TIME OUT LA: August 2023 events for LA
https://www.timeout.com/los-angeles/things-to-do/august-events-calendar
Edited by Michael Juliano
Thursday September 1 2022
Plan your month with our August 2023 events calendar of the best activities, including free things to do, movie screenings and more
August may signal summer’s home stretch, but that doesn’t mean the seasonal vibes need to end. Grab an ice cream cone, splash around in a swimming hole or dine outside—and make sure to follow our August events calendar for the best activities in L.A. this month.
RECOMMENDED: Full events calendar for 2023
The best events in L.A. this August
Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898–1971
Art
Film and video
Miracle Mile
Until Apr 9, 2023
To follow its retrospective of beloved animator Hayao Miyazaki, the Academy Museum will next focus on nearly an entire century of often-overlooked cinema. A collaboration with Washington, D.C.’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, “Regeneration” dives into the works of Black filmmakers from the birth of the motion picture industry through the Civil Rights era. The research-driven exhibition counts filmmakers Ava DuVernay and Charles Burnett among its advisers.
KCRW Summer Nights
Music
Little Tokyo
Until Sep 29, 2022
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 particularly packed.
Familiar KCRW DJs and local buzz bands will be providing free, open-air tunes on select nights from July through September at the Hammer Museum, One Colorado, CAAM, Descanso Gardens, Bowers Museum, the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, JANM and—our favorite—the party-till-midnight bashes at Chinatown Central Plaza. This year’s lineup features Ambar Lucid, Hana Vu and Mark de Clive-Lowe, among others, and KCRW DJs including Anthony Valadez, Jason Bentley, Novena Carmel and more.
The details slightly differ at each spot, but you can typically expect a bunch of food trucks, beer gardens and after-hours museum admission. Regardless of the location, you really can’t go wrong with any evening spent at Summer Nights.
Grand Performances
Music
Downtown
Until Sep 24, 2022
This epic (and free) outdoor concert series features live performances by artists from around the world at the totally overhauled California Plaza stage in DTLA, where the shallow water separating the stage from the audience has been replaced by a proper event lawn. Don’t miss a diverse and highly intriguing mix of bands, DJ sets and dance parties.
Sunday Afternoon Concerts in the Dome
Music
Classical and opera
Angeles National Forest
Until Oct 2, 2022
Listen to classical and jazz in a dome more than a mile above L.A. during this mountaintop concert series. The Mount Wilson Observatory is hosting monthly concerts this summer (after an abbreviated version of its season last year) inside the dome of its 100-inch Hooker telescope, which was the largest telescope in the world for much of the first half of the 20th century.
Takashi Murakami: Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow + This Is Not America’s Flag
Art
Downtown
Until Sep 25, 2022
Takashi Murakami is the center of the Broad’s specially ticketed spring exhibition, alongside a second exhibition that explores the symbolism of the American flag. Both are on display in the museum’s first-floor galleries from through September 25.
Street Food Cinema
Movie theaters
Outdoor
Pasadena
Until Oct 29, 2022
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—usually alfresco, sometimes in a drive-in format—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. 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.
Eat|See|Hear
Movies
North Hollywood
Until Oct 29, 2022
Eat|See|Hear travels to different locales throughout the city on select weekends during the summer, showing cult flicks on an inflatable screen taller than your average Malibu mansion. Bring your own bites or sample snacks from the featured food vendor and show up early for a set from local L.A. bands. Parking is free at most of the venues, and tickets for screenings at the Autry even include admission to the museum. What’s more? If you want to skip the crowds and stroll in casually during the opening credits, spring for a VIP pass, which guarantees you a reserved seat in front. All of the events dog-friendly, and a portion of ticket sales benefit Best Friends Animal Society.
Dress Codes
Things to do
Exhibitions
Griffith Park
Until Jan 8, 2023
Blue jeans, plaid shirts, fringed jackets, aloha shirts, cowboy boots, China Poblana dresses: How we dress says so much about who we are and where we come from, so the Autry is hosting an exhibition about those six closet staples as defining pieces of Western dress.
The Power of Women in Country Music
Things to do
Exhibitions
South Park
Until Oct 2, 2022
See guitars, gowns, banjos and boots from 70 female artists who’ve shaped country music during this GRAMMY Museum exhibition. The exhibit traces the genre’s history from its origin through post-WWII and the emergence of the Nashville scene to today. Expect to see artifacts from the likes of Dolly Parton, Rosanne Cash, LeAnn Rimes, Shania Twain, Taylor Swift and more.
Lee Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse
Art
Textiles
Miracle Mile
Until Oct 9, 2022
LACMA looks to the myriad cultural inspirations behind more than 70 of Alexander McQueen’s conceptually and aesthetically imaginative dresses.