Michael Juliano

After endless, premature teases from retailers, the holidays are almost here for real and they’ve taken over our December events calendar. Dive into the spirit of giving with a stop at one of the best gift shops in L.A. or behold one of the city’s best Christmas lights displays. If you’re sticking around town this year and feeling a little lonely, maybe consider embracing it with some me-time one of these secluded getaways. Whatever your plans are—even if you’re feeling like a bit of a grinch—you’ll find plenty of activities to take advantage of in our December events calendar. RECOMMENDED: Full events calendar for 2023

When looking for the best places to trick-or-treat in Los Angeles, there are options all throughout the city. Like picking a pumpkin, choosing the best neighborhood where kids (and let’s be honest, parents) can score the best Halloween candy is a crucial aspect to nailing the holiday. There are plenty of options: Stroll through the posh streets of Brentwood, head over the hill to old-school Toluca Lake and or hit Venice Beach for seaside trick or treating—gondola rides included. Dress up in your best Halloween costumes and hit the streets. And if you’re looking for something to do after you’ve put the kids to bed, L.A. has some of the best Halloween parties around!  RECOMMENDED: More Halloween in L.A. A quick heads up for all of our picks below: Just remember that it’s always up to individual homeowners whether or not they choose to partake in trick-or-treating festivities, so your experience may vary from year to year.

We don’t know about you, but our mind is always focused on the weekend. It can never come soon enough—which is why we’re already thinking about what new restaurants we want to try or where we can drive for the day. Whether you’re looking to scope out the latest museum exhibitions or watch a movie outdoors, you’ll find plenty of things to do in L.A. this weekend. We curate an L.A. weekend itinerary of the city’s best concerts, culture and cuisine, every week, just for you.

Not all Halloween events are hell-bent on scaring you straight. Well, alright, a lot of them are, but in addition to haunted houses and spooky screenings you’ll also find some family-friendly activities and trick-or-treating opportunities. To make your Halloween planning a little bit easier, we’ve split this feature in two: scary and adult-focused events are toward the top with a whole section of kid-friendly events about halfway down the page. Outside of these picks, if you’re looking for a real taste of the fall, you’ll find apple picking aplenty and—for the thrill-seekers—some real-life haunted places. But if you simply want something festive, there’s no shortage of worthwhile Halloween events in Los Angeles. RECOMMENDED: See more of Halloween in L.A.

Good news: The West Hollywood Halloween Carnaval is back this year for the first time since 2019. But it’s not the only big happening in L.A.’s Halloween party calendar. We’re keeping tabs on soirees in Downtown theaters and sweaty dance parties in Hollywood clubs to pull together some standout events for All Hallows’ Eve. RECOMMENDED: See more in our guide to Halloween in L.A.

It’s that time again. Every year, we ask thousands of city-dwellers to tell us the coolest spots in their cities. What are the places locals love and visitors flock to? Where are the exciting new openings across food, drink and culture? Where are people going out, hanging out and having fun? For the sixth year running, the results are in. Over 12,000 people had their say in this year’s shortlist, naming the neighbourhoods in their hometowns where everyone wants to be right now. Then, we narrowed down the selection with the insight and expertise of city editors and local experts who know their cities better than anyone else. To create and rank the final list, we considered factors including community and social ventures, access to open and green space, and thriving street life. In 2023, our neighbourhoods are more global than ever before. The rise and rise in post-pandemic digital nomadism has led to an explosion of brand-new community spaces, multi-purpose culture centres and more cafés than we can count on two hands. But while most of these neighbourhoods have experienced a transformation over recent years, they remain resolutely local at heart. Slick new developments and cool cafés might bring in new crowds, but neighbourhood stalwarts – from old pubs to family greengrocers – keep it real.  The world’s coolest neighbourhoods this year are, therefore, places with big personalities. Each area’s diversity is reflected in its food, culture and festivals. Community is key: local

