The Gates Open
Happy Friday LA Fam,
I have a reminder set for August 29th at 8:55 AM, because five minutes later NASA opens free tickets to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and they’re expected to be gone in 15 minutes. Then there is half the city watching a different notification this week: LA28 Olympics slot emails are landing and the next drop opens Monday. Summer is winding down but there is still a lot left, starting with 23 things to do in August.
Yours truly,Mark Stampfly | Editor-in-Chief
⚡ Quick Hits
- 🔥 Must-Go:NASA’s JPL Opens Its Gates
- 🍽️ Trending:Cinerama Dome Is Coming Back
- 📰 The Tea:23 Best Things To Do This August
- 💸 LA POV:15 Secret Gardens
- 🎬 Watch:Film, TV, YouTube; Worth Watching
📰 Trending Now
What moved this week?
Seventy-two miles an hour, and the cars rotate a full 360 degrees to fake the drift. It soft opened on July 27th, which means it runs when it feels like running. Check before you drive out. Read more
Alamo Drafthouse is reviving it, and serving no food inside at all. The whole point is that nothing happens in that room except the movie. Restoration starts this month. Doors in early 2028. Read more
The maze runs you through the Wheeler house, Hawkins Lab, the Upside Down and The Abyss. Demogorgons chase you. So does Vecna. Select nights September 3rd to November 1st, from $77. Read more
$1.298 billion and 53 percent larger, and still capped by law at 14 gates. Opens October 13th, then the 1930 terminal comes down. Not a dollar of local, state or county tax money in it. Read more
Free tickets drop August 29th at 9:00 AM and are expected to be gone in ten to fifteen minutes. The open house itself is October 10th and 11th. Admission and parking both free. Read more
📅 The Month Ahead
The 23 Best Events in August
🎟️ 5 Events to Attend
Only 3 Nights Left
RÜFÜS DU SOL
- When
- Aug 11, 12 and 13 at 7:30 PM
- Where
- Kia Forum, Inglewood
- Tickets
- From $55
- With
- Ben Böhmer
A five-night run at the Forum, and two of them are already behind us.
All Weekend
KCON LA
- When
- Aug 14 to 16, concerts at 8:00 PM
- Where
- Convention Center & Crypto Arena
- Lineup
- NCT 127, ZEROBASEONE, TXT
Worth knowing before you buy: the convention and the concerts are ticketed separately. An arena ticket does not get you onto the festival floor.
After Party
KCON: AFTERGLOW
- When
- Sat Aug 15, 10:00 PM to 2:00 AM
- Where
- Clifton’s Republic, 648 S Broadway
- Who
- 21+
K-pop, guest DJs, and 4 floors of a 1935 cafeteria that became a nightclub with a giant tree in the middle. Late arrivals welcome.
Free
Lancôme: The Lash Edit
- When
- Aug 7 to 31
- Where
- The Grove, 189 The Grove Drive
- Cost
- Free, all ages
Free samples for everyone: Curl Goddess, Lash Idôle and a mini Juicy Tube. The first 50 visitors on opening weekend also walked out with a full-size Idôle Tint, a $30 value.
Final Weekend
The Phantom of the Opera
- When
- Closed Sunday, August 9
- Where
- The Pantages Theatre
- Tickets
- From $47
A run that opened June 24th, and after that Sunday it was gone.
🍿 What to Watch
See everything worth watching
New releases, what is streaming, and the full LA venue calendar.
🌟 LA Spotlight
IShowSpeed
On July 19th a 21 year old streamer walked onto the field at MetLife Stadium in an all-white suit, in front of 82,000 people, and became the first streamer to perform at a FIFA World Cup ceremony. FIFA approached him. Two days later his behind the scenes clip with BTS became the most viewed Instagram Reel in its first 24 hours in the platform’s history.
10 YouTube shows that mattered in July
🆓 Free in Los Angeles
18 Free Museums
Every day of the week.
Eighteen LA museums cost nothing every single day, the Getty and the Broad and the Hammer among them. LACMA opens free to everyone all day on Tuesday the 11th. The guide has every free day this month, every discount day, and what parking actually runs you at each one, which is the part most lists leave out…
💎 Hidden Gems
15 Secret Gardens in LA
A koi pond and a formal Japanese garden sit six hundred feet above Hollywood Boulevard, behind a house that was built to hold an Asian art collection in 1914. That is one of fifteen. There is a rooftop olive grove on Melrose that costs nothing, an acre of garden inside Frank Gehry’s steel sails downtown, and chickens in an art gallery in the Arts District.