Temperatures are going to be in the 90s this week, so here are some events and activities you can enjoy from the air conditioned comfort of your home or your car! There are lots of anniversaries of varying degrees of significance to celebrate like the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment, the 10th anniversary of the album “Crazy for You” by Best Coast, and the 5th anniversary of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, plus a few delicious ways to spend the week and more.
Community & History
On Tuesday, August 18 at 6:00pm, celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment which gave women the right to vote by joining Rise Up LA: Voices from the Women’s Movement. The event will be a conversation between Jenny Bokoch Gillett, from the Natural History Museum’s Performing Arts program, and three women who were part of the Rise Up Los Angeles Oral Stories Project. The Natural History Museum is launching its Rise Up LA: A Century of Votes for Women digital exhibition on August 18, to “honor 100 years of passion and progress through narratives about everyday women who shaped the suffrage movement and the political landscape through voting, community organizing, and by fighting for rights in the workplace, classroom, and community from the turn of the century through the current moment.” RSVP for the discussion Here.
Thursday, August 20th at 6pm, learn even more about women’s roles in social movements with “How Have Women’s Protests Changed History?” presented by Zócalo Public Square and featuring USC labor historian Francille Rusan Wilson, Northeastern University feminist sociologist Valentine Moghadam, and UCLA gender studies professor Ju Hui Judy Han. Register for the event here.
Arts & Culture
Black Restaurant Week continues through August 16th (see our earlier story here) with restaurants like Sky’s Gourmet Tacos and Harold and Belle’s offering specials for the week.
For those of you who have been using this pandemic to improve your own culinary skills, participate in KCRW’s virtual “Good Food Summer Potluck” contest! Submit photos of your dishes and tell the story of what the dish means to you from August 14th to August 19th, and the winners will be featured digitally and will receive a KCRW swag bag.
The Petersen Automotive Museum’s Car Week is happening online through August 16. There are discussions, garage tours, virtual car shows, and more. You can watch it all on the Petersen’s YouTube channel.
Speaking of cars, drive-in movies have been making a comeback and Street Food Cinema has a whole calendar of drive-ins all over the city. Star Wars: The Force Awakens will be playing at the Brandeis Bardin Campus in Simi Valley in honor of the film’s 5th anniversary on Saturday, August 15th. Doors open at 6:30pm and the film starts at 8:30pm. Get tickets and check out the food truck options available on site here.
If you’re more interested in watching movies from your couch than your car, on Wednesday, August 19th join KCET’s Virtual Cinema Series and watch Tesla, starring Ethan Hawke as Nikola Tesla and Kyle MacLachlan as Thomas Edison, followed by a Q&A with the film’s director Michael Almereyda. Get tickets here.
Friday, August 14th at 6:00pm the band Best Coast is celebrating the 10th birthday of their album “Crazy For You” with a virtual performance and mini-concert documentary and special guests including Mark Hoppus of Blink-182, Hayley Williams of Paramore and Lauren Mayberry of CHVRCHES. Tickets are available here.
Every day, the Los Angeles Public Library offers tons of online events and classes. This week, one highlight is a conversation with the authors of The Misinformation Age: How False Beliefs Spread, Cailin O’Connor and James Weatherall on Wednesday, August 19th at 6:00pm.
And speaking of books, Larchmont’s own Chevalier’s Books is hosting an online discussion with author Ariel Sabar about his book Veritas, about “the gripping true story of a sensational religious forgery and the scandal that shook Harvard” on Tuesday, August 18th at 5:00pm.
Local Government
LA Sanitation is offering free bulky item drop-offs at five locations around the city on Saturday, August 15th from 8:00am – 4:30pm if you have any unwanted furniture or appliances lying around. You can view the full list of eligible materials here.
And finally, on Wednesday, August 19 at 2:00pm L.A. County is hosting a virtual town hall on how it can improve services for women and girls of color. Register here.
Have a great week!