It only took about 70 years, but television is finally getting some respect. In the decades leading up to this point, TV was largely considered among the lowest forms of entertainment. It was smeared as ‘the idiot box’, ‘the boob tube’. Edward R Murrow referred to it as ‘the opiate of the masses’, and Bruce Springsteen even wrote a song about the malaise of fruitless channel surfing. Was its poor reputation deserved? Certainly, the ratio of garbage to gold was high, and though it’s hard to quantify if it was worse than any other artistic medium, the fact that it was all being beamed directly into your living room made the dreck much harder to avoid.  That’s all changed. Television is now the dominant medium in basically all of entertainment, to the degree that the only thing separating movies and TV is the screen you’re watching on. The shift in perception is widely credited to the arrival of The Sopranos, which completely reinvented the notion of what a TV show could do, and the advent of streaming has made it so that hundreds of new shows are now continually flipping the script every few years, if not months.  But that doesn’t mean everything before 1999 is pure dross. Far from it: television has been popular since World War II, after all. And while this list is dominated by 21st century programs, there are hundreds of shows that deserve credit for pushing TV forward into its current golden age. Chiselling them down to a neat hundred is tough, so we elected to leave off tal

You probably don’t have to be told that there’s a lot of TV out there right now – your monthly streaming budget says it plainly enough. It seems like every few weeks, another must-see show is dropping on some brand new platform, and somehow you get roped into yet another subscription just so you don’t find yourself left out of the cultural loop. And then, inevitably, you never end up watching the new thing, because you’re already watching a half-dozen other shows you’re still trying to finish. Allow us to help you prioritise. To help you figure out how best to focus your telly time, we’re conducting an ongoing ranking of the most elite television series of 2023. Certainly some you’re well aware of, like Succession, Top Boy, The Last of Us and The Bear. Others may have slipped under your radar, such as Amazon’s surreal I’m a Virgo, Fox’s hilarious Colin From Accounts or Jury Duty on [checks notes]... something called FreeVee? All are totally binge-worthy. But binge them fast, because in 2023, the shows never stop coming, and this list is sure to grow.  RECOMMENDED:🔥 The best movies of 2023 (so far)📺 The 100 greatest ever TV shows you need to binge😂 The best comedies of 2023 (so far)🎞️ The best movies to catch at the cinema this month

If we could write the rules of living in Los Angeles this would be our No. 1, always at the top of our list: When you live in this city, there’s no excuse for boredom just because it’s a weeknight. There are hundreds of things to do in Los Angeles each week, whether you hit the beach at sunset or go for a morning bike ride, or catch a concert or a comedy show—and that’s really only scratching the surface. Well, we don’t make the rules, but we will provide you with plenty of ideas for your next free weeknight right here. Now go out (or, in a few cases, stay in) and tackle these things to do in L.A. this week.

Sure, you won’t find snow-covered trees and below-zero temperatures in L.A., but there are still plenty of Christmas events and holiday activities to get you in the festive mood—even when it’s 70 and sunny in December. With outdoor movie screenings, illuminated walks in botanical gardens, holiday plays, festive takeovers of theme parks and Christmas lights all over town, our list of the city’s best events and things to do this season will help make L.A. a winter wonderland all month long. RECOMMENDED: Full guide to Christmas in Los Angeles

There are plenty of things to do in our November events calendar before you need to start thawing that turkey—or, you know, just tapping a button to secure your fully-cooked dinner order. Balance the upcoming holidays with equal parts generosity (try one of these volunteer opportunities) and gluttony (gorge on the best pies in Los Angeles). So bundle up for an early peek at Christmas lights or some festive screenings and take advantage of all there is to do in our November 2023 events calendar. RECOMMENDED: Full events calendar for 2023

And the countdown to Christmas begins! There are little markers in L.A. that let us know that one of the most exciting times of the year is soon approaching: Christmas lights being lit, holiday music on the radio and the Hollywood Christmas Parade. Every year, thousands of Angelenos don their most festive apparel (still too tight from Thanksgiving dinner) and head to the Hollywood Walk of Fame as it’s transformed into a winter sort-of-wonderland. Here’s everything you need to know about the Hollywood Christmas Parade, one of the first major Christmas events of the season. When is the Hollywood Christmas Parade 2023? The Hollywood Christmas Parade takes place on Sunday, November 26, 2023 at 6pm. How can I watch the parade? Reserved grandstand seating will be available to purchase here. Reserved spots are likely to cost upwares of $100, but curbside viewing along the parade route after Highland Avenue is free. If you just want to watch on TV, all of the action usually airs closer to Christmas on the CW and KTLA (this year’s air date is still to come). Where does the parade start? The parade begins at Hollywood Boulevard and Orange Drive, in front of the Chinese Theatre, and heads east. It then turns south onto Vine Street and west onto Sunset Boulevard, where it continues until reaching Orange Drive. A route map and street closure information can be found here. Who will be appearing? Erik Estrada, Laura McKenzie, Dean Cain, Montel Williams and Elizabeth Stanton will host. The r

