Best Activities To Do In Los Angeles This Week - February 29
An extra day this year means extra fun this week. Several Los Angeles eateries will be serving up Leap Year Day deals on Monday, ranging from a free extra patty for your burger, to a four-course dinner with whiskey tasting. Two great art exhibits opening this week offer a chance to check out a photo collection from one of America's most notable music photographers, as well as works influenced from one of the most popular impactors of Pop Art. A hump day beer dinner is the perfect way to get you through the week, which finishes with a film screening of some of the most iconic indie films from the 80s, as well as a performance of a Pulitzer Prize winning, multimedia piece that will transport you back to the American Industrial Revolution. It's an eclectic week for an eclectic city!
Enjoy Leap Year Deals / Celebrate Leap Year
Various Locations
Restaurants around the city are taking advantage of the year's extra day for extra deals. Believing that calories don't count if it's a bonus day, guests who order a burger at Dog Haus will be able to upgrade to an extra patty for free, available all day at all 11 of their SoCal restaurants. South Bay eatery Love & Salt will offer their "Late Night Love" bar menu earlier, from 5:30pm until close, with a choice of burger or pizza and a glass wine or craft beer for $20. E.P. & L.P. will bring together three chefs from opposite coasts to host a seven-course Leap Day dinner of modern Asian flavors and contemporary Chinese cuisine, while Tacos tu Madre will be helping Angelenos spend the extra day eating Mexican food by slinging $0.29 Asada Tacos. Whiskey drinkers will want to head to Messhall Kitchen for a special tasting dinner featuring Michter's Limited Production American Whiskeys paired with a four-course menu from Executive Chef Shane Prichett that only happens once every four years.
Visit New Traveling Photo Exhibit of Bob Dylan
GRAMMY Museum
800 West Olympic Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90015
(213) 765-6800
www.grammymuseum.org
This week, the GRAMMY Museum premieres a new traveling photo exhibit featuring photos of musician Bob Dylan. Documenting Dylan's transformation from folk musician to rock & roll legend, the exhibit displays over 50 photos taken of Dylan between 1964-1965. The photos, taken by one of America's most noted music and portrait photographers Daniel Kramer, shed a light on some of the most pivotal moments of the revolutionary singer/songwriter's life. This "backstage view" exhibit is on display on the Museum's second floor through May 15th.
El Segundo Brewing Co. Dinner
Sausal
219 Main St.
El Segundo, CA 90245
(310) 322-2721
www.sausal.com
Two El Segundo hot spots are teaming up for an evening of great food and brew. A three-course dinner with dishes from Chef Anne Conness of Sausal will be paired with fan favorites from El Segundo Brewing Co. The first course will feature a Goat Cheese Stuffed Jalapeño Popper Salad, paired with a Citra Pale Ale, followed by Pork Adobo Stuffed Tamales and the brewery's Hop Plunge IPA. The meal finishes with Rancho Beef Short Ribs, paired with the Power Plant Triple IPA, and a dessert of Mexican Chocolate Truffles for the table. An evening with this power couple will set you back $45, and reservations are strongly recommended for the 7:00pm seating.
"Tempest Redux"
Odyssey Theatre
2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd.
Los Angeles CA 90025
(310) 477-2055
www.OdysseyTheatre.com
Odyssey Theatre Ensemble and The New American Theatre celebrate El Niño with a perfect storm of comedy, romance, mystery, and magic with "Tempest Redux". The redux is a re-examination of Shakespeare's original text from the ground up. Both physical and language acrobatics enhance this powerful story exploring the power of love and forgiveness. New American Theatre artistic director and Weeds actor Jack Stehlin not only adapted, directed, and choreographed the piece, but also stars as Prospero. Though the adaptation is radical in nature, the cast remains simple, stripped to seven actors and dancers who play multiple roles, as well as share some of the same parts. The show runs through April 10.
Art Exhibit Opening: Duchamp to Pop
Norton Simon Museum
411 W Colorado Blvd.
Pasadena, CA 91105
(626) 449-6840
www.nortonsimon.org
The Norton Simon Museum (formerly the Pasadena Art Museum) opens a new exhibit today honoring the creative genius of Marcel Duchamp. Roughly 40 works of art from the Museum's collection of 20th-century art, as well as a few loaners, will be on view. The works pay tribute to Duchamp's influence on Pop Art and its leading artists, including Andy Warhol, Jim Dine, and Ed Ruscha. Jean-Marie Drot's 1963 documentary Jeu d'échecs avec Marcel Duchamp will also be on view at 6:00pm, perfect for the Free Friday evening hours the Museum offers the first Friday of every month (5:00pm - 8:00pm).
Underground USA: Indie Cinema of the 80s
Cinefamily Silent Movie Theater
611 N Fairfax Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 655-2510
www.cinefamily.org
Over 40 films celebrating iconic 80's independent cinema will be presented through the end of April as part of Cinefamily and Cinespia's Underground USA: Indie Cinema of the 80s program. Two screenings will take place Saturday, beginning at 4pm with the nine minute film The Discipline of D.E., exploring the idea of a zen-like approach to productivity, and the "Do Easy!" lifestyle. The short will be followed by Mala Noche, the $20,000 indie film about a man's obsession with a Mexican boy living in Portland's Skid Row. Later that night, Cinefamily will screen Michael Moore's Roger and Me, which documents the decline of Flint, Michigan in the 80s. Twenty-odd years later, the documentary has become emblematic of the fall of so many American cities. Indie film historian John Pierson will be in attendance to discuss the film as well.
West Coast Premiere of Anthracite Fields
Walt Disney Concert Hall
111 S. Grand Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 972-7282
www.lamc.org
Tonight the acclaimed, six-member ensemble Bang on a Can All-Stars joins the Los Angeles Master Chorale for the west coast premiere of Julia Wolfe's Pulitzer Prize-winning Anthracite Fields. The Grammy nominated piece chronicles the harsh working conditions and lives of coal miners during the American Industrial Revolution. The groups will perform the piece in front of a multimedia backdrop that will add oral histories, interviews, union speeches, and accident reports from the Pennsylvania mining region. Artistic Director Grant Gershon will also lead a program entitled "Music of the Coal Miner" that includes selections from the Sacred Harp Anthology and spirituals of Appalachia. Arrive early for the pre-concert talk an hour before showtime.
