The best things to do in Los Angeles this week

Halloween time can be a bit scary for kids—we’ve all been there—so for a less frightening affair, head to the Original Farmers Market for its children-friendly Fall Festival: Carnival games, a petting zoo, crafts and a pumpkin patch (for a small fee) are all mainstays at this annual harvest fest. Come in costume, catch a musical performance and explore the always-delicious treats at the market.

Whether they’re a psyop or not, Brooklyn rockers Geese—not to be confused with Connecticut rockers Goose—have never been hotter. Led by frontman Cameron Winter, the band has been around since 2016, but their most recent album, Getting Killed, was named the best album of 2025 by Stereogum and The New Yorker. Now they’re stopping in L.A. for three nights at Hollywood Forever Cemetery—one of the very best places in the city to see live music. 

Wake up, grab a brush and put a little make-up, then head to Beyond the Streets gallery on La Brea for this blink-and-you’ll-miss-it exhibition devoted to the 25th anniversary of System of a Down’s seminal Toxicity, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 back in 2001. Step into the minds of the Glendale-based rockers at this immersive look at the world of the album—complete with artifacts and ephemera from the band, plus exclusive merch—on display for only six days. 

The Los Angeles Conservancy’s popular summer series is popping up for its second fall edition, bringing two Halloween screenings to the historic Million Dollar Theater in DTLA. Catch a matinee of classic comedy mystery Clue at 1pm, followed by the iconic Stanley Kubrick adaptation of Stephen King’s The Shining at 7pm. A pair of pre-movie tours of the venue are sold out, but you can still admire the theater’s architecture while you wait for the feature presentation.

Merrill Davis first hatched this stand-up show as a showcase of predominantly female comedians, plus a few lucky male mortals. For the October 14 show at the Sidebar at Covell (a private room tucked behind a bookcase inside the Los Feliz wine bar) Davis and cohost Nthenya Ndunda welcome a lineup that includes Ali Macofsky, Naomi Ekperigin, Johana Coca, Janeva Zentz and Amy Miller.

Charli XCX is the kind of artist that could only exist in today’s increasingly fragmented world of streaming platforms, fluid genre classifications and poptimism. Listen to the buoyant beats and catchy refrains of her records and it’s clear that Charli is a pop star. See her at the Forum in support of her new album, Music, Fashion, Film.

Step inside a historic—and haunted—Glendale theater to find a supernatural shindig full of magic, spirits and mystery. Don your best Oktoberfest-inspired attire and set out on a spooky journey with themed drinks in hand (not included in the ticket price). Formerly known as House of Spirits, Haunted Soiree is an adults-only, two-hour immersive experience that allows you to roam around an eccentric festival of drinks, music, masks, ghost stories and games. This year’s edition—based on a true crime story from 1928—is full of German-American folk magic.

Every spring and fall since 1973, artists have descended upon Beverly Gardens Park to showcase their work to browsers and buyers at this arts festival (once called the Affaire in the Gardens). This year will feature 250 artists exhibiting paintings, sculptures, watercolors, photography and much more. Set on four blocks along the grassy stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard between Rodeo and Rexford Drives, the event will include something for everyone, with free kids’ activities, food trucks, and beer and wine gardens with live music.

Like a Halloween version of its Yuletide Cinemaland series, Street Food Cinema will turn Heritage Square Museum into a spooky, cinematic playground. On the movie side, you can catch a different double feature each night (picks include Obsession, Sinners and Jennifer’s Body, among others) while embarking on Victorian home tours and adult trick-or-treating and perusing food trucks, a bar and market vendors. 

Stones Throw Records turns 30 years young this year, and to celebrate the local label is hosting a three-day outdoor fest in Highland Park. Automatic, Los Retros, Mild High Club, DâM-FunK, Egyptian Lover, J Rocc, John Carroll Kirby and founder Peanut Butter Wolf top the lineup, with special guest appearances from Sudan Archives, Aloe Blacc, Eric Andre and Kyle Mooney.

Want to peer through the eyepiece of Mt. Wilson’s historic telescopes? Your best and most economical bet just might be one of the Talks & Telescopes events. These monthly Saturday-night astronomy lectures are followed up with a few hours of stargazing on portable telescopes on the grounds, as well as the 60- and 100-inch telescopes, for only $50 (a fraction of the price of the observatory’s late-night stargazing sessions).