Pop-punk heavyweights Blink-182 underwent an unlikely renaissance about a decade back thanks to its 2011 comeback album, Neighborhoods—which turned out to be the last release with its original trio. Cofrontman Tom DeLonge departed, and though his trademark hyperexaggerated whine is nigh impossible to replicate, Alkaline Trio’s Matt Skiba brought a fresh perspective as his replacement. Now, as the 20-year nostalgia cycle has brought aughts-era pop-punk back into popularity, DeLonge will rejoin Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker for a world tour that includes a stop in L.A. at SoFi Stadium. Tickets go on sale Friday, October 27 at 10am.

The L.A. Zoo is staying open after dark most nights through January during this delightful take on its light-up holiday tradition. For the 2023 edition, L.A. Zoo Lights is adding some new sculptures and “Winter Wildlands,” a section inspired by snow-loving animals. Here’s what had to say about last year’s event: The event’s “Animals Aglow” edition has gone all in on oversized animal-shaped lanterns, and the result is a colorful, charming trail that celebrates the zoo’s natural inhabitants. The lanterns inspired by the venue’s wild residents (elephants, giraffes, koalas and condors, among them) are plentiful and vibrant, and many of them come to life with playful movements (birds and butterflies flap their wings while a chameleon flicks its tongue). Flora shares some of the focus, too, particularly along the trail of pink cherry blossom lights. Though Zoo Lights has eschewed just about all overtly Christmassy elements (a thematically focused upgrade, in our opinion), it hasn’t ditched interactive spectacle. You can stomp on a color-changing pathway, relax on illuminated swings, dance inside a shell of kaleidoscopic mirrors, squawk like a parrot and shuffle through a pulsating wisteria tunnel (expect to wait in a long but quick-moving line if you want to enter that light tunnel). Buy your timed tickets (available in two sessions nightly) in advance to avoid the worst of the entry lines, and stick to the “value” nights if you want to save $5 on admission. Also, wear comfortable

It’s only the greatest Christmas song of all time, and now you can belt it out with a chorus of more than 17,000 other fans and the Queen of Christmas herself. Mariah Carey is bringing her “Merry Christmas One and All!” tour to Los Angeles with a stop at the Hollywood Bowl on November 17 and 19 (as well as at the Yaamava’ Casino in San Bernardino County on November 15). And yes, “All I Want for Christmas is You” will absolutely be in the setlist; if last year’s concerts at Madison Square Garden are any indication, expect around 20 other holiday standards, plus at least one performance of Carey’s most famous festive earworm during the encore. Of course, there’s just one thing you’ll need if you want to see the show: a ticket. For the second date (the 19th) presale for American Express cardholders starts on Wednesday, October 18 at 10am followed by several presales on Thursday, October 19 at 10am. Finally, general sale starts Friday, October 20 at 10am. In the meantime—or if Ticketmaster Santa doesn’t make your wish come true—you can listen to nothing but Mariah’s Merry Christmas album for 12 days straight, as one of our editors once did.

This Halloween, the Pacific Design Center will host spooky photo ops and mini experiences inspired by a half-dozen horror films and series on Hulu. Dubbed Huluween: Now Screaming, the free event (Oct 29–31) will be broken up into three zones: “scary,” “very scary” and “very, very scary” (“corporate synergy levels of scary” must not have made the cut). In the “scary” zone, you can get your photo snapped during a jump scare themed to the new Goosebumps streaming series. Moving up to “very scary,” you can scope out costumes from American Horror Story (plus spider webs and a self-rocking cradle from the current Delicate season) and explore shelves of organs and an evil scientist’s lab from spin-off anthology series American Horror Stories. Finally, the “very, very scary” zone will set the terrifying namesake doll from the Annabelle series upon you, stick you in a therapy session gone wrong from The Boogeyman and interact with a contortionist inspired by The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Timed tickets are preferred, though there’ll be a standby line, as well (which will be somewhat hilariously disguised as a hedge maze).

