The best things to do in Los Angeles this week

Mortified is a live storytelling extravaganza—a show-and-tell, if you will, of people’s most embarrassing, awkward and often seminal moments. At this Mortified event at Dynasty Typewriter ahead of Valentine’s Day, celebrate and commiserate with readings from cringeworthy old diaries and stories of past romances gone wrong.

Spend your Friday night amid dinosaurs and DJs. For two decades now, the Natural History Museum has been staying open late for its popular First Fridays series. And during this year’s 20th season, the KCRW-presented after-hours event is returning to its roots, filling the museum’s iconic diorama halls with live music from around the globe, DJ sets and dancing from February to May. Headlining this month is Jay Som, while KCRW’s Novena Carmel and Wyldeflower will deejay. While you’re there, you can check out all the galleries and exhibitions, sip cocktails and order food from a revolving selection of local trucks. 

Whether you go in cold or the soundtrack has never left your Spotify rotation, you’ll likely find yourself crying with laughter through the first few songs of The Book of Mormon. Over a decade on, the story of a forced-together pair of Mormon missionaries in Africa—with music, lyrics and book by South Park co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, as well as Robert Lopez (known then for Avenue Q, now for Frozen)—is just as catchy, witty and gleefully filthy as ever. (If you’ve never seen the musical before, however vulgar you think it is, it’s magnitudes more obscene, and all the better for it.) The touring production of the nine-time Tony winner stops at the Pantages for two weeks.

This display of film and video art, billed will take over all six stories of the abandoned, historic Variety Arts Theater in Downtown L.A. (the theater served as the setting for this past Halloween’s immersive haunt Delusion). Over a century of visual storytelling will be explored, blurring the line between visual art and cinema. Contemporary video works by artists including Marina Abramović, Doug Aitken, Chris Burden, Cyprien Gaillard, Arthur Jafa and Precious Okoyomon will be juxtaposed with cinematic works by the likes of Walt Disney and Georges Méliès. Admission—and popcorn—are free.

Welcome the Year of the Horse amid the lush greenery of South Coast Botanic Garden every weekend this February. Enjoy an afternoon of festive Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean traditions, with activities including the Korean game Yutnori, the Vietnamese game Bầu Cua Cá Cọp or the Chinese game of Mahjong. Enjoy the grounds on a Zodiac Stroll, the new dragon walk or a morning tai chi class. You’ll also find storytelling, a wishing tree, live music, a themed photo op and specialty food and cocktails (available for purchase from 10am–4pm). Admission is $18, but for $9 more, you can catch a performance by lion dancers, martial artists, drummers and folk dancers (Sat, Sun at 11am, 1pm, 3pm).

The winter edition of Dine L.A. is back from January 23 to February 6, with 375 restaurants participating in the two-week blitz of bang-for-your-buck set menus. Scattered among the prix-fixe tradition’s dizzying full list of menus are some of L.A.’s best restaurants offering their signature fare at a more budget-friendly price point. This iteration spotlights the San Fernando Valley and welcomes newcomers all across the county, including the phenomenal new food hall Maydan LA, jazz supper club Somerville and Korean gastropub Yi Cha.

Shop from local, Black-owned businesses at this community-centered market from racial equity nonprofit the Fifteen Percent Pledge. Dozens of brands including Estelle Colored Glasses, Harlem Candle Company, Highbrow Hippie, Brooklyn Tea, Harper Collective and many more will pop up on the Paramount backlot alongside book signings, stoop sales and DJs spinning. Black-owned food trucks will also be on hand, serving up everything from cheesesteaks to cakes. 

The Chinese Club of San Marino hosts its annual Lunar New Year Festival in idyllic Lacy Park, which will be filled with cultural performances and displays, games and food vendors serving up savory and sweet treats. The free community event aims to channel good fortune and unite people in the San Gabriel Valley. 

Twice a year, we’re more than happy to fork over some cash for some beautifully thick books just waiting to find a home on our shelves and coffee tables. Get cultured without breaking the bank during Taschen’s biannual sale, in which the art book purveyors are taking up to 75% off photo books on Nasa, Atlantic Records, Nike, the ’80s more—both online and at their Beverly Hills and Original Farmers Market locations, where you can get your pick of titles a day early on February 4.

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.

The beloved late singer, who’s ascended to music and fashion icon status since her untimely death in 1995, is the focus of a new show at the Grammy Museum. Co-curated by the singer’s sister, Suzette Quintanilla, the exhibition will peek behind the curtain of Selena’s life, artistry and career, exploring how her legacy continues as a symbol of empowerment for both young women and Latin communities. You can see the singer’s personal artifacts displayed for the first time outside of the Selena Museum in Corpus Christi, Texas, including her Grammy Award, cellphone, hand-drawn fashions and microphone, still marked with her signature red lipstick. In preparation for the opening, artist Mister Toledo recently created a mural of the singer outside the museum.

Celebrate the history, diversity and wildlife of our fair city with the locally beloved Bob Baker Marionette Theater. This puppet-filled ode to L.A. first debuted in 1981 for the city’s bicentennial, and while it retains its retro charm, it’s been refreshed for 2026 with new animal puppets and updates that reflect Los Angeles today.

