Southern California is gearing up for a packed calendar of events as the seasons shift, presenting options that reach far beyond any single museum opening. Residents have a wide array of activities to choose from, covering everything from art and culture to music and seasonal scares, stretching from Orange County to the canyons of Los Angeles.
Fans of ephemeral art can head to Pasadena for the annual Chalk Festival. More than 500 artists are set to create temporary masterpieces on city sidewalks, drawing thousands of onlookers. Awards will be presented in various categories before the art is, eventually, washed away. While typically a Father’s Day event, this year the festival has moved to Brookside Park, adjacent to the Kidspace Children’s Museum.
For those ready to embrace Oktoberfest season, Wurstküche in Venice is throwing a Bavarian celebration every weekend through October 24. Attendees can expect lederhosen, a rattlesnake and rabbit hot link, a selection of German and Belgian beers on draft, plus live German music and yodeling. Tickets, which start at $72, include a Wurstküche beer stein with the first fill-up. Noon and 5 PM Saturday seatings, along with 2 PM Sunday seatings, are available, and they tend to sell out quickly.
Over in Long Beach, the Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor returns, offering a haunted attraction on a ship already known for its spooky history. The event makes full use of the vessel's dark, cramped confines, adding fog, mazes, and roaming monsters. For its 13th anniversary, Dark Harbor is diving deeper into the ocean liner’s lore with reimagined mazes set both on shore and within the ship’s swimming pool and corridors. A new "Shipwrecked: Brace for Impact" maze has been added, alongside carnival rides like Alien Abduction and blacklight bumper cars. Secret speakeasies and live entertainment offer a break from the terror.
Further north, Night of the Jack returns to the King Gillette Ranch in Calabasas, illuminating the scenic Santa Monica Mountains hideaway with thousands of hand-carved jack-o’-lanterns. (The city itself, Calabasas, is actually named after the Spanish word for gourd, “calabaza.”) This year’s event features a reimagined mile-long trail, food trucks, and a “Spookeasy.” Families can also enjoy Jack’s Carnival, offering kid-friendly rides and games, new lantern art, photo opportunities, and projection mapping. Timed tickets are required and range from $34.50 to $57, depending on the day and time, with "anytime" tickets costing up to $83. The experience generally takes 1 to 1.5 hours, though lines for entry and food trucks can extend that on weekends and closer to Halloween.
The Academy Museum is also getting into the seasonal spirit with an immersive look at the horror genre, asking "Why do horror films matter so deeply to so many?" The exhibition explores horror tropes and the lasting appeal of scary movies, divided into six subcategories: gothic, psychological, science, slasher, religion, and ghosts. Visitors can expect re-creations of iconic settings and encounters with creatures and objects from films ranging from the original *Frankenstein* to *The Shining* and *Get Out*, alongside a behind-the-scenes look at their production.
The Autry Museum of the American West is hosting its annual block party, themed "Love Letters to L.A.," celebrating what makes the city unique. The open house features a mechanical bull, a Ferris wheel, trick ropers, music, carnival games, food trucks, museum tours, plein air painting, documentary screenings, a horse-grooming workshop, a car show, and a marketplace. A new prehistoric Dino Land experience is also available for children. Tickets, normally $20, are currently priced between $2 and $4.75 online.
For music enthusiasts, Jon Batiste makes his headlining debut at the Hollywood Bowl. The eight-time Grammy, Academy, and Emmy–winning pianist, singer, and composer will bring his talents to the iconic stage. Elsewhere, the Hollywood Bowl will host a sing-along celebration of *The Sound of Music*, complete with yodeling and a choral warm-up. In Orange County, Eddie Vedder hosts his annual Ohana Festival, headlining with Pearl Jam. Additionally, the classical concert series In a Landscape, known for swapping traditional halls for the outdoors, arrives in Los Angeles for the first time. Pianist Hunter Noack will perform on a 1912 Steinway Model D piano in Bronson Canyon within Griffith Park, with the Hollywood Sign in the background, as well as an added date at Elysian Park offering skyline views. Attendees receive wireless headphones to wander freely through the landscape.
Meanwhile, the Grammy Museum features a new two-part exhibition devoted to pop star Olivia Rodrigo, running through February 22, 2027. "Olivia Rodrigo: the cure unraveled" offers an exclusive look at handcrafted hospital sets, costumes, props, stop-motion animatronics, and original artwork from her music video for "the cure." The second installment, "note by note," which opened recently, provides a journey through her career, showcasing outfits and accessories from all three album cycles and two world tours, including items fresh from the Daisy Chain Fields grounds.
From grand museum exhibitions and outdoor concerts to themed festivals and haunted attractions, Southern California is offering plenty of ways to mark the beginning of the fall season, no matter what you’re looking for.