Stroll through a mile-long trail filled with all things pumpkins, including an illuminated forest of jack-o’-lanterns, during Descanso Gardens’ annual Carved. For three weeks this fall (Oct 6–29), the event lines a loop of the botanical garden with pumpkins in all sorts of forms: as a sea monster rising from a pond, in thick clusters on ground and cobbled together into a house. For the 2023 edition, Carved has slightly reconfigured the route, with an expanded Día de los Muertos ofrenda altar near the entrance (you can leave your own remembrance photo) and a new, larger area for the neon-hued tangle of the Rhizome installation. You’ll find two main areas of jack-o’-lanterns. The first is a forested section lined with expressively carved (but fake) pumpkins, some of which have been arranged into wonderfully whimsical characters (a crow-like scarecrow and a pumpkin holding its own head, among them). Meanwhile, there’s a pavilion in the rose garden with real ones whose designs are inspired by pop culture characters (plus a station where you can see them being carved). There are a few familiar sights if you’ve ever attended Descanso’s other holiday tradition, Enchanted, but tweaked for Halloween (stomp along the trunk-encircling platforms in the oak grove and you’ll hear shrill cackles instead of sparkly sounds). Like Enchanted, the music is moody (but not spooky or scary; this is definitely made for families) and the installations are artfully assembled: Sure, they could’ve just

“You know where you are? You’re in the jungle, baby.” So squeals Axl Rose these days with a little less sex appeal but still a spark of that Sunset Strip chaos. The band’s blistering, if often uneven and overlong, sets have all of the marks of an old-school stadium tour—or amphitheater, in the case of this two-night stint at the Hollywood Bowl. The ever-reliable Black Keys open the show with bluesy, crunchy grooves. A portion of proceeds from tickets and special edition T-shirt sales benefit the Los Angeles County Parks Foundation.

Presumably far less deadly than the fictional competition it’s based on, this real-life adaptation of Squid Game lets you compete in six challenges inspired by the Netflix series. Over the course of 70 minutes, you’ll rack up points in a series of games presented to you by the Front Man himself. Both before and after, you can grab a bite at a night market curated by chef Katianna Hong of the Arts District’s excellent Korean American deli, Yangban. Of course, there’ll be Squid Game merch for purchase, too, alongside photo ops and games. The event debuts at Television City on December 6 for a limited run. You’ll need a timed ticket, which starts at $39.

The Hammer Museum’s excellent, ongoing series of biennial exhibitions ups the ante each year with its spotlight on emerging and under-recognized L.A. artists, and the sixth edition is no exception. Titled “Acts of Living,” this year’s show focuses on how art is inseperable from everyday life and includes a mix of new commissions and historical works from 39 up-and-coming and prolific artists. Under the curation of Diana Nawi and Pablo José Ramírez, there’s a playful but poignant perspective on display from many of the artists being showcased here. Using squares of soil sourced from 144 L.A. neighborhoods, Jackie Amézquita drew landmarks and diasporic communities from each area. Christopher Suarez created a ceramic replica of Long Beach and the Los Angeles Contemporary Archive made an immitation break room that lets you look through art archives. Guadalupe Rosales has combined Mesoamerican altars with contemporary rave culture, while Roksana Pirouzmand sorts through flying family photos in a small room with a window on one side that resembles her house and her grandmother’s house in Iran on the other. Unlike the 2020 edition (which didn’t debut until 2021), this one won’t share its hosting duties with the Huntington. That’s no surprise, though, considering that the Hammer now boasts a larger, fully-realized venue.

Friends of Residential Treasures: Los Angeles is back with another map of storybook-style homes—and this time they’re focusing on some towers and turrets. Amber Benson, the Witches of Echo Park novelist and a mid-series regular on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, has once again curated a guide to five castle-like houses, spread between the Hollywood Hills and University Park. The actual route and selections will become available on October 4 (it’s free if you sign up on FORT:LA’s site). To be clear, the map won’t grant you access inside of each home, but it will help you set an itinerary for gawking at them from the sidewalk. The full route requires use of a car, and we’d be particularly carefully navigating the winding, narrow streets around a trio of sites clustered close together in Hollywood. On the other hand, once you actually get to these specific spots, they’re pretty good launching points for trails and stair hikes.