The beloved Bob Baker Marionette Theater is staging free, family-friendly performances at Barnsdall Art Park on the west lawn outside the Hollyhock House on select Sunday mornings. Spread out a blanket and enjoy a 30-minute “Fiesta” puppet show at 9:30am or 11am, followed by free art activities for all.

See a simulcast of LA Opera’s brand-new production of one of the most iconic operas of all time, Carmen, on the Santa Monica Pier with the sound of breaking waves in the background. The production will also be shown across town at Opera in the Park—held at Steinmetz Park in Hacienda Heights. This yearly live broadcast extends the opera outside of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, making it free and accessible to all and pairing it with arts and crafts, performances by local musicians, free balloon art, and food from local vendors for the perfect combination of culture and community.

Just because summer’s behind us doesn’t mean you can’t still enjoy a barbecue feast. The Beverly Hills Autumn BBQ—co-hosted by the Maybourne Beverly Hills, Spago and the City of Beverly Hills—returns this month to the Maybourne and the adjacent Beverly Cañon Gardens. This open-air event features meaty dishes from top chefs including Wolfgang Puck, Nancy Silverton, Damon Gordon, Eric Werner and Daniel Castillo, alongside drinks from Florería Atlántico, Dante Beverly Hills and Employees Only NYC; live paper-cut art by Marco Gallotta; and a silent auction featuring luxury goods including Ferragamo bags. It’s all to benefit No Kid Hungry. Tickets are definitely pricey ($350), but hey, it’s for a great cause, and you’ll definitely be fed well. 

This interactive performance series constitutes a literary cathouse, with a lineup of L.A.’s most bewitching poets summoning demons during a spooky and sinful night at Sassafras. Head to the haunted speakeasy for “a Halloween celebration of beastly delights,” with erotic, haunting and provocative verses set to a soundtrack of live jazz. You can upgrade your experience with tokens that will give you access to one-on-one poetry readings behind closed curtains, tarot readings and typewriter poetry. Costumes, cocktail attire or themed eveningwear is encouraged.

Dwell’s popular home tours, which grant architecture and design lovers exclusive access to some of the most innovative residences in the country, are back. This time around, the itinerary consists of private tours of three architecturally significant homes that have been featured in Dwell magazine—two in Silver Lake, and one in Palms. Check-in for the tour will take place at the Hollyhock House, where you can mingle over coffee and check out the famed Frank Lloyd Wright–designed home.

“Let’s hang out at the Pier” is something Santa Monica locals probably say next to never, but this monthly series is trying to change that. Every third Thursday from September to May, you’ll find everything from live music to storytelling to a classic car show on the Santa Monica Pier, all free to attend. 

Ed Wood’s tale of an alien invasion in the Valley is bad—so bad that the 1955 B-movie has of course inspired its own cult following. A few weeks before Halloween, you can catch a bunch of comedians, actors and writers perform a live read of the awful classic, including Dana Gould, Patton Oswalt, Janet Varney, Paul F. Tompkins, Laraine Newman, Kimmie Robertson, Jonah Ray and Aaron LaPlante.

Held over two weekends (Oct 10–11, 17–18), this Oktoberfest celebration combines Santa Anita’s famous horse races with the best of the Bavarian fall festival, including stein-holding and costume contests, a corn hole competition, keg rolling, pretzels—and beer of course. Each general admission ticket includes a mini tasting stein and eight three-ounce beer tastings, as well as a $5 betting voucher, a tip sheet and access to open grandstand seating at the race track. A pricier VIP group ticket (with a three-person minimum) secures you picnic table seating and a $20 food voucher. 

It’s hard to imagine a lovelier setting than the Huntington’s rose garden in bloom. Add in live music provided by the Pasadena Conservatory of Music, and there’s no better place to spend a Monday afternoon. Wander among the blooms while solo and duo performers share their strings skills on violin, cello and guitar. Admission is included with your $29 Huntington ticket.

This traveling horror-themed Halloween cocktail pop-up stops at Melrose Umbrella Co. again this October. The women-owned concept—created by industry veterans Erin Hayes and Kelsey Ramage—is taking over the Beverly Grove bar, serving up expertly mixed cocktails amid metal music and spooky decor (including the famous 12-foot-tall skeleton from Home Depot). Drink highlights include the Bone Temple, made with Teremana Blanco Tequila, and Abyssa’s Obsession, made with pumpkin-infused Kraken Black and Gold Spiced Rums—plus fun glassware you can purchase for yourself. Spirit-free options are also available. And if you can’t get enough Black Lagoon, there’s another SoCal outpost at Midnight Oil in Long Beach.

