FILM
Zoot Suit with director Luis Valdez – 7:30 PM, July 23: Vidiots is thrilled to welcome the legendary Luis Valdez for a special screening of Zoot Suit, his memorable musical rendition of LA Chicano history starring Edward James Olmos. Plus! A Live DJ set from DJ Sleeepwalk! Vidiots, 4884 Eagle Rock Blvd., Los Angeles.
Leviticus – 4:45 PM, 7:30 PM, July 24: Young love can be a monster in this sizzling queer Australian slow-burn horror. Two teenage boys must escape a violent entity that takes the form of the person they desire most — each other. A mesmerizing and unnerving supernatural interpretation of conversion therapy, this is not only one of the best horror films of the year, it’s also one of the best love stories. Unique and disquieting with atmospheric dread in surround, don’t miss this summer scorcher in our microcinema. Vidiots, 4884 Eagle Rock Blvd., Los Angeles.
Spirited Away in 35mm – 2:30 PM, July 24: Spirited Away was Hayao Miyazaki’s first Oscar win, and the first hand-drawn, non-English-language animated film to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. The film invites audiences into a mind-bending supernatural realm when a wrong turn on a family road trip lands 10-year-old Chihiro in a mysterious dimension… populated by all manner of creatures, including soot gremlins (first introduced in My Neighbor Totoro), the giant witch Yubaba, and, most memorably, the enigmatic No Face. To find her parents and return to the real world, Chihiro must work at an enchanted bathhouse serving spirits of all shapes and sizes. A tour de force of surrealist invention, Spirited Away is a timeless wonder filled with whimsy and joy. Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, 6067 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles.
American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez – July 24-26, July 29 and 31: Against political resistance and industry skepticism, Luis Valdez pushes Chicano storytelling from the fields to the film screen with Zoot Suit and La Bamba, crafting iconic works that challenge, celebrate, and expand America’s story.
An auteur emerges from America’s underclass: from migrant farmworker to revolutionary artist, Luis Valdez changed American culture. In the 1960s, his El Teatro Campesino performed on flatbed trucks and helped mobilize workers to win the first farmworker union contract. His Zoot Suit was the first Chicano play on Broadway. Despite critical rejection that killed the show, he persevered, creating La Bamba—a breakout blockbuster that authentically depicted Mexican-American life to the world. Now in its 60th year, El Teatro continues to be a beacon for Latino/a creators. This is the story of an artist who gave voice to the overlooked and opened pathways for generations. Vidiots, 4884 Eagle Rock Blvd., Los Angeles.
Alien – 9:45 PM, July 25: Vidiots brings the iconic Ridley Scott’s sci-fi thriller to the screen — and we can use some Ripley in our life right now! Vidiots, 4884 Eagle Rock Blvd., Los Angeles.
Twin Peaks: The Original Mystery – Episodes 1 + 2 – 7 PM, July 26: Go back to the beginning of David Lynch and Mark Frost’s game-changing television phenomenon with a special theatrical screening of the first two episodes of this landmark series on our beautiful big screen. Vidiots, 4884 Eagle Rock Blvd., Los Angeles.
Disabilities, Representation, and Film 2026 – 11 AM, July 25: In celebration of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the history-making civil rights law introduced in July 1990, the Academy Museum presents a day of short films, tours, and a live performance, all to bring awareness to disability, representation, and accessibility in Film. Museum of Motion Pictures, 6067 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles.
Big Trouble in Little China with Gerald Okamura and Alan Howarth – 5:30 PM, July 25: Join Friends of Gardena Cinema for the 40th Anniversary screening and celebration with The Golden Six Shooter, actor Gerald Okamura, and musical score composer, Alan Howarth. Both will be meeting and greeting ticketholders at 5:30 pm in the lobby and the movie will start at 7:30 pm. Also confirmed to attend are: Steve Johnson (Animatronic and makeup FX artist); James Lew (Chang Sing #1 & Martial Arts Choreographer); Darryl Chan (Chang Sing); Gary Toy (Chang Sing) Rommel Mor (Joe Lucky); Eric Lee (Wing Kong Hatchet Man); Lap Nguyen (Wing Kong); Joycelyne Lew (Wing Kong Girl). Exclusive fan merchandise and special guest autographs will be sold separately in the lobby from the event admission fee. Stay after the screening for a special Q&A session with Gerald Okamura and score Alan Howarth and other cast and crew members moderated by Josh Horowitz. Gardena Cinema,14948 Crenshaw Blvd., Gardena.