While some may scoff at the idea of Grand Avenue becoming L.A.’s Champs-Élysées, we’re too busy making the most of the Downtown street’s cultural treasures to even engage in that argument. For one afternoon, more than a dozen institutions will celebrate their Bunker Hill home with free performances, exhibitions and tours. Most of the action takes place on Grand Avenue between Temple and Sixth Streets. Highlights of this year’s event include the chance to conduct a small chamber orchestra and try instruments at the Colburn School; a DIY violin-building workshop at the Walt Disney Concert Hall; a sugar skull workshop and building tours at the Los Angeles Central Library; LA Opera recitals at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and a Day of the Dead celebration at Grand Park. Other participating institutions include the Broad, MOCA, REDCAT, the Music Center, Center Theatre Group, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Grand Performances and Metro, which now has a station just off of Grand Avenue atop Bunker Hill. In addition, the Downtown Center Business Improvement District will be hosting an augmented reality art experience at the Omni Hotel.

Bluey, the delightful animated show that you’re about as obsessed with as your toddler, is bringing its imaginative Brisbane living room a little closer to home with this Century Century pop-up. Toy store and craft center CAMP will recreate Bluey’s playroom complete with a two-story pillow fort and cardboard box castle as well as some of her favorite games (including magic asparagus and keepy uppy). Plus, you can pose with some adorable Bingo and Bluey costumed characters at the end—and of course pick up exclusive Bluey merch. The experience is aimed at kids ages four to eight and opens on November 6 on the second floor of the Westfield Century City; timed tickets ($36 to $46, depending on the day) are currently available through mid-January.

He’s a Lakers legend, an NBA commentator, a rapper, a DJ and a mid-’90s movie genie, and now you can add haunted house MC to that list: Shaquille O’Neal will once again be hosting a Halloween event in Long Beach this fall. Shaqtoberfest will take over the grounds outside of the Queen Mary from late September through Halloween with a mix of family-friendly attractions and after-dark haunts. Now that the oceanliner is open again, there’ll be programming on the Queen Mary this year, too, including a search for spirits in the belly of the ship. From the same producers as the L.A. Haunted Hayride, the experience includes a mix of trick-or-treating, games, food and drink, live entertainment and haunted trails. By day, the experience will lean more kid-friendly with a focus on trick-or-treating. By night, the lights and music turn up and the attention switches to the half-dozen haunted areas. (Perhaps one of them will be Shaq shooting free throws? We kid, of course.)

The persistent pace of openings in Los Angeles means that there’s always something new to check out—but that also inevitably means we have to witness the loss of some of our favorite hangouts, whether they’ve wound down on their own terms or against their will. With that in mind, we turned to our readers and posed this hypothetical question on our Instagram: If you could bring back any L.A. business, which one would you? The answers spanned categories, neighborhoods and eras. Some spots closed during the pandemic, others shuttered years ago. Some were decades-old institutions that made an impact on generations of Angelenos, and others were short-lived but no less beloved. No matter the circumstances surrounding their demise, these are the restaurants, bars, museums and music venues that our readers wish they could bring back, with a few words explaining each pick. Koo Koo Roo Titled after the sound of a crowing rooster, this L.A.-born chain specialized in its skinless charbroiled chicken—a relatively healthy option among the fast food landscape. After a quick expansion in the early ’90s, the number of locations began to dwindle, and to stay afloat Koo Koo Roo at one time purchased both Color Me Mine and now-defunct local chain Hamburger Hamlet; eventually, the last location in Santa Monica closed in 2014. “I would love to see Koo Koo Roo come back because their mac and cheese and grilled chicken were simply the best! Even as a young picky eater, I would look forward to whenev

When you spend your life in Los Angeles, there are some downright weird things you just get used to that seem peculiar to anyone else from out of town. But those sorts of things tend to happen around or to you; what about the odd behaviors that you personally pick up? So we turned to our social media followers to find out which habits people pick up here that are uniquely L.A. (After all, who’s a better authority on these than Angelenos?) As you’d expect, the majority of the responses were related to traffic and weather. There were also many mentions of alternative diets and not signaling, and while those are definitely pretty common occurrences here, they don’t strike us as uniquely L.A. The same goes for being able to watch sports games without staying up late or complaining about “cold” winter weather, which are more regional than L.A. things. With all that said, here are 11 uniquely L.A. habits people pick up after living here—whether for a few years or an entire lifetime—as chosen by our followers. 1. Driving an hour-plus to eat at a new restaurant that’s just opened. To be fair, that’s not much longer than the In-N-Out drive-through wait around dinnertime. 2. Straight-up making a left on red. Pulling up into the middle of an intersection while you wait to turn left? Totally legal, and the proper way to make an unprotected left. Having to wait until the light has turned red—while still in the middle of the intersection—to make a left turn? A necessary and surprisingly st

