Every Summer, LA becomes abuzz with events galore; from outdoor movie screenings to food truck festivals and everything in between, the events this summer are non-stop. But since we hate feeling overwhelmed with the endless choices of what to do, we've narrowed it down to the 10 essential events.
1. Arroyo Seco Weekend -- June 24th/25th : An inaugural new music festival by Goldenvoice, Arroyo Seco Weekend has already made quite a splash in the local music scene. The two-day event boasts an impressive line-up of bands from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers to Mumford & Sons. But the Coachella organizers have been equally savvy in their food choices, working with local restaurants like Barrel & Ashes, Broken Spanish, Fritzi Coop, Kettle Black, Kogi, Sawyer and more to provide the bites, making this event fit for foodies and music lovers alike.
2. Eat.See.Here / Street Food Cinema / Cinespia / Rooftop Cinema Club : Ok, this technically counts as 4 separate events. But to avoid overwhelming you with a million different outdoor film-viewing possibilities, I'm consolidating them. Ever since Cinespia, movie screenings at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, became the thing to do during the summer, other outdoor film screenings keep cropping up. Each one offers something unique; Eat.See.Hear opens all of their movies with a concert and features a handful of food trucks to supply the night's bites. Street Food Cinema is allll about the food trucks, while Rooftop Cinema Club hosts their outdoor movie screenings on (you guessed it) a rooftop in Hollywood.
3. DT Stage Concert Series @ Pershing Square : Like our outdoor movie obsession, LA is also a city full of free concerts come summertime. Most of them are just ok, but the line-up for the DT Stage Concert Series in Pershing Square actually looks great, with The Wallflowers headlining on July 15th.
4. Harry Potter @ The Hollywood Bowl : Since who knows how long we'll have to wait before The Cursed Child makes its way to The Pantages, in the meantime, we'll just have to enjoy our favorite childhood movies in concert at LA's grandest venue. The LA Philharmonic will be playing along to John Williams' iconic score as we watch The Chamber of Secrets and The Prisoner of Azkaban.
5. FYF Fest -- July 21st-23rd : One of LA's most underrated (but fairly long-running) music festivals, FYF at Exposition Park always manages to fly under-the-radar but boasts a cult following of people who attend every year. This year, the lineup includes a ragtag mix of Missy Elliot, Bjork, Nine Inch Nails, and Frank Ocean as headliners, with acts like Iggy Pop, Solange, MGMT, Hannibal Buress, and plenty more rounding out the quirky event.