The Fifth Element 2026 Re-release – July 26-27: In the colorful future, a cab driver unwittingly becomes the central figure in the search for a legendary cosmic weapon to keep Evil and Mr Zorg at bay. Gardena Cinema,14948 Crenshaw Blvd., Gardena.
COMEDY
Free Donut Tuesdays w/ Maria Bamford – 9 AM, Tuesdays: Wake up early and have a laugh and a donut with Maria Bamford. All new material! No one will be turned away for lack of funds. All proceeds go to support Outside In Theatre.
Outside In ArtBox, 5317 York Blvd., Los Angeles.
All Out!: An LGBTQ+forward Open Mic – 6:30 PM, July 21: All Out! is UCB’s brand new LGBTQ+ focussed monthly stand-up open mic here to cultivate a safe, supportive space for queer-identifying comics (and allies!) to take risks, build community and have fun! Come through every 3rd Tuesday to see some of L.A.’s funniest comics-on-the-rise as they try out new material, fine-tune their tight five and let those pride flags fly. Upright Citizens Brigade Annex 1925 N Bronson Ave., Los Angeles.
Bitter James – 7 PM, July 23: James Adomian & Associates present ‘Bitter James,’ an evening of comedy and character-driven performance featuring Sheng Wang, Steph Tolev, Aparna Nancherla, Rojo Perez, Kimberly Clark, and Brandie Posey. Dynasty Typewriter, 2511 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles.
Shamilton, the Improvised Hip Hop Musical – 7 PM, July 24: Ever heard of this show “Hamilton”? Shamilton is just like that, but (ahem) better! Expect the same level of hip hop, incredible songs, stunning choreography and powerhouse singing… except made up on the spot! Join the Shamilton cast as they improvise an epic musical based on a historical figure of your choosing- from Genghis Khan to Mr. Rogers to Kim Kardashian… to basketball playing superdog Air Bud. Upright Citizens Brigade Annex 1925 N Bronson Ave., Los Angeles.
Cold Tofu 7:30 PM, July 25: Cold Tofu is back at Outside In Theatre doing their long form format, “The Living Room”, taking a suggestion from the audience and then going on a scenic journey based on the sometimes zany conversations that come from the topic. Join us for a fun filled night, creating shenanigans from Cold Tofu’s “Living Room”! Outside In ArtBox, 5317 York Blvd., Los Angeles.
Menudo’s Feliz Hour – 5:30 PM, July 25: LA’s longest running Latine improv team — Menudo — hosts an all-star show featuring a rotating cast of the hottest Latine improvisers in town. Feliz Hour is more than a comedy show… es una celebración de la cultura! New forms and themes every month performed in English, Spanish, and Spanglish. Venga pues! Boricuas, colombianos, chicanos, venezolanos, salvadoreños — all are welcome. (Even gringos!) Hosted by Menudo: Anna Salinas, Carlos Orlando, Claudio Saavedra, Eli Gonzalez, Heather Alarcón Higginbotham, July Diaz, Adri Diaz. Sounds by BIGWILLYGETSILLY (Will Martinez).
MUSIC
Goh Nakamura, Surrija and Shinkawasaki – 7 PM, July 21: Outside In Theatre and Midtones L.A. warmly invites you to an intimate singer-songwriter night in our Glassbox space featuring Goh Nakamura, Shin Kawasaki and Surrija. Three longtime collaborators will each share their own sets of original music—blending guitar, keys, and rhythm textures—creating a cozy, listening-room atmosphere that encourages spontaneous collaboration.Outside In Theatre, 5317 York Blvd., Los Angeles.
