Best Of LA - Week Of August 17
Get ready for a week full of fun, festivities, and foodie favorites hitting the scene this week in and around the LA area. Los Angelinos have the opportunity to experience a wide variety of live entertainment including a free 5 Seconds of Summer concert in Santa Monica and theater under the stars at Theatricum Botanicum in Topanga. Bacon lovers can revel in delight on National Bacon Lover's Day, and a myriad of midweek drink specials and offerings help workers get through midweek with ease. Restaurant openings, a nighttime party at the zoo, and a special Nisei Week festival round out the week's offerings.
5 Seconds of Summer
Barker Hanger
3021 Airport Ave #203
Santa Monica, CA 90405
www.vevo.com
Don't miss tonight's Vevo Certified Live Event featuring the chart dominating sensation 5 Seconds of Summer. Bandmates Luke Hemmings, Michael Clifford, Calum Hood, and Ashton Irwin, will perform live at the Santa Monica Hanger; fans can sign up for the chance to attend the concert for free by visiting the event website. The concert series salutes Vevo's Certified Program, awarding music videos that have been viewed more than 100 million times across the Vevo platform.
Restaurant Opening: Hopdoddy Burger Bar
830 S Sepulveda Blvd.
El Segundo, CA 90245
www.hopdoddy.com
California just welcomed its first Hopdoddy Burger Bar this week, with its El Segundo location the first to hit the West Coast scene (other locations include its home base of Austin, Texas, Colorado, and Arizona). With Playa Vista and Newport Beach locations set to open later this month, Hopdoddy Burger Bar, presents all-natural, hormone and antibiotic-free burgers ground in house alongside freshly baked buns, plenty of fresh salads, hand-cut Kennebec Fries and Truffle Fries, handspun shakes (including boozy shakes), and a wide selection of local craft beers. Named one of the Best Burger Bars in the country by numerous publications, Los Angeles' burger scene just elevated.
Get Your Drink On: Third Wednesday, Camp for Adults, & Five Course Beer Dinner
Various locations
www.downtownculvercity.com
Help get through the middle of your week with a variety of drink tasting events and specials at various Los Angeles locations. In Downtown Culver City, their Third Wednesday repeats its 4th Annual "Spiked Tropical Punch Tasting," so even if you can't get away to the islands this August, you can dream of it. A visit to the lush botanical oasis of Descanso Gardens' Lakeside Lounge is featuring a "camp for adults" today boasting friendship necklace making, nature hikes, live music, and delicious food and beverages from Patina Restaurant Group and Golden Road Brewing, including Mexican street tacos and Drunken Snowcones! In Hermosa Beach, head to Abigaile for their five-course beer dinner featuring pairings from Inglewood's Three Weavers Brewing, home to LA's only female brewmaster Alexandra Nowell.
Celebrate National Bacon Lovers' Day
Various locations
www.theatricum.com
Restaurants, foodies, and many Americans seem to be obsessed with bacon. To celebrate our love of all things salty pork, consider grabbing an entrée at one of these great LA restaurants, featuring a variety of unique bacon infused specialties.
- At Komodo Executive Chef Erwin Tjahyadi is serving a Bacon Monster Burrito at both locations (Venice and Pico) through the end of August. This supersize California-style burrito is filled with brown sugar center cut bacon, guacamole, tater tots, and eggs topped with sour cream, caramelized onions and cilantro.
- The Wallace in Culver City offers a Bacon Marmalade with romesco and hummus with grilled flatbread by Executive Chef Joel David Miller.
- At Fat Dog (Hollywood and N. Hollywood) Chef John Gladish serves: Deviled Eggs with creme fraiche, horseradish and bacon; as well as Potato Skins with East Coast Crab, Hickory Smoked Bacon, Asparagus, and Hollandaise
- Bar10 in West Hollywood serves Drunken Mac 'n' Cheese with Conchiglie pasta in a creamy cheddar, mozzarella and cream cheese blend with a bourbon reduction and bacon.
Roaring Nights 2015
Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens
5333 Zoo Dr.
Los Angeles, CA 90027
(323) 644-6042
www.lazoo.org
Visit the Los Angeles Zoo for the final installment of their 2015 ROARING NIGHTS summer music series, taking guests back to the 1980s for an evening of music, high-profile food trucks and fun "to the max." "Totally." Live performances by The Pac Men will include all-80s hits including dance, rock, pop, new wave, and R&B. A vintage game zone (with Pac Man, Ms. Pac Man, Galaga, Space Invaders, and more), painting rooms, DJ dance sessions, full service bars, and up-close animal encounters round out the event, sponsored by KCRW and Pasadena Magazine. 18+.
Nisei Week with Little Tokyo Vibes
Various locations
Little Tokyo
Los Angeles, CA
www.GoLittleTokyo.com
Explore Little Tokyo with community led itineraries offering insight on all the best dining, shopping, arts and culture destinations in the Los Angeles district. Today, explore Nisei Week with Little Tokyo Vibes starting with brunch at Jist Café, serving up Japanese and American comfort food. After lunch, stroll the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center Plaza and its Little Tokyo Vibes festival of music, vendors, and beer and sake bar, and then head to the free festivities at the 75th Annual Nisei Week. The weeklong celebration of Japanese American culture and history includes a variety of visitor activities; don't miss the photo booths, origami making stations, and battle of the DJs on the JACCC main stage.
Botanicum Seedlings Readings & "To Kill a Mockingbird"
Will Geer's Theatricum Botanicum
1419 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd.
Topanga, CA 90290
(310) 455-3723
www.theatricum.com/seedlings
Readings of two up and coming plays about young women confronting darkness will be exhibited today as part of the Botanicum Seedlings: A Development Series for Playwrights. After the readings, stay for the stage adaptation of Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, part of Theatricum's Americana summer season. Adapted for the stage by Christopher Sergel, the compelling loss of innocence story following eight-year-old Scout and her brother Jem as their father defends a poor black man accused of raping a white woman. Through September 27.