What better spot to mark the Lunar New Year than “the happiest place on earth”? Disney California Adventure commemorates the Year of the Horse with a month of multicultural celebrations. Kids can look forward to photo ops and meet-and-greets with Mulan, Mushu, Mickey and Minnie, while adults will find a tasty reprieve with treats from China, Korea and Vietnam. If you’re sticking around into the evening, “Hurry Home – A Lunar New Year Celebration” precedes each World of Color show, while during the day Mulan’s Lunar New Year Procession brings dancers, a colorful dragon puppet and a couple of costumed characters across the park.

The masters of alfresco movie viewing are keeping outdoor screening season alive throughout the winter. Its Fireside Films series ensures you’ll stay cozy, with outdoor heaters and a complimentary hot beverage with each ticket. Expect a steady stream local favorites (La La Land, Friday), recent releases (Sinners, Freakier Friday) and modern classics (The Notebook, When Harry Met Sally…) throughout the month. 

Robert Therrien’s Under the Table has long been one of the most popular pieces in the Broad’s collection (you know the one—the giant table and chairs that you ask your friend to snap a photo of as you stand underneath). Well now the museum is hosting the largest-ever solo exhibition of the artist’s work, displaying more than 120 pieces, including many that have never been shown in museums before. Expect more huge housewares and striking works, plus some intimate drawings and surprises from the late L.A.-based artist. The specially ticketed show will fill the first-floor galleries through April 5, 2026.

Anonymous feminist art collective the Guerrilla Girls—whose members gained notoriety for donning gorilla masks and fighting the patriarchy—is coming up on its 40th anniversary, and the Getty Center is marking the occasion with a behind-the-scenes look at the group. See photography, protest art and the group’s famed posters—sporting statistics, bold visuals and satirical humor—that showcase the tactics the members used to demand recognition for women and artists of color. The Guerrilla Girls have even created a newly commissioned work for the exhibition. And you can add your own mark on the “graffitti wall” installation, giving visitors a creative outlet for their complaints about the world today. 

Accompanying programming throughout the run of the show will include a conversation between the Guerrilla Girls and author Roxane Gay, a feminist Valentine’s Day mail art workshop, cocktail receptions with the exhibition curators, tours and more.

Dealing with a difficult subject head-on, the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA’s new show, “Monuments”—co-presented by the museum and nonprofit the Brick (formerly LAXART)—juxtaposes both intact and vandalized Confederate monuments with contemporary artwork. The show looks at the recent wave of monument removals from a historic perspective and encourages discourse about challenging topics amid an ongoing national debate about the role of these statues and what they represent. Tickets for the special exhibition are $18, though if you book far enough ahead of time, you can take advantage of free admission on the first Friday of every month.

The Hammer Museum’s excellent, ongoing series of biennial exhibitions ups the ante with each edition of its spotlight on emerging and under-recognized L.A. artists. This October’s exhibition—the seventh such show—brings together works from 28 artists, spanning film, painting, theater, photography, sculpture and video, that engage with the city of Los Angeles. A 20-foot-high inflatable, Buggy Bear Crashes Made in L.A. by Alake Shilling, welcomes you to the museum on the corner of Wilshire and Glendon. 

Don’t go in the water, but do go to the Academy Museum to see the largest exhibition ever dedicated to Steven Spielberg’s original summer blockbuster, Jaws—which is celebrating its 50th anniversary. The museum was already home to the last surviving model shark from filming, but now you can go behind the scenes and see some 200 original objects from the film across multiple galleries. Some highlights: a re-creation of the Orca fishing boat, the dorsal fin used both in Jaws and its sequels, costumes worn by the central trio and a room full of vintage film posters and merch promoting the film. There are interactive elements, too: You can have your own Chief Brody dolly-zoom moment (and see the lens used to film the famous shot), play the iconic John Williams two-note score and control a replica of the mechanical shark.

The Natural History Museum’s taxidermy dioramas turn a century old this year, and to celebrate the museum is reviving an entire hall of displays that’ve been dark for decades. Expect some fresh approaches to these assembled snapshots of the wilderness, including alebrijes made of recycled materials, a crystalline depiction of pollution and a tech-driven display of the L.A. River.

The California Science Center is inviting kids to get in the game with a new 17,000-square-foot exhibition about the power of play and the human body in motion. Besides teaching about the science behind sports, it also offers interactive challenges and video coaching from a team of Los Angeles-based mentor athletes including dancer Debbie Allen, the Dodgers’ World Series hero Freddie Freeman, Olympic medalist softball player Rachel Garcia and more. And for the first time ever, the center has commissioned public art—all by local artists—to complement the exhibition, including a Dodgers mural by Gustavo Zermeño Jr. The free exhibition will run at the Science Center through the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

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, with surreal spacescapes from Wendy Red Star, pop culture commentaries by Andy Everson and a site-specific space odyssey created by Virgil Ortiz.