hope the Mission provide meals to the homeless. 

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 cost a few dollars extra. The rink will be open 11:30am–9:30pm on Thanksgiving.

Like an Angelyne billboard on Sunset Boulevard, the Hollywood Christmas Parade is an essential part of L.A. kitsch. The nine-decade-old parade, which closes out Thanksgiving weekend, 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. Once again, the event’s “Animals Aglow” edition will go all in on oversized animal-shaped lanterns. 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. Tip: Wear comfortable shoes; you’ll be walking slightly uphill for most of the way. L.A. Zoo Lights will be closed on Thanksgiving day, but will turn the lights back on for the rest of the weekend. 

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. The market opens on Black Friday, so you can get a start on your shopping right after Thanksgiving.

Discovery and wonder are set to inhabit the illuminated installations once again in Descanso Gardens’ holiday tradition. 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. Though the event isn’t open on Thanksgiving day, you can visit it on either side of the holiday.

There’s nothing Christmassy nor even wintry about this hourlong 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. You can check it out on Thanksgiving evening.