Staying in town for the holiday weekend? We've come up with a sampling of fun things to do, from theatre that's really off the beaten path – picture yourself by the zoo or in a wooded canyon – to a couple of fun fireworks displays with other entertainment or sports tossed in the mix. Most galleries are closed for the long weekend, but museums are a great place to go on holidays. You can always catch a tour at LACMA and we suggest a couple more fun museum events too... Happy 4th of July!

Gallery & Museum Exhibitions

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Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) | Mid-Wilshire
Ed Ruscha: Here and Now Gallery Tour
Friday, July 5, 2024 | 2pm
Take a guided tour of this important survey spanning the artist’s early works produced while traveling through Europe, his installations presented at the Venice Biennale in 1970 and 2005, and his photographic documentation of the streets of LA from 1965 on... Free with Museum admission.

Autry Museum | Griffith Park
Stirs Up the Dust
Opening Day: Saturday, July 6, 2024
In her series of celestial couture garments entitled, Thunder Up Above, artist Wendy Red Star reimagines the regalia associated with powwow, a circular dance celebrated throughout Indigenous Plains cultures – including Red Star’s Crow Nation – in futuristic terms. Part of PST. Admission: $8–$18

Norton Simon Museum | Pasadena
Stories in the Afternoon
Sunday, July 7, 2024 | 3pm
This family program explores the book, Where Three Oceans Meet, written by Rajani LaRocca and illustrated by Archana Sreenivasan, about a family’s journey to the southern tip of India. After the presentation, use scratch art to create your own bold patterns inspired by bronze sculptures from Tamil Nadu. For children 4–8 years old. Free with Museum admission.

Film, Music, Theatre, Festivals & Dance

FILM: Cinespia presents Films & Fireworks
Hollywood Forever Cemetery | Hollywood
Thursday, July 4—Saturday, July 6, 2024
Doors Open: 7:15pm | Event: 9pm
Spread out your picnic blanket, catch a movie and celebrate the July 4th weekend when Cinespia presents a three-night series of fireworks-filled screenings: Rocky (July 4), Charlie’s Angels (July 5) and Shrek 2 (July 6). Tickets: $20 to $32

FILM: Transfiguration International Film Festival
Human Resources | Chinatown
Friday, July 5, 2024 | 6:30–11pm
Curated by Jonni Peppers, this traveling film festival showcases an eclectic variety of experimental short films by independent and student filmmakers.

FILM: Love Streams
Alamo Drafthouse | DTLA
Saturday, July 6, 2024 | 1:45pm
Filmmaker John Cassavetes and his collaborator / wife Gena Rowlands give fragile performances as siblings who reconnect after years apart. Tickets: $19.89+

MUSIC: Scheherazade
Hollywood Bowl
Tuesday, July 9, 2024
Gates Open: 6pm | Concert: 8pm
Conductor Elim Chan and violinist Augustin Hadelich spark wonder and adventure with vivid scenes from Rimsky-Korsakov’s fairytale-inspired classical music driven by stories about characters like Aladdin, Sinbad and Ali Baba. Tickets: $1–$147

THEATRE: As You Like It
Old Los Angeles Zoo | Los Feliz
July 10—September 1, 2024
Bring your picnic blankets to Griffith Park for a performance of this screwball romantic comedy, presented by LA’s Shakespeare in the Park. Free with RSVP.

THEATRE: Batette Follies of 1939
Montalbán Theatre | Hollywood
Through July 28, 2024 | 7pm and 10pm
Experience Prohibition-era Gotham City via this parody show blending vaudeville, burlesque and cabaret. Tickets: $39-154

THEATRE: Peter Pan
Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum | Topanga Canyon
June 22nd—October 4th, 2024
This Week’s Performance: Saturday, July 6 | 7:30pm
A retelling of J.M. Barrie’s story of the boy who never wanted to grow up, played in the woodsy setting of Topanga Canyon. Directed by Ellen Geer, this spin frames the original script through the eyes of Wendy and her children, encouraging the next generation never to lose their innocence of belief. Kid-friendly. Tickets: $15–$60

Literary, Readings & Book Launches

Sara Ellen Fowler’s Two Signatures
2220 Arts + Archives | Historic Filipinotown
Sunday, July 7, 2024 | 5:30pm
Poet Sara Ellen Fowler will read from her debut collection, Two Signatures, winner of the 2023 Agha Shahid Ali Prize in Poetry from the University of Utah Press. She will be joined by poets J Jennifer Espinoza and Rocket Caleshu. Free with RSVP.

Anime and Manga Club
El Monte Library | El Monte
Friday, July 5, 2024 | 4–5:30pm
Calling all teen anime lovers, ages 13–17! Come by to stream and discuss popular anime and manga.

Outdoor Lit Club: Undrowned
Cellar Door Bookstore | Riverside
Sunday, July 7, 2024 | 2pm
Participants will discuss Alexis Pauline Gumbs’s Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Animals, a book-length meditation for social movements and our whole species based on the subversive and transformative guidance of marine animals. 

Things To Do & Workshops

LA Dodgers v Diamondbacks + Fireworks
Dodgers Stadium | Elysian Park
Thursday, July 4, 2024 | 6:15pm
Root for the home team and stay after for the fireworks! Watch the pyrotechnics from your seat or get a special view from the outfield! Tickets starting at $54

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