Best Things to Do in SoCal and LA This Month: October 2026
Art in a new light
Art Share L.A. presents Unfolding Light, a group exhibition exploring mental health, emotional experience, and the healing power of creative expression. Through painting, sculpture, photography, installation, and mixed media, the works turn personal struggles and diverse perspectives into opportunities for reflection and connection. Tackling themes ranging from anxiety to community care, the exhibition makes the invisible visible with open conversations around mental well-being.
801 East 4th Place
Make a zine yourself
The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture presents IE Zine Fest ’26. Celebrate the art of DIY publishing with a free afternoon gathering with the Inland Empire’s creative community around zines. Browse original works, meet local makers, and discover how a few folded pages can become a powerful form of self-expression and community storytelling. With live zine workshops, displays, and vendors of independently made publications, it’s an opportunity to experience the region’s creativity one page at a time.
3581 Mission Inn Avenue
Get your kicks on Route 66
The San Bernardino Area Chamber of Commerce presents the 13th Annual Rendezvous Back to Route 66. Cruise into a century of car history with a daylong gathering bringing more than 1,200 classic cars to the Mother Road along with live entertainment, food and craft vendors, and plenty of automotive nostalgia. From vintage rides and custom classics to the stories and community that have kept this Inland Empire tradition going, the Rendezvous celebrates San Bernardino’s enduring connection to one of America’s most iconic highways.
546 W. 6th Street
Where art happens
Ojai Studio Artists presents the Annual Open Studios Fall Tour, a three-day self-guided journey into the creative spaces of artists across the Ojai Valley. More than 70 local artists open their studios to the public, offering a unique opportunity to experience where and how their work comes to life. Start at the Ojai Valley Museum and then hit the road for an art-filled exploration of one of Southern California’s most creative communities.
1129 Maricopa Hwy, 243-B
Take over the streets
CicLAvia presents Heart of LA, an open-streets celebration that transforms more than 6.5 miles of roadway into a car-free playground connecting Downtown L.A., Chinatown, Little Tokyo, the Arts District, Boyle Heights, and Echo Park. Leave the car behind to walk, bike, skate, or roll at your own pace while stopping along the way to explore neighborhood businesses, public art, historic landmarks, and activities at community hubs.
1632 Bellevue Ave
Desert meets the cosmos
The Palm Springs Art Museum presents Lita Albuquerque: Cosmic Land, a new exhibition exploring the artist’s decades-long fascination with our place in the universe. Working across sculpture, photography, installation and performance, Albuquerque connects the human body to the rhythms of cosmic time. Her large-scale works transform ideas about perception and our relationship to the natural world into immersive visual experiences that stretch from the desert to the cosmos.
101 N Museum Dr
The art of making space
LACMA presents The Brockman Gallery: Los Angeles, 1967–1990, the first large-scale exhibition exploring the impact of the pioneering Black owned art gallery in Los Angeles. Founded in Leimert Park by brothers Alonzo and Dale Brockman Davis in the wake of the Watts Rebellion, the Brockman Gallery became an influential gathering place for artists of color and helped nurture the early careers of David Hammons, Suzanne Jackson, John Outerbridge, Carrie Mae Weems, and others. Featuring over 60 works across media along with archival materials, the exhibit reveals how the gallery created a space for artistic experimentation, intellectual exchange, and multicultural community. To learn more about The Brockman Gallery, watch the Artbound documentary, Black Art: A Brockman Gallery Legacy.
5905 Wilshire Boulevard
California history, writ large
The Skirball Cultural Center presents The 1960s–A Generation on Fire: Judy Baca’s Great Wall of Los Angeles. The exhibition spotlights recently completed sections of Baca’s monumental Great Wall of Los Angeles by utilizing a mural scrolling system where visitors can view 400 feet of artwork along with drawing studies and an immersive video installation that demonstrate Baca’s collaborative approach of telling history through public art. To learn more about Judy Baca, watch the Artbound documentary, The Cheech.
2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd
A celebration to die for
Hollywood Forever presents the 27th annual Día de los Muertos. This year’s theme, "All Under One Sky — Bajo Un Mismo Cielo," fills the historic cemetery with altars honoring loved ones, a ceremonial procession, Aztec and folklórico dance, art exhibitions, and a day full of live music featuring DannyLux, Trish Toledo, Tropa Magica, and Los Shadows. Browse arts and crafts vendors, visit the Children’s Plaza, and experience colorful costumes and ofrendas that transform the cemetery into a celebration of culture.
6000 Santa Monica Blvd
Love lives on
Gloria Molina Grand Park presents Downtown Día de los Muertos, the largest outdoor celebration with over 16 ofrendas created by artists and community organizations. Curated by artist and master altarista Consuelo G. Flores, this year’s theme, “The Living Loom of Ancestral Knowledge & Storytelling,” reflects on the generations who came before us. Visitors can also contribute a framed photo, memento, or story to the community altar, adding their own