Things to do in Los Angeles on Friday

The masters of alfresco rooftop movie viewing have returned for another season of screenings to LEVEL in Downtown L.A. Known for excellent film choices and a steady supply of snacks and booze, Rooftop Cinema Club is your snazzy, comfortable and less stressful alternative to other outdoor movie screenings. You don’t even need to bring your own camping chair—Rooftop Cinema Club provides you with your very own comfy lawn chair (with optional blankets for purchase to up the coziness). And instead of listening to the movie over loudspeakers, you’ll get a set of wireless headphones so you never have to miss a word. Find the full schedule on their site, or in our outdoor movie calendar.

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. The towering, mirror-lined stacks that fill the entrance of “OPEN” bring the outside in, as the warehouse-style Geffen Contemporary’s skylights create infinite spaces and mini worlds out of the sun and sky. The surprisingly analog optics behind them can be truly sublime: Gently moving water has a pair of pieces appear as shimmery landscapes, mirrors turn tubing into floating rings that trail into a black void and a simple array of pendants produce colorful flares against a screen. These aren’t pieces you’re meant to disappear into; instead, they provide a lens for the enviornment around us. You’ll need a timed ticket ($18) to see “Olafur Eliasson: OPEN.” Look for reservations on the first Friday of the month, from 5 to 8pm, for free admission.

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.)...

One fateful afternoon in 1924, Lionel Sternberger contemplated the hamburger he was cooking up at Pasadena’s Rite Spot and thought it needed a little something extra. A simple slice of American cheese later and the cheeseburger was born, spawning hundreds of variations across the country and inspiring Pasadena to celebrate its prodigal son with a week dedicated to all things cheeseburger. Choose from a few dozen Pasadena restaurants to take advantage of burger deals and special creations and vote in the Cheeseburger Challenge. The annual week-long celebration only confirms what Sternberger knew all along: Everything tastes better with cheese.

The Boy Who Lived lives on in a wizardly spectacle. As though it had cast a Shrinking Charm on itself, the formerly two-part epic is now a single show, albeit a long one—and one that our New York critic awarded five stars.

This exhibition of 21 soundstage-sized installations has floated its way into L.A. Don’t expect mere bundles of birthday balloons: Instead, these pieces range from room-filling ball pits to reflective LED tunnels to giant grabbable bubbles, all inspired by air in some way. The “museum” part of the name might be a little bit of a stretch (though each photogenic piece is actually credited to a named artist), but the “Let’s Fly” edition of this touring show is a more fun experience than your run-of-the-mill made-for-Instagram attraction: Whether you’re bonking the bouncy “Ginjos,” pushing a charcoal-tipped sphere or getting swept up in a staticky whirlwind of balloons, there are some undeniably entertaining—and yes, very photogenic—hands-on scenes here.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House—centerpiece of Barnsdall Art Park and Los Angeles’ only UNESCO World Heritage Site—just might be the most stunning backdrop for an art exhibition. And, in this case, the home is the subject itself, too. L.A.-based photographer Ireland captured the intricate details of the Hollyhock House in 21 photographs on display throughout the onetime residence.

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, Luminosa 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.

Austrian-born Helmut Lang walked away from fashion 20 years ago to focus solely on art. Now, thanks to the MAK Center for Art and Architecture, his first solo institutional exhibition is opening in Los Angeles—in the historic Schindler House, no less. Curated by Desert X founding artistic director and Frieze Projects curator Neville Wakefield, the show consists of a series of fist-like freestanding sculptures made with found or discarded materials that “both imagine the future and materialize the past.”

For the Record, a live production company known for transforming the soundtracks of favorite filmmakers into immersive musicals, is back with its most impressive display yet: CineVita, the world’s largest Spiegeltent, will be FTR’s new home in Hollywood Park, next to SoFi Stadium. And it’s kicking things off with Tarantino: Pulp Rock, which celebrates 30 years of Pulp Fiction and re-creates memorable musical moments from the director’s Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill, Inglourious Basterds and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.