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The Week Ahead – Events for February 13-19, 2021

The big Lunar New Year celebration is virtual this year, but will still welcome in the Year of the Ox in style.

 

Celebrate the start of a New Lunar Year and Valentine’s Day this week with a smorgasbord of virtual and drive-in events and a literal smorgasbord of delicious food options including beignets, fried Oreos, and mushrooms. 

 

Arts & Culture

 

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There are lots of opportunities to watch some of your favorite old Valentine’s Day-themed films at drive-ins around the city: the Electric Dusk Drive-In in Glendale is showing Casablanca, When Harry Met Sally, Lady and the Tramp and more love stories all month, and the Drive-In at the Hollywood Roosevelt has Singin’ in the Rain, Dirty Dancing, and The Notebook, among others. 

If you’d rather watch something new, the Cinelounge Drive-In, behind the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, is showing Judas and the Black Messiah all week. The film tells the story of Fred Hampton, the Chairman of the Black Panther Party and the FBI informant tasked with keeping tabs on him. It stars Daniel Kaluuya, LaKeith Stanfield, Jesse Plemons, and Martin Sheen. 

If you’ve got kids in your life who are fans of the Croods franchise, you’re in luck because the La Brea Tar Pits has partnered with Universal Pictures Home Entertainment to bring you Camp Croods on Saturday, February 13th at 10:00 a.m.  It’s billed as “a scientific exploration of the Ice Age through hands-on activities, meet real life paleontologists, make virtual Tar Pits discoveries, participate in drawing demonstrations that brings your favorite Croods characters to life, and so much more!” The event is free, but you have to register in advance.

On Sunday, February 14th at 5:00 p.m., celebrate Valentine’s Day, or “Palentine’s Day,” with comedians Lauren Lapkus and Paul F. Tomkins, who will perform a 2-person improv set for your enjoyment via livestream, presented by Dynasty Typewriter. For only $5 extra, you can get a custom message for your Valentine that will play during the livestream. 

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I personally can’t think of anything more romantic than the Los Angeles Mycological Society’s annual Wild Mushroom Fair being held online this year on Sunday, February 14th from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The day will feature virtual presentations, mushroom growing and cooking demos, online vendors, and more. 

Click to see full size flier.

In the non-fungi food category, you’ve got plenty of other options, especially if you’d like to get in the Mardi Gras spirit. A number of vendors at the Original Farmer’s Market are offering specials from Saturday February 13th-16th. You can grab a beignet from a pop-up by The Gumbo Pot over the weekend, or pick up some Abita brews from Bar 326, and more.

It’s going to be a while before we’re going to get to go to a county fair, and more importantly get to eat fried Oreos at a county fair, so to fill that need The Rose Bowl is hosting a Drive-Thru Fair Foodie Fest from February 12th through the 28th. Admission is free, but you’ll have to pay per-Hawaiian Chicken Teriyaki Pineapple Bowl (one of the many items being offered alongside funnel cakes, colossal onion rings, and the many options in the BBQ Zone.)

 

Community  & History  

 

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Welcome the Year of the Ox with the 122nd Golden Lunar New Year Parade hosted by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of LA, which has gone virtual this year. In addition to performances and celebrations, the live-streamed event will serve as a reflection on the history and achievements of Chinese Americans in Los Angeles, and the history of the parade itself which is the longest-running Lunar New Year parade outside China.

You can also learn more about the history of an area just a few blocks away from Chinatown, on Wednesday, February 17th at 7:00 p.m., with the Windsor Square Hancock Park Historical Society presenting Bunker Hill Los Angeles: Essence of Sunshine and Noir. Historian Nathan Marsak will tell the story of Bunker Hill: “once home to wealthy Angelenos living in LA’s “first suburb,” then the epicenter of the city’s shifting demographics and the shadow and vice of an urban underbelly” which “survived its attempted erasure and burgeoned as a hub of arts, politics, business, and tourism.”

Click to see full size flier.)

On Thursday, February 18th at 12:30 p.m. the League of Women Voters of Los Angeles presents Climate Change and What You Can Do About It,  with Speakers David Gaines and Tim Knipe from the Climate Reality Project, Environmental Voter Project, and Citizens Climate Lobby. The event is free and open to the public. E-mail Marilu Guevara at [email protected] to receive the meeting link. 

The UCLA Division of Humanities has partnered with the Berggruen Institute to launch “Possible Worlds,” “a new lecture series that invites some of today’s most imaginative intellectual leaders and creators to deliver talks on the future of humanity.” The first event in the series “What Kind of Revolution Was That? Polarization and the Path Forward After January 6” will take place on Thursday, February 18th at 4:00 p.m. and feature Harvard classicist and political theorist Danielle Allen, author of Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality

 

Local Government 

 

The Mid City West Community Council’s Transportation Committee meets Thursday, February 18th at 7:00 p.m.

The Wilshire Center Koreatown Neighborhood Council’s Transportation Committee is also meeting this week, on Monday February 15th at 6:30 p.m., as well as their Rules & Bylaws Committee on Tuesday, February 16th at 6:30, Sustainability Committee on Wednesday, February 17th at 6:30 p.m., and Homelessness Committee on Thursday, February 18th at 6:30 p.m.

 

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Julia Moser
Julia Moser
Julia Moser is a freelance writer and producer who grew up in Windsor Square. She recently moved back home after living in New York where she worked as a producer for BuzzFeed News' AM to DM and Good Morning America.

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