American Contemporary Ballet opens its 15th season with a program of four works that explore relationships through ballet’s most intimate dance. The program consists of George Balanchine’s Sonatine, Rubies and Episodes, plus the premiere of a new ballet by ACB founder Lincoln Jones—all performed to live music. You’ll find the hour-and-a-half show at the Bank of America Plaza in DTLA. Stick around afterward for a reception with the dancers and musicians.

Stroll through a mile-long trail filled with all things pumpkins, including an illuminated forest of jack-o’-lanterns, during Descanso Gardens’ annual Carved. For four weeks this fall, the family-friendly event will line a loop of the botanical garden with thousands of professionally carved pumpkins. For the 2026 edition, the popular neon-hued Rhizome light sculpture is moving into the Oak Grove, and the labyrinth will feature immersive new sculptures. Also new this year is a pricey “anytime” ticket you can use on any day of the run—though we recommend picking a day and time and saving $30.

See what’s cutting-edge in the world of horror with a bloody-good selection of indie flicks invading the TCL Chinese 6 Theatres this October. The frightful film festival—which has been hailed as one of the top five film fests in the country by The New York Times—is back for its 26th edition with a killer lineup of premieres, short films, animation and more. 

Every October, Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre Group hosts a chilling series of vignettes that’s been named one of Yelp’s top 10 scariest haunts in the country. Armed with a shoddy flashlight to illuminate their path, guests navigate a labyrinth of terror both before and after watching a series of shocking scenes (over the course of roughly 40 minutes) that will unsettle even the most stoic of horror fans. The haunted house-slash-theater experience has been scaring audiences for over 20 years in its North Hollywood theater, and this year’s event is being touted as “bigger and badder than ever.”

South Coast Botanic Garden’s adorable dog-walking hours jump from a once-a-month treat to an every-weekend affair just during the month of October at Dogtoberfest. In addition to dog-friendly walking paths, the garden throws a bunch of Oktoberfest-style activities into the mix. For the humans, you’ll find beer stations along a Pup Crawl throughout the garden, as well as on the main lawn. That’s where you’ll find the bulk of the programming, too, including live music from Die Sauerkrauts, plus stein-holding, pretzel-tossing and yodeling contests. For the pups, expect training obstacles along the garden pathway and races on the lawn. As for the beer aspect, a VIP ticket gets you a flight of beer (or root beer) samples, a full-size beer, a pretzel necklace and a few other small perks. New this year is the dog VIP ticket, which comes with a free “dog beer” tasting (who knew that existed?), a treat, a photo of your pet and access to the VIP Top Dog Zone, complete with splash pads and doggie pools.

It feels like Oktoberfest all year round at Silver Lake’s long-running Red Lion Tavern, but it’s especially festive in the fall, when it celebrates the Bavarian tradition all the way through mid-November. Order the Oktoberfest platter—an epic array of pretzels, brats, schnitzel and sides—alongside a four-liter boot of beer. You’ll also find live music and stein-holding contests on select nights. Check the bar’s Instagram for programming updates.

Catch Curtis Cook, Brandie Posey, Rick Wood and John Michael Bond host this free comedy show on Wednesday nights at Hollywood’s Y2K-inspired Zero Lounge. The event coincides with the bar’s daily 7-to-10pm happy hour, so hang out for a bit and garnish your comedy with a cocktail or mocktail.

Artist and composer Emmit Fenn turns an Arts District soundstage into a multisensory music experience during this limited-run performance. The phone-free, roughly two-hour event progresses across three environments: a snowy field where you can enjoy tea, the main music space where synchronized lights appear to float atop a darkened pool of water and a post-show gallery with behind-the-scenes imagery.

The Outsiders graduates from required reading to a Tony–winning musical, which got its start in San Diego before taking Broadway by storm (read Time Out theater critic Adam Feldman’s full review here). Now the production is stopping at the Hollywood Pantages as part of its national tour, and settling the decades-old feud between Greasers and Socs.

Right in time for Halloween season, the Academy Museum seeks to answer the question “Why do horror films matter so deeply to so many?” in this immersive look at the genre whose cultural cachet is always increasing. Knowingly employing horror tropes and exploring the lasting appeal of scary movies, the show will be divided into six subcategories of horror—gothic, psychological, science, slasher, religion and ghosts. Expect re-creations of iconic settings where visitors will encounter creatures, monsters and objects from their favorite horror flicks and, in typical Academy fashion, a behind-the-scenes look at the storytelling and production processes of films from the original Frankenstein to The Shining to Get Out.

