Things To Do

52 Awesome Things To Do in L.A. This Weekend [5-18-18 to 5-20-18]

May 17, 2018 by We Like L.A. Staff

Los Angeles provides no limit of things to do, some awesome and some not so awesome.

Since time is precious in this fast paced city we curate a list of things to do in Los Angeles for every weekend that’ll help you decide how you want to spend your limited supply of attention (not to mention dollars!).

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This week weekend, from Friday, May 18 to Saturday, May 20, features LA Times Food Bowl Night Market, EEEEEATSCON, a Bug Fair at NHM, an L.A. LIVE Block Party, the California Strawberry Festival, a Cuban American Music fest Museums of the Arroyo Day, BEAT SWAP MEET  and MUCH more.

Remember you can always go to our L.A. events calendar page to get an updated rundown of what’s happening around the city.

Hope you find the rundown useful and, as always, enjoy your week!

NHM Bug Fair 2017

NHM Bug Fair 2017. Image via Natural History Museum Los Angeles


Keep in mind that while we retain complete editorial control of our content, for some of the ticketing options provided we utilize affiliate links and receive a commission if you purchase through our links.

Friday May 18th, 2018

1. LA Times Food Bowl Night Market (May 16-20) features dozens of restaurants and food trucks selling food for purchase, plus an assortment of DJ’d music and entertainment, taking place in Downtown Los Angeles’ Grand Park. Be sure to check for discounted tickets for access to the VIP Super Market as well. DISCOUNTED (via Goldstar)

2. Visit the Skirball Center for Uncorked Wine Festival, an evening of wine, food and live music happening May 18-20. Sample 50+ wines from family-owned and operated wineries from top wine regions from around the world. Ticket also comes with gourmet hors d’oeuvres and appetizers. Check for discounted tickets before making your purchase. DISCOUNTED (via Goldstar)

3. A free Night of Electronic Music at Union Station in Downtown Los Angeles featuring Rival Consoles, underground mainstay John Tejada (Kompakt) and Tottie (Dublab) in collaboration with Decibel Festival. FREE

4. WhedonCon 2018, taking place May 18-20 at Warner Center in Woodland Hills is a Joss Whedon-inspired convention that includes Fan Friday, Supernatural Saturday and Super Sunday.

5. Brennan’s will host a Friday PieDay Pizza Party Power Hour on the patio from 4 to 7 p.m. with free pepperoni or cheese pizza and live music.

6. ARTXFOOD, a nightly series of communal meals merging the worlds of art and cuisine, will take place at Goya Studios in Hollywood every evening from May 11 through June 3. Top Chef All Stars winner Richard Blais will create the food, while L.A. artist Greg Ito creates art that will surround you during the evening.

7. Rooftop Cinema Club returns to the rooftops of The Montalban in Hollywood and LEVEL in DTLA with multiple screenings this week that include Get Out, Coco, Top Gun and more.

8. Blogger turned fashion designer Sincerely Jules is having a sample sale from May 18-20 hosted by Eclipse.

9. Monrovia Days 2018 takes place May 18-20. The community fair will feature games, rides, food, vendors, a parade, live entertainment, and more to celebrate the city’s birthday. FREE

10. Urban Death: Spring, a haunted theater attraction, is currently in session at Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre Group in North Hollywood. Urban Death have terrorized audiences in L.A. for over a decade. Expect a completely new experience of inexplicable horrors and unfathomable monstrosities for this spring edition.

11. Vegan-friendly pub Tony’s Darts Away celebrates their 8th anniversary with a weekend-long party kicking off this Friday. Expect vegan and non-vegan food and plenty of special sour, old cellared, casks and rare craft beer. Party begins at midnight.

12. Online upscale consignment company Luxury Garage Sale (LSG) will pop-up IRL for a 30-day run in Los Angeles. The first location will launch Tuesday, May 15 at the Westfield Century City Mall, and a second will open Friday, June 1 at Westfield Topanga & The Village.

13. Happy Place has found a new home at LA Live’s Event Deck, opening on April 26 and running through May 27 the very Instagram friendly experience will feature a giant pot of gold and indoor confetti dome, a bath tub filled with rubber duckies and more. Happening all week. Check for discounted tickets before making your purchase. DISCOUNTED (via Goldstar)

14. Aussie fashion label Misha Collection is having a sample sale hosted by Eclipse from May 18-20.

15. Visit the Pasadena Showcase House of Design, a majestic Mediterranean masterpiece built in 1915 and designed by distinguished architect Reginald Davis Johnson, from April 22-May 20. The tours have been going strong since 1948, it’s also one of the oldest, largest and most successful house and garden tours in the country.