“Love, Music & Life with Jennifer Holliday – 8:30 PM, July 24: Jennifer Holliday returns to the Catalina Jazz Club with a brand new show “Love, Music & Life”. Holliday is a two-time Grammy and Tony award winning singer and actress who has enjoyed a successful recording career and continues to perform in concert all over the world as a solo artist and in musical plays. Broadway’s “Original Dreamgirl” will perform her signature songs along with sharing personal reflections of her almost 50 years in show business. Catalina Jazz Club, 6725 West Sunset Blvd., Hollywood.
THEATRE
Tranquility– through July 31: An improvised space Western that explores the human connection, Tranquility takes place In the year 2517. The universe is a vast frontier where lawlessness reigns and adventure awaits! Join a motley crew of space traders on the spaceship Tranquility. They take on any job as long as it puts food on the table. Outside In Theatre, 5317 York Blvd., Los Angeles.
Mexodus – through August 2: This electrifying experience explores a hidden chapter of the Underground Railroad – one that moved south, by crossing the Rio Grande toward liberation in Mexico. This groundbreaking musical amplifies the story of a freedom seeker and an unlikely ally as they forge a remarkable bond that transcends borders. It’s history remixed. It’s a ride you won’t want to miss. Pasadena Playhouse Theater, 39 S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena.
2026 LA Writers’ Workshop Reading Series – through September 27: Since 2005, CTG has invited a cohort of local playwrights to spend a year researching and writing new works with feedback from the artistic staff and their fellow writers. The program is designed to foster important voices, inspire playwrights to create their best work, encourage bold writing, and build relationships among local playwrights, CTG, and the Los Angeles theatre community. CTG’s growing list of LA Writers’ Workshop alumni is currently comprised of more than 100 playwrights. Various locations.
COMMUNITY
ARRAY @ Play X World Building Game – 11:30 AM, July 25: Step into Marooning Bodies, an experimental world building game that invites us to gather, imagine and create together. During this game, we will move through a series of activities involving writing, drawing and discussion within a group to collaboratively build a model of a future society. Guided by artist and creator Mims, we’ll explore what it might mean to build a community grounded in collective care, shared responsibility and new possibilities for living together. No special skills or experience is required. Come with an open mind; ready for discovery. This game experience will last approximately 3 hours. ARRAY Creative Campus, 180 Glendale Blvd., Los Angeles.
ARRAY @ Play: Short Film Showcase – 3 PM, July 25: Ride the tide and roll through the streets with a duo of documentaries lensed by surfers and skateboarders of color. Exploring the persistance of play, these stories on screen remind us that space is something we can inherit or adopt, protect and pass on. From pavement to shoreline, we claim and center these spaces as our birthright. The back-to-back screenings will be followed by a conversation with the filmmakers. ARRAY Creative Campus, 180 Glendale Blvd., Los Angeles.
National Day of the Cowboy and Cowgirl – 10 AM – 5 PM, July 25: Celebrate National Day of the Cowboy and Cowgirl with family-friendly fun for guests of all ages. Enjoy trick ropers, cowboy poetry, live music, country line dancing lessons, a film screening, and docent-led tours. Autry members enjoy early access, free admission, and a Member Picnic. Autry Museum of the American West, 4700 Western Heritage Way, Los Angeles.
Smorgasburg Ice Cream Alley 10 AM – 4 PM, Sundays through September 6: Sundays July 5 through September 6, join Smorgasburg as they celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Ice Cream Alley—the summertime showcase of the best independent ice cream makers in Los Angeles.
For a decade, Ice Cream Alley has been a launchpad for some of LA’s most exciting frozen dessert concepts. Vendors like Wanderlust, Kinrose Creamery, Happy Ice, Sad Girl Creamery, Moom Maam, and Bernie’s all started as Ice Cream Alley pop-ups before earning spots as resident Smorgasburg vendors. The Row DTLA, 7777 S. Alameda St., Los Angeles.
Skate Hunnies Party on Wheels at the Academy Museum – through September 3: The Academy Museum is rolling with Skate Hunnies to host a party on wheels, taking you around the Wilshire-Fairfax neighborhood. We’ll finish with a music-filled night of dance-skating on the Academy Museum Walt Disney Family Piazza. Bring your own skates for this free, guaranteed fun event. Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, 6067 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles.