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. Highlights from the upcoming months include evenings with Michael Douglas (Oct 10), David Byrne (Oct 13), Andy Serkis (Nov 6) and Andy Richter (Nov 19).

One of L.A.’s best free live-music offerings, Jazz at LACMA has featured legit legends over its 35-year run at the museum. Seating for the program is available in the museum’s plaza on a first-come, first-served basis, though you’re welcome to picnic on the grass, too (you won’t really be able to see the show, but you’ll still hear it). You’ll find the series on Friday evenings in LACMA’s welcome plaza (just behind Urban Light) throughout the summer and into the fall. We’re betting it’ll be even more popular than usual this year, with the new David Geffen Galleries in the background.

Home of the Los Angeles County Fair, the Fairplex turns into a German wonderland for Oktoberfest every Friday and Saturday from October 2 to 17, complete with Bavarian music, beer, games and plenty of chicken dancing. Sink your teeth into bratwurst, knockwurst, pretzels and potato pancakes while knocking back authentic German suds at this 21-plus event with DJs, oompah outfits, and Red Hot Chili Peppers, Selena and Journey cover bands. 

The only thing better than a haunted attraction is a haunted attraction on a giant boat—which has its own haunted history. You’ll find all the usual horrors here—think fog, mazes and countless monsters roaming around. What sets Dark Harbor apart is its use of its surroundings; the dark, cramped confines of the Queen Mary are already pretty spooky even without monsters—just be prepared to climb a lot of skinny staircases. For its 13th anniversary, the event dives further into the ocean liner’s lore with reimagined mazes set both on shore and in the ship’s swimming pool and corridors. New this year is the “Shipwrecked: Brace for Impact” maze, as well as carnival rides Alien Abduction and blacklight bumper cars. When you tire of the terror, sip spirits at secret speakeasies or catch spooky live entertainment.

He’s why birds suddenly appear—oops, wrong Carpenter. This one may be why birds fall dead from the sky, as L.A. will see when the Academy Museum’s John Carpenter: Prince of Darkness series opens September 26, bringing the horror maestro’s pulsing synth scores, practical monsters and beautifully bleak worldview to the big screen through October 25. The retrospective includes The Thing, Halloween, They Live, Big Trouble in Little China, Christine, The Fog and Prince of Darkness in 35mm, among others. And Carpenter himself will make an appearance on four nights! Basically, consider this your excuse to spend a month being gloriously creeped out at the movies.

Following the wildly successful first edition of her Daisy Chain Fields music festival, Olivia Rodrigo is stepping into the spotlight at the Grammy Museum, where a new two-part exhibition is devoted to the pop star. Running through February 22, 2027, “Olivia Rodrigo: the cure unraveled” features an exclusive look at the handcrafted hospital sets, costumes, props, stop-motion animatronics and original artwork from the singer’s music video for single “the cure.” Meanwhile, “note by note,” the second installment, which opens September 25, offers a journey through the prolific singer’s career so far, with outfits and accessories spanning all three of her album cycles and two world tours, plus items fresh from the Daisy Chain Fields grounds.

See the marionette theater’s family-friendly take on Halloween during the two-month return of its Hallowe’en Spooktacular—a refurbished production of its long-running “boo-sical revue” where you can see over 100 silly and spooky puppets take the stage. A newer addition is the Día de los Muertos sequence that pays tribute to the holiday. Once October arrives, each show will include a costume parade, so dressing up is encouraged.

This Highland Park biergarten is hosting its second annual Oktoberfest shindig, transforming the space into a Bavarian beer hall. The sister to Wirtshaus and Rasselbock already serves standout sausages and schnitzel year-round (including veggie options), but every Friday and Saturday through Halloween, you can also enjoy food and drink specials, live music, stein-holding contests and more.

Far from those kid-friendly rides through a pumpkin patch, this hayride unleashes all sorts of demons and bogeys on Griffith Park, which is transformed into the mid-’80s fictitious town of Midnight Falls. The Griffith Park tradition, which has been running for 18 years now, centers on a relatively lengthy hayride. The premise: A witch has summoned spirits of the underworld who’ve hidden themselves among Halloween decorations in the town’s foothills. This year’s event introduces a new, Sunset Strip–themed maze, “Fallen Angel,” and sees the return of Elvira’s Trick or Treat Mayhem, the Scary-Go-Round, Hellbilly Halloween and axe-throwing. A welcome addition this year: alcohol, served at themed bars throughout the event.