16. BB Dakota is having a sample sale from May 16-20. All items will be $10. Sizes range from xs to 2x and include dress, rompers, blazers, jackets and more.

17. The Unauthorized Musical Parody of Clueless takes over the Rockwell in Los Feliz with Broadway style performances in an intimate cabaret setting. Happening Thursday and throughout the weekend. (DISCOUNTED) via Goldstar

Saturday May 19th, 2018

18. EEEEEATSCON, by The Infatuation returns to Santa Monica’s Barker Hangar with a bevy of top restaurants from L.A. and the East Coast. Expect local favorites like Lunasia Dimsum House and Night + Market; New York spots Roberta’s, Fuku, Ravionly and San Francisco’s Liholiho Yacht Club to be in attendance.

19. The Wiltern will host cult classic film Fight Club with the Dust Brothers and Jacob Maymudes performing a live musical score to accompany the screening.

20. The L.A. LIVE Block Party will feature a pop-up marketplace with over 40 local vendors plus live music and food and drink specials from participating restaurants.

21. The 35th Annual California Strawberry Festival returns to Strawberry Meadows of College Park in Oxnard on May 19-20 for a weekend-long event packed with everything a strawberry lover could want.

22. Street Food Cinema returns this weekend with a screening of The Land Before Time at Park Center in Griffith Park and Wonder Woman at Glendale Central Park.  DISCOUNTED (via Goldstar)

23. The Venice Family Clinic Art Walk & Auction at the Google Campus on May 19-20 is a weekend filled with art and fundraising. This annual event, features a silent art auction, artist studio tours, art installations, food, live music and a beer and wine garden.

24. Pico Block Party is a celebratory afternoon taking place at 18th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica. The free family-friendly festival is focused on youth artists and empowering youth voices. FREE

25. Tom Gun Live brings back their Top Gun spoof party to Union Night Club in Hollywood this Saturday Night. The performance includes karaoke sing-a-longs
dance-offs, paper airplane battles, missiles ziplining through the crowd, and more.

26. HUSHfest returns for 2018, with five different Silent Disco events taking place on Saturday nights throughout the summer. These all-ages headphone dance parties will take place on the Santa Monica Pier. The first installment theme is Divas: Old School vs Material Girls vs Queen Bees.

27. Amoeba Hollywood is having a gigantic garage sale in their underground parking lot this Saturday. Expect bargains on vinyl, CDs, books, DVD, Blu-ray, 7″s, dance 12″s, VHS, magazines, posters, box sets, games and lots more. DJs from KXLU 88.9FM will provide the shopping soundtrack for sale.

28. Cinespia is back for its 17th summer season, at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery for screenings of films modern, cult, and classic. This Saturday they’ll screen Drive. 

29. Come greet your bug-eyed friends during the Bug Fair at NHMLA on May 19-20. Highlights include exotic bug collections, bug-created products, bug chefs and nature walks.

30. 7th Annual LitFest Pasadena, hosted within the Pasadena Playhouse District, is a literary-focused festival that’s free for all ages. The event takes place May 19-20 and features workshops, panels, readings and more. FREE

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31. Once every month Griffith Observatory hosts a free public star party allowing the public to view through telescopes to see the stars and beyond as well as discuss with knowledgeable amateur astronomers about our solar system. FREE

32. Eat|See|Hear returns for 2018 with a screening of E.T. The Extra Terrestrial at North Hollywood Recreation Center. Check for discounted tickets before making your purchase. DISCOUNTED (via Goldstar)

33. The Museum of Failure  in Hollywood and Highland includes epic failures like Juicero, Facebook Gifts, Pets.com, and Google Wave. There’s also an entire section dedicated to Hollywood with some of the industry’s biggest fails. Happening all week. Check for discounted tickets before making your purchase. DISCOUNTED (via Goldstar)

34. Beyond the Streets is a fully immersive exhibition of street and graffiti art comprised of over 30 artist in a massive 40,000+ square feet exhibits. Artist are an eclectic mix of street and beyond including Retna, Shepard Fairey, Kenny Scharf Dennis Hopper and Jenny Holzer. Open Tuesday through Sunday this week.