Silver Lake has regularly topped the polls in our annual Time Out Index, in which we ask readers around the globe to let us know what they love most about their cities. But this year the coolest neighborhood crown is heading just down the 101. The Arts District, the colorful, (maybe overly?) revitalized area on the eastern edge of Downtown L.A., claimed the title in L.A.’s reader-voted coolest neighborhood poll—and landed the Arts District at #13 on the list of the world’s coolest neighborhoods. Once a railroad-driven swath of warehouses, Downtown L.A.’s Arts District adorns its century-plus-old buildings with vibrant murals, sidewalk seating and a surprising amount of greenery for a formerly industrial area. A little less arts and a little more luxe these past few years, the neighborhood now beckons Angelenos for its booming craft brewery and restaurant scene: Expect Michelin-starred meals at Hayato, Kato and Camphor, unexpected riffs on Korean cuisine at Yangban and two of the very best meals in L.A. at superb siblings Bestia and Bavel. The biggest development over the past year or two in the Arts District might just be about how you get there. Parking is often tight but the recently reopened Metro A and E Line station well let you avoid that whole process; it’s only a few blocks from the neighborhood’s closest thing to a walkable center, roughly the intersection of 3rd Street and Traction Avenue. And, of course, the neighborhood sits on one side of the instantly-iconic new

When every movie theater in Los Angeles went dark in 2020, we weren’t sure which ones would be able to survive the lengthy shutdown (R.I.P. ArcLight). But around that same time, the temporary shuttering of one of Hollywood’s most historic theaters came with a silver lining: Netflix announced that it had bought the Egyptian Theatre and was embarking on a multi-year renovation. Now, on the 101st anniversary of the venue’s opening, Netflix and the American Cinematheque announced that the Egyptian Theatre will reopen on November 9 after a three-year restoration projection. Though Netflix now owns the building, it’ll share programming duties with the American Cinematheque. L.A.’s beloved not-for-profit film organization revived the venue in the late ‘90s and has kept it stocked with double bills and top-talent conversations ever since—including going forward on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. (Netflix will use the space for premieres and special events on weekdays.) Photograph: Courtesy Netflix So looking ahead, you’ll find both organizations’ fingerprints on the lineup: The theater will debut with a screening of David Fincher’s The Killer on November 9, including a Q&A from the director himself, as well as additional Netflix-distributed films like Bradley Cooper’s Maestro (Nov 22–Dec 7) and Wes Anderson’s The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (Dec 5). The American Cinematheque, meanwhile, will hold its annual celebration of large-format film prints, Ultra Cinematheque 70 Fest

Stroll through the Huntington’s globally themed gardens and you’ll feel as though you’ve been whisked off to a Chinese lake or a desert oasis. But amid all of these convincing recreations, the San Marino museum’s latest addition just might be its most genuinely enveloping one yet. A 320-year-old rural house that was built in Japan and occupied by one family for more than three centuries has been relocated to the Huntington. After a five-year restoration and shipping process, the Japanese Heritage Shōya House finally makes its public debut on October 21. We had a chance to tour the home ahead of its official opening, and as we meandered along the lush upper pathways of the Japanese garden, through the flower-fronted gatehouse and into the traditional home, it truly felt as if we’d left L.A. behind for a slice of countryside an ocean away. The home hails from Marugame, a coastal city in the southwest of Japan with a climate not too dissimilar from Southern California (and, yes, it’s the namesake of the noodle chain). It was built as a live-work space for shōya, village leaders who were a liaison between the government and the local farming community. At 3,000 square feet, it’s considerably larger than most other Edo period homes, which were typically closer to 400 square feet. All of that space would allow the shōya to collect taxes, store rice yields and entertain dignitaries. But it was also a private residence, one that might have accommodated as many as four generations at