This Denver-originated Halloween attraction returns to SoCal with over 10,000 thousand hand-carved jack-o’-lanterns lining a mile-long pathway at the beautiful South Coast Botanic Garden in Palos Verdes. This year’s event adds a whimsical circus scene, a Día de los Muertos tribute and an under-the-sea display. Pumpkin light shows, bounce pads, inflatables and festive food complete the family-friendly experience.

Encounter free-roaming monsters, stage shows and 10 terrifying mazes—this year’s new additions are “Inked,” which brings 1930s cartoon characters to life, and the excavation-themed “Unearthed”—as well as a menu of eerie eats and sinister sweets, five scare zones and the theme park’s thrill rides during Knott’s Scary Farm, SoCal’s original and longest-running Halloween theme park event. Also new this year are two shows: Voodoo: Bayou's Edge and Occultum, featuring magicians from the legendary Magic Castle.

Head to the mountains for the annual Oktoberfest at Big Bear Lake, where you’ll be able to clink steins every weekend from September to early November. Beer will be flowing, knockwursts will be cooked up, and dirndls will be worn. The entertainment lineup includes numerous bands—many straight from Germany—and other performances, and one lucky damsel will be named the Oktoberfest Queen when she wins the stein-carrying contest. Others can test their skills with free log-sawing, stein-holding and chugging competitions.

Every weekend through October 24, this Venice gastropub is throwing a Bavarian celebration with lederhosen and finger-licking fare. Dive into a savory rattlesnake and rabbit hot link topped with onions and peppers, choose from a selection of German and Belgian beers on draft, and enjoy yodeling and live German music. The best part? Each ticket (with noon or 5pm start times on Saturdays and 2pm start times on Sundays) includes a Wurstküche beer stein, with the first fill-up included. Entry isn’t cheap ($72 and up), but the seatings regularly sell out.

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—from tarantulas to wolf spiders—are in enclosed habitats.) 

Well, well, well, what have we here? The Nightmare Before Christmas’s bug-stuffed sack is once again taking over the Halloween duties at Disneyland Resort for Oogie Boogie Bash, an after-hours, specially ticketed seasonal event at Disney California Adventure Park on select nights from mid-August through October. You’ll find trick-or-treating trails, kid-friendly shows, the maze-like Villains Grove and, new this year, Madame Leota's Swinging Wake—A Haunted Mansion Street Party. And the perks of the after-hours event aren’t just Halloween-y: You’ll be able to venture through and hop on rides in most areas of the park (with considerably shorter wait times), including at Avengers Campus (the Guardians of the Galaxy ride will flip to its Monsters After Dark edition). The catch: Tickets always sell out quickly—though you can still enjoy the Halloween decor, a special fireworks show and the Nightmare Before Christmas takeover of Haunted Mansion at the resort.

“Somehow it’s a happier ending than I thought it would be—it felt so bleak,” Tacita Dean says of crafting this tribute to the then-fading format of analog film back in 2011. But here in the year of The Odyssey, Dean’s commission for the Tate Modern—restaged here at the Marciano Art Foundation’s cavernous theater gallery—feels like a triumphant touting of film’s resurgence: An 11-minute-long collage (all of the cutouts were achieved in camera) plays out on a vertically-oriented reel of 35mm film. The show coincides with Pierre Leguillon’s selection of old advertisements that feature prominent artists promoting commercial brands.

Admire suspended sheets of textiles—including the metallic ones that would be incorporated into the curtains at the new David Geffen Galleries—along with colorful sketches and a recreation of Tokyo store NUNO at LACMA’s showcase of pioneering textile designer Reiko Sudō.

Five photographers who pushed their medium in new directions in the second half of the 20th century present their unique takes on the city in this Getty Center show. Influenced by techniques including social documentary practices, staged scenes and fashion, the photographs of Laura Aguilar, Reynaldo Rivera, George Rodriguez, Patssi Valdez and Ricardo Valverde expanded Chicano and Chicana representation in Los Angeles.

Billing itself as “Orange County’s biggest party since 1977,” the Old World Oktoberfest promises enough beers, brats and bands to make you feel like you’re in Munich—albeit with better ocean views. Every Wednesday through Sunday between September 12 and November 8, this re-created Bavarian village will offer a sausage-filled menu, oompah and German bands, a biergarten, dancing and more. While Old World’s Oktoberfest is 21-plus with a cover charge on Friday and Saturday evenings, it’s open to families and revelers of all ages on Saturday afternoons and other nights. (Entry is free on Wednesday and Thursday nights, as well as Saturday afternoons, just book ahead online.)