35. ClimateFest is a free community event that aims to inspire climate action. Get to know the community working on climate action, get educated about sustainability, enjoy music, entertainment, panels and workshops. FREE

36. The Beverly Hills artSHOW is four blocks of fine art featuring 240 artists from around the country. FREE

37. WE RISE, a free 10 day pop-up festival (May 19-28) will honor Mental Health Awareness Month through artists presentations, 50-hours of creative programming and workshops, activism, sports, art along, musical performances and panels – all focused on supporting a call to action for mental health as a civil right. Participating will be Common, Jesse Williams, Kobe Bryant, Shepard Fairey, Common, YG and much more. FREE

38. Join Katherine C. Grier, author of Pets in America: A History, as she discuss how pet accessories developed as early as the 1800s and learn about how our love for pets have evolved over the past two centuries into a 20 billion dollar industry during Pet Pampering 101: The History of Pet Products at Wallis Annenberg PetSpace. FREE

39. Tanaka Farms in Irvine is hosting a Strawberry Festival every Saturday and Sunday of May featuring strawberry treats, tours, vendors, ATV rides, bunnies, tours, ice cream making, games and much more. Admission to the farm is free.

40. Vanderpump Dogs 3rd Annual World Dog event takes place at West Hollywood Park featuring dog-friendly vendors, food trucks, a dog agility park, live entertainment, a wave surfing truck for dogs, adoptions and more. FREE

41. Museum of Selfies opens on April 1 and will run till May 31 with 10 interactive exhibits that welcomes visitors to take a closer look into the cultural phenomenon. The curators of the Glendale museum have also collected an array of Instagram-inspired art as well as an Iron Throne made of selfie sticks for guests to enjoy.

Sunday May 20th, 2018

42. On Sunday six area museums and historical homes will open their doors free of charge for Museums of the Arroyo Day. The list includes the Gamble House, Heritage Square, the Los Angeles Police Museum, the Lummis Home and Garden, the Pasadena Museum of History, and The Autry’s Historic Southwest Museum Mt. Washington Campus.  Back to the Future fans can head over to Pasadena’s famous Gamble House on May 20 for Doc Brown’s Open House during the day’s festivities. Meet Doc Brown at the DeLorean Time Machine, tour the house, enjoy free lemonade and cookies, play lawn games and more. FREE

43. BEAT SWAP MEET celebrates 10 years this Sunday! Shop, sell or trade records from passionate collectors, listen to music in four different areas, attend a scratch q&a by Open Format and more. BSM is held during Smorgasburg at ROW DTLA. Free to attend.

44. South Bay Beer & Wine Festival takes over Ernie Howlett Park in Rolling Hills Estates with over 80 food and drink vendors and unlimited samples.

45. Clean Made L.A. comes to California Market Center in Downtown Los Angeles with responsible vendors in clean food and beverage, beauty and wellness, fitness, home and garden, energy and sustainability, apparel, kids, pets, natural health, and more. There will also be speakers, demos, yoga, meditation hut and to other wellness events.

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46. Angel City Brewery’s 6th annual Heritage Music and Arts Festival is a celebration of the brewery’s sixth birthday and a salute to the culture and heritage of Angel City’s neighbors and community through a day of live art, music, dance, local food and cold beer.

47. Enjoy a day of Cuban culture when La Plaza de Cultura y Artes hosts the Cuban American Music Festival on Sunday, with four musical acts, dancing, local Cuban artists, and Cuban food and drink.

48. Visit The Skirball Cultural Center for A Place for Us a performance inspired by Leonard Bernstein’s mission of making classical music accessible to all, hear a special arrangement of the West Side Story classic “Somewhere,” plus an uplifting symphonic and choral repertoire performed by the Harmony Project and the Urban Voices Project: A Skid Row Choir.

49. Gourmet food, classic cars and tasty libations will collide at the CBS Studio Center Back Lot during Flavor of LA.

50. Dog Haus Running Club and Party Goats Los Angeles will join forces for a hike with goats at Echo Mountain in Pasadena. The hike cost $5 and will go directly to the goats. No dogs are allowed on this hike.

51. Alamo Drafthouse presents a screening of SPICE WORLD along with a party and drag bingo at The Regent in DTLA.

52. Speak Easy Yoga is a brand-new series curated especially for Hotel Indigo Los Angeles Downtown on Sundays through the end of May. Do a down dog and namaste to music from the 1920s. If you follow your yoga session with Indigo’s Bootlegger Brunch, it will include one complimentary beverage with purchase of a brunch entrée.


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