Gay Ass Trivia at Precinct – 7 PM, Thursdays: Queen Sheeba hosts this weekly trivia night with prizes including bar tabs, shots, and bar apparel. Maximum team sizes of six people. No cover! Precinct, 357 S Broadway, Los Angeles.
May the Balls be with You: Drag Queen Bingo 7 PM, Tuesdays and Wednesdays: Legendary Bingo is LA’s most popular Drag Queen Bingo & charity event! Come play at Hamburger Mary’s every Tuesday and Wednesday! Hamburger Mary’s, 8288 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood.
MUSEUMS AND ART
Member Previews—Christian Marclay: The Clock – July 23-25: Returning to Los Angeles for the first time since 2015, Christian Marclay’s The Clock is a 24-hour single-channel montage constructed from thousands of moments of cinema and television history depicting the passage of time, excerpted and edited together to create a functioning timepiece synchronized to local time wherever it is shown. The result marks the exact time for the viewer for 24 consecutive hours, weaving together Marclay’s interests in collage and found visual and aural artifacts with his roots in live performance. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles.
Community: Selections from the Texas African American Photography Archive – through September 5: Throughout the twentieth century, nearly every small town in the United States boasted a local studio photographer. These skilled image makers were dedicated to recording the people and events of their communities. Much of this vernacular visual culture has been dispersed or destroyed. Kinship & Community takes a look at a rare slice of that history, focusing on the work of Black photographers working in urban neighborhoods and rural villages across eastern Texas from 1944 to 1984. Presented at Art + Practice, 3401 W. 43rd Place, Los Angeles.
A New Song: Langston Hughes in the West – through September 13: One of the world’s most famous Black poets, Langston Hughes (1902–1967) is often associated with the writers and artists of the Harlem Renaissance in New York. But starting in the 1930s, though the upheavals of the Great Depression, World War II, and McCarthyism in America, Hughes spent significant time in the West where he maintained deep connections and produced important work, including lectures, film scripts, plays, and his first book of short stories. Through recorded interviews, lyrical texts, archival photographs, and historic posters and prints, A New Song: Langston Hughes in the West reveals little-known aspects of Hughes’s work as a champion for justice and the special relationships he cultivated during his many sojourns in California, Nevada, and Mexico. California African American Museum, 600 State Dr, Los Angeles.
Willie Birch: Stories to Tell – through October 26: The first-ever career retrospective of renowned artist Willie Birch, this exhibition brings together groundbreaking works from 1968 to the present that chronicle his unique vision of Black American life and the interconnected nature of global art forms. Born and raised in New Orleans and trained in Europe, Baltimore, and New York, Birch often speaks about “retentions,” a term he uses to describe evidence of one culture’s narratives and traditions within another. Throughout his career, Birch has explored particularly how African traditions have been retained in music, art, and culture in America as part of the Black experience and beyond. California African American Museum, 600 State Dr, Los Angeles.
Free and Queer: Black Californian Roots of Gay Liberation – through February 28, 2027: Free and Queer: Black Californian Roots of Gay Liberation presents California as a pioneering site of sustained, Black-led struggles for LGBTQ equality, civil rights, and recognition. The exhibition recovers histories largely excluded from existing narratives and exposes powerful ways that print culture, artistic practice, and performance styles shaped, advanced, and interpreted Black queer social movements alongside political and legal activism. California African American Museum, 600 State Dr, Los Angeles.
Marilyn Monroe: Hollywood Icon – through February 28, 2027: Marilyn Monroe: Hollywood Icon celebrates Marilyn Monroe—born Norma Jeane Mortenson on June 1, 1926—as a visionary actor and image-maker, examining how she created and shaped her public image in the context of the classical Hollywood studio system. Presenting hundreds of original objects, including posters, portraits, photographs, production documents, letters,… and rarely seen personal materials—many on display for the first time—the exhibition offers unique insight into her agency in becoming a Hollywood icon. The exhibition also features an extensive array of Monroe’s screen-worn costumes, ranging from a dress featured in Love Happy (1949) to items from her final and unfinished film, Something’s Got to Give (1962). Major highlights include two costumes by Orry-Kelly from Some Like it Hot (1959), as well as the rarely exhibited famous pink dress by William Travilla from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, 6067 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles.
