Things to do in Los Angeles today

Everyone’s favorite NPR member station has a hand in a slew of summer concert slates at public plazas and beloved museums, and this summer’s schedule is reliably packed. Familiar KCRW DJs and local buzz bands will be providing free, open-air tunes on select nights from June through September at Union Station, CAAM, Descanso Gardens, Bowers Museum, Wende Museum, the Autry, Benny Boy Brewing, Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, California Plaza and—our favorite—the party-till-midnight bashes at Chinatown Central Plaza. The details slightly differ at each spot, but you can typically expect a bunch of food trucks, beer gardens and after-hours museum admission. This year, there’s even a kid-oriented installment at the Kidspace Children’s Museum, where DJ Lance Rock of Yo Gabba Gabba is the special guest. Regardless of the location, you really can’t go wrong with any evening spent at Summer Nights. (Note: The kickoff June 7 event at Benny Boy Brewing and Aug. 29’s Descanso Gardens event are only for KCRW members).

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.

It isn’t summer in L.A. until the first cemetery screening brings hoards of movie-lovers to Hollywood Forever Cemetery, toting folding chairs, picnic blankets, snack spreads and lots of booze. Each year, Cinespia brings classic cult favorites to the hallowed resting place of such Hollywood greats as Rudolph Valentino and Bugsy Siegel. The series typically releases its slate one month at a time, with summertime screenings at the cemetery and a few off-site ones on either end (usually at L.A. State Historic Park). For each evening at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, pack a picnic (yes, booze is allowed), pose in the photo booth and enjoy DJ sets, dance parties and all sorts of other magical mischief that’d otherwise be strictly forbidden behind the cemetery gates. The outdoor screenings are an L.A. rite of passage, a quintessential summer experience and one of the best film venues in the city. Just be sure to get your ticket early, arrive early, pee early… it’s a popular affair, to say the least.

For dinner and a movie, all in one, just follow the food trucks. During the spring, summer and fall, Street Food Cinema throws together a series of outdoor parties that include screenings of some of our favorite movies, paired with an assortment of gourmet food trucks and even a live music performance from a cool local band. The screenings are held in venues across L.A. into October and alternate from week to week, so make sure to check the schedule. Some of the outdoor venues are dog-friendly, allowing you to bring your four-legged cinema lover along. See more of this season’s outdoor movie screenings in L.A.

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.

This special exhibition at the Broad makes its way to Downtown L.A. from the 2024 Venice Biennale—and Angelenos should consider themselves lucky that such a remarkable display has set up stateside. Jeffrey Gibson became the first Indigenous artist to represent the United States with a solo exhibition at the Italian art event, and this adaptation of that show, “the space in which to place me,” assembles 30-plus pieces of geometrically-patterned paintings and glass bead–adorned sculptures into the first-floor galleries of the Broad. Born in Colorado with tribal roots in the Southeast U.S., Gibson explores Indigenous identity as well as queer history by fusing pop music lyrics and foundational American documents into psychedelic statements on belonging, history and oppression; the Declaration of Independence’s “we hold these truths to be self-evident…” line—but not “all men are created equal”—is spelled out across brilliantly saturated beads that’ve been affixed to a literal punching bag. But this is ultimately a joyous show, an inclusive celebration of survival, resilience and empowerment that pays tribute to histories of resistance and looks optimistically forward. Unlike the rest of the otherwise free museum, you’ll need to buy a $15 ticket to see Gibson’s exhibition. And while it’s absolutely worth the price, you can save by taking advantage of free admission on Thursday evenings after 5pm. Expect an accompanying slate of performances, talks and workshops, as well.

The L.A. Conservancy offers a delightful summer time machine in the form of classic films, screened inside Downtown’s grand old movie palaces throughout the month of June. This year’s film lineup The Freshman and Roman Holiday at the Orpheum Theatre on June 7, The 39 Steps and The Lady Vanishes at the United Theater on roadway on June 14, and High Noon and Carmen Jones at the Million Dollar Theatre on June 21. Most screenings include a special introduction and a post-film Q&A, and there are also ticket bundles that add in a proper theater tour.

Watch a slate of classics from the past couple of decades on one of the prettiest rooftops—now called Oasis—in Hollywood at this outdoor screenings series. All movies are piped in over sets of provided wireless headphones. Before showtime, make sure to hit up the bar or the on-site kitchen.

Who better to christen the new Hollywood Bowl season than Wolverine himself? The ultimate multihyphenate, Hugh Jackman will return to the iconic venue to perform songs from both his Broadway and onscreen roles, including tunes from The Greatest Showman, The Boy from Oz and The Music Man. He’ll be joined by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and Youth Orchestra Los Angeles, as well as a “very special guest.” Oh, and there will be fireworks.

The Skirball’s latest pop culture exhibition takes a deep dive into the six-decade career of legendary comic book artist Jack Kirby. You might know him as the co-creator of Captain America, Black Panther, the Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men and some of the Marvel universe’s most cosmic characters. But did you know he was also a first-generation Jewish American born to immigrant parents, World War II veteran and family man who split his time between New York and Los Angeles? The exhibition only occupies a few small galleries, but it’s stuffed with information about Kirby’s life, as well as pristine prints of issues plus his original comic illustrations—many on view for the first time. It’s not just a Marvel showcase, either: You’ll find some of the work Kirby did for DC, plus personal collages, a drawing he gave to Paul and Linda McCartney, and a fantastic reproduction of a costume he designed for a UC Santa Cruz production of Julius Caesar. Though not explicitly framed this way, the exhibition also presents a clear-as-day retort to any contemporary fans who decry comic book stories today as too “political”: Marvel has been political from the very start. Kirby’s cover for the first issue of Captain America features Cap punching Hitler—a full year before America would break its isolationist policies and enter WWII. The fifth issue follows Captain America in a battle against the German American Bund, a domestic Nazi organization that staged an infamous...