Held in the so-called Alps of Southern California, Lake Arrowhead’s all-ages Oktoberfest runs every weekend from September 19 to October 25 this year, hosting live German American oompah bands, “choke the chicken” (“like stein-holding but more fun”), dance contests, children’s games and a daily sausage toss. Although there’s no entry fee, attendees are advised to book picnic tables ($150 on Saturdays for up to eight people) or pub tables (four-seaters $75 and two-seaters $35 on Saturdays) to secure seats closer to the stage. On Sunday, tables are first-come, first-served. This year, the event is again being held in the picturesque Waterfront Park.

Just in time for silver screen starlet Marilyn Monroe’s 100th birthday, the Academy Museum is presenting a centennial celebration dedicated to the woman and her work, offering “unique insight into her agency in becoming a Hollywood icon.” In addition to posters, portraits, letters and rarely seen personal items, highlights from the exhibition include two screen-worn costumes from Some Like It Hot and the rarely exhibited famous pink dress Monroe wore in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

Borrowed from Woody Guthrie’s egalitarian folk anthem, the title of this exhibition at the Huntington offers a pretty literal teaser of what you can expect to see: lots of relics tied to land, specifically American land. But that lens provides an insightful and profound perspective on 250 years of ambition, achievement, struggle, exclusion and belonging in the United States. There are some truly remarkable documents on display here—including Guthrie’s original lyrics sheet for “This Land is Your Land,” paired with one of his acoustic guitars with a faded proclamation that “this machine kills fascists” scratched into the back. But the most humbling piece on display just might be the one that first greets you: the cross section of an oak tree that stood on the grounds of the Huntington for 250 years.

The Skirball’s Jack Kirby exhibition may be over, but the museum has followed it up with this expansive look at how comics came to dominate pop culture. Many of the creators of the medium were immigrants and outsiders—including Jewish Americans—who poured their experiences with struggle, aspiration and reinvention into their work. From the Great Depression through Y2K, comics reflected the national moment and actually helped shape American identity. On display, you’ll find original artwork and artifacts relating to beloved comic book characters, from Superman and Black Panther to Little Lulu and Archie.

This L.A.-centric exhibition looks at the Declaration of Independence’s promise of life, liberty and happiness, and how that promise has been fulfilled—or not—throughout the city’s development. Told via the stories of diverse Angelenos alongside historical and contemporary objects, media and art, the show “invites you to step into a conversation that has been shaping Los Angeles for over two hundred years.” 

This show aims to give Black queer culture in California—particularly in Los Angeles—the credit it’s due as a part of the decades-long fight for LGBTQ+ rights and recognition. Through historical materials, photographs, film and vintage newspapers, the exhibition recovers a history that’s been largely excluded from the record, introducing visitors to sites, protagonists and allies who played a role in the fight for democracy and free expression. 

It’s a very Fast & Furious kind of year in L.A., between Universal Studio’s roller coaster and this 25th anniversary exhibition of the movie franchise. The Petersen Automotive Museum is showcasing movie vehicles, stunt cars and production prototypes in its second-floor galleries, including the 1993 Toyota Supra “Stunt #3” and 1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse driven by Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) in the original film, Dominic Toretto’s (Vin Diesel) 1968 Dodge Charger R/T and 1993 Mazda RX-7, Suki’s (Devon Aoki) 2001 Honda S2000 and more.

The reopened Getty Villa will descend into the underworld with this exhibition, which looks at the ritual spells and religious writings ancient Egyptians employed to garner favor with Re and Osiris in the afterlife. See the Getty’s collection of rare Book of the Dead rare hieroglyphics-adorned and illustrated manuscripts, dating back to around 1000 BCE, which were last displayed in 2023. The show should dovetail nicely with the museum’s “Sculpted Portraits From Ancient Egypt,” which runs through January 2027.

Do you get a little thrill every time you go to the Beverly Hills Hotel? You have architect Paul R. Williams to thank, even if you might not know the name. This exhibition at the USC Fisher Museum of Art aims to fix that. “Paul R. Williams: An Architect Considered” specifically spotlights the visionary architect’s multifamily housing projects through original drawings, photographs and plans, juxtaposed with new commissions by contemporary artists and architects. The message is clear: Williams didn’t just shape Los Angeles; he imagined a more livable version of it, one gorgeous building at a time. Complementary Williams exhibitions at LACMA and the Getty Center will open later in the year.