It’s impossible to underestimate how surreal it is to ride in a car with an empty driver’s seat. The wheel is spinning on its own, the pedals are depressing without any feet on them and the autonomous vehicle’s touchscreens are visually reassuring you that, don’t worry, it can see those pedestrians, too. It’s seemingly just as strange for those onlookers as they all gawk, point and snap photos. These self-driving cars are about to become a much more common occurrence on the streets of Los Angeles, and average Angelenos will be able to go for a ride in them—for free. That’s thanks to the arrival of around-the-clock service from Waymo, the autonomous vehicle division of Google’s parent company Alphabet. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Time Out Los Angeles (@timeoutla) You might’ve already seen Waymo’s cars cruising L.A.’s streets with a human in the front seat over the past year, but starting this month the company will offer 24/7 autonomous passenger service that ditches the test drivers. The “early access” Waymo One Tour starts on October 11 in Santa Monica before moving on to Century City, West Hollywood, Mid City, Koreatown and Downtown L.A. into early 2024. Though the rides are free, you’ll need an access code (valid for a week) to start using the app. To get one, you can either join the waitlist (which will prioritize people in each service area) or nab a physical ticket at an in-person pop-up. Look out for ones at the Santa Monica Farmers

Ridesharing apps have significantly transformed how many of us get around in Los Angeles, whether we’re headed to concerts or home from a bar. But have you ever wondered where exactly everyone else is summoning a ride to? We found out exactly when Lyft shared some exclusive data with us about the most popular spots in L.A. among users of its ridesharing service (specifically for trips completed between July 2022 and July 2023).  About a third of the top 30 destinations in the L.A. area for Lyft riders are bars in West Hollywood. In fact, the Abbey, WeHo’s famous three-decade-old gay bar, is the most popular spot in all of L.A. for Lyft. Hi Tops, Barney’s Beanery, Rocco’s, Micky’s and Trunks were among some of the other destinations in the neighborhood toward the top. It’s no surprise to us that WeHo would be this popular among Lyft riders. The neighborhood is absolutely packed with worthwhile drinking dens (including Employees Only and the nearby Roger Room, which are both on our list of the best bars in all of L.A.), plus buzzy (and boozy) restaurants like Ardor, Merois and Catch. The other thing most of these spots have in common? Parking is often neither cheap nor easy, and though the city’s free trolley will shuttle you along Santa Monica Boulevard, there’s no rail line to get to there to begin with. Moving beyond WeHo, Santa Monica charted highly with both the Victorian and Jameson’s Pub toward the top; Bar Lis in Hollywood and the Waterfront Venice were also among the m

Whether you’ve looked on at San Francisco’s self-driving taxis in envy or terror, it’s time to ready yourself for their arrival in Los Angeles. Waymo, owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet, has actually already been testing its autonomous cars in L.A. for a while now. But starting this October, average Angelenos will be able to hail a ride in one of the company’s driverless cars—meaning there’s no human behind the steering wheel—and for free. Here’s how it works: As part of an “early access” program, Waymo will offer around-the-clock rides in a different neighborhood each month. Dubbed the Waymo One Tour, the program will start on October 11 in Santa Monica and follow that up with stints in Century City, West Hollywood, Mid City, Koreatown and Downtown L.A. through early 2024.   Courtesy Waymo   As far as actually hailing a car, which accommodates up to four people, you’ll need the Waymo One app as well as a “ticket to ride,” which you can unlock for free at an in-person Waymo pop-up or by signing up on the waitlist. For the latter method, Waymo says it’ll prioritize people who frequent one of the service areas. Once you secure your ticket, you’ll have access to 24/7 rides for a week. Speaking of neighborhoods, you’ll only be able to hail a ride and get dropped off within that month’s specific service area. But Waymo is taking a pretty liberal approach to all of its neighborhood boundaries: The Santa Monica service area will include Venice, and Mid City—which in its nar

Most restaurants and bars have maybe four types of lighting fixtures that repeat throughout the space. Level 8 has 476. The Houston Brothers’ latest nightlife destination cranks up the variety of imaginative environments from a duo already known for elaborately-themed venues. As its name suggests, Level 8 sports eight food-and-drink concepts that have taken over the entire eighth floor of Downtown L.A.’s new Moxy and AC Hotels. You’ll find a melting pot of globetrotting motifs—1970s Brazil, early-20th-century Japan, a 19th-century Spanish cathedral—among the three sit-down restaurants, cocktail lounge, pool bar, taco truck, raw bar and wrestling ring-equipped club. And there are plenty of hidden entrances (four of them) tucked inside, a hallmark of the guys whose bars have you walk into a fridge (Good Times at Davey Wayne’s) or underneath a bed (No Vacancy). Level 8 has been gradually opening venue-by-venue since late August, but you can expect all of them to be in service starting September 15. We showed up in the middle of that rollout so that twin brothers Mark and Jonnie could take us through all of the details of what’s already open, as well as what’s still to come. Photograph: Courtesy Michael KleinbergLucky Mizu And boy are there details to behold across the 30,000 square feet of nightlife spaces, from the textured, hand-painted wallpapers to the beautiful assortment of stone countertops to the intricate metalwork of the bathroom sinks imported from India. The duo

The crunch of leaves under your feet after months of drought, autumnal breezes blasting hot air all over the Southland, reds and oranges everywhere because everything is on fire—there’s truly nothing quite like fall in Los Angeles. But we’re exaggerating (just a little): L.A. isn’t entirely exempt from seasonal charm, and fall foliage is no exception. Of course, figuring out when that sole indicator of fall will actually show up is half the challenge, but thankfully SmokyMountains.com has a fall foliage prediction map for the entire country, including the L.A. area. The annual interactive map, which uses an algorithm that pulls in data from sources like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, typically tells what you probably already know: That foliage in Southern California lags behind much of the country. But that doesn’t seem to be the case this year: L.A.’s 2023 foliage outlook is pretty much in lockstep with the country’s Northeast. The map has L.A. pegged to hit a patchy and partial change of colors by mid-to-late September, with the peak forecasted for October 9—which is considerably sooner than our neighbors, so keep that in mind if you’re venturing into the surrounding mountain communities. Courtesy SmokyMountains.com Any number of weather conditions can, of course, alter those predictions, including sun, rain and unfortunately fire. As a result, we’ll update this story if and when the forecast changes. Once we work our way into October, it makes a lit

Tolerating L.A. traffic is a series of defeats and small victories—but mostly defeats. The same is often true of parking; anyone who’s circled the block over and over again in Koreatown or paid a premium for a spot in a Sunset Strip lot knows the agony of finding street parking. But parking doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom. Those small victories? You can thank curb colors for those. Here’s the gist: You can never park at a red curb, and white curbs—with a tiny number of exceptions—are for passenger loading only. But green and yellow-painted curbs are the secret spots of L.A. street parking. During the day they camouflage themselves as seemingly open spaces that you can’t actually park in, but at night it’s like they’re saved just for you. To complicate matters, each city within the county has its own set of parking rules. We’ve broken down the curb colors below with regulations for some of the most notable cities in the county, so before you throw it into park, make sure to figure out which city you’re in first. Yellow curbs Otherwise known as loading zones, these yellow-painted curbs are usually limited to passenger loading and commercial vehicles during the day (there’s typically a two or three-minute time limit for passengers and as much as 20 minutes for materials). But in most L.A. County cities, they turn into regular parking spots (subject to any posted street signs that say otherwise) at night. Below, we’ve listed when yellow curbs are enforced (meaning don’t par

The extreme late-nights and excessive booze may leave you second-guessing some of your choices after a weekend spent in Las Vegas. But for us, there’s one decision that’s truly the most regrettable: choosing to drive back from Vegas to L.A. on a Sunday or Monday morning. The traffic backup on the 15 freeway leaving Las Vegas can be an unmitigated nightmare, the sort of jam that has you wondering whether you should dare attempt to drive on a parallel dirt road and if your car can even handle it (no and no). That’s because three southbound lanes of the freeway historically narrowed down to two near the border town of Primm, causing hours-long backups until it went back to three lanes a few miles south of the California-Nevada state line. But some relief has finally arrived. About a year after it was initially supposed to open, California has finished a part-time extra lane on the southbound 15 freeway just south of the Nevada border. According to Caltrans, as of August 27, the shoulder will now be open to drivers on Sundays and Mondays from 10am to 8pm. Paired with some permanent third-lane additions just to the north, this now effectively eliminates the two-lane bottleneck on this notoriously backed up part of the freeway (which, make no mistake, will probably still continue to see some pretty terrible traffic). ATTN I-15 CA and NV border commuters. The I-15 Part-Time Lane will open this Sunday, Aug 27 for use. The lane will be available to use every Sunday and Monday from