Flowers are blooming, museums are opening, and there are lots of ways to enjoy this week, both in person and virtually, including comedy, movies, history, and the inaugural meeting of the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council Resilience Committee.
Arts & Culture
It’s definitely still Women’s History Month for a few more days. On Monday, March 29th at 4:00 p.m., join The Groundlings for 99 Seats Later, an “incredible one-time virtual conversation with the women who helped launch The Groundlings Theatre. Learn all about the journey from The Oxford Theatre to Melrose from these groundbreaking hilarious women.” 
Next, the Black Hollywood Education Resource Center’s 28th Annual Sistas Are Doin’ It for Themselves Short Film Showcase starts Saturday, March 27th through April 11th. The event spotlights “emerging African American female Directors to showcase their skills, talent and vision through film screenings, while giving the audience a chance to view and discuss the artistry, passion and sacrifice involved in the independent film making process.”
And then Towne Street Theatre, “L.A.’s premier African American theater company,” presents HERstory on Sunday, March 28th at 4:00 p.m., a live, online play reading to celebrate Women’s History Month that “celebrates and reveals the often overlooked experiences of diverse women throughout American history.” This event includes five original short plays about subjects including “The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923, Thomas Jefferson’s relationship with 14-year old slave Sally Hemings, and current day unrest over centuries-old racial inequality.”
This will also be a big week for local museums, as the Natural History Museum reopens to the public on Thursday, April 1st and the La Brea Tar Pits follows suit next week on Thursday, April 8th. The museums will introduce new COVID protocols, and tickets must be reserved in advance – tickets for the Natural History Museum are on sale now, and will be available for the Tar Pits on Thursday, April 1st. Also, LACMA is also opening its doors to visitors on Thursday, April 1st, and tickets for that first week back are available now. Member previews are happening now through Tuesday, March 30th. Finally, The Petersen Automotive Museum reopened this week as well, and it is offering free admission for healthcare workers, first responders, and their guests (up to 3) for the rest of the year.
Community & History
In honor of Women’s History Month, Holocaust Museum LA presents “Inside the (Acid-Free) Box: Female Founders of Holocaust Museum LA” on Tuesday, March 30, at 4:00 p.m. The virtual event will feature a tour of the museum’s archives, led by Jordanna Gessler, the museum’s vice president of education and exhibits, and Christie Jovanovic, collection manager, who will explore the stories and artifacts of two of the co-founders, Esther (Anna) Przeworski Pratt and Masha Loen.
On Saturday, March 27th at 11:00 a.m., in Koreatown, a huge coalition of local organizations including the Korean American Federation of Los Angeles, as well as the offices of Councilmemer Mark Ridley-Thomas and Assemblymember Miguel Santiag, hosts a rally to #StopAsianHate. The march starts at the corner of Berendo and Olympic and will proceed down Olympic to Normandie. There will be free parking at the Berendo Street Baptist Church, but Lyft is also offering free rides to and from the rally if you put in the code “STOPASIANHATE.”
Steep LA Tea Shop will also host a Stop Asian Hate Charity Sale on Sunday, March 28th starting at 11:00 a.m. in Chinatown. The sale features more than 30 local vendors, and all the proceeds will be donated to Stop AAPI Hate.
On Thursday, April 1st at 4:00 p.m. the Los Angeles Public Library kicks off National Poetry Month and welcomes the newly appointed Poet Laureate of Los Angeles, Lynne Thompson.
Local Government
The Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council will hold its inaugural meeting of its Resilience Committee on Monday, March 29th at 7:00 p.m. (Note: This meeting will also be preceeded by a special meeting of the full GWNC Board, at 6 p.m. on Monday, to consider the time-sensitive issue of the city’s proposal to significantly increase land use appeal fees.) The next big Civics 101 Town Hall from the GWNC is coming up also on Monday, April 5th at 6:30 p.m., with Congressman Jimmy Gomez discussing how your representatives in Washington D.C. serve constituents, what the job of congressman actually entails day-to-day, and more. Any questions you have for Rep. Gomez can be sent to [email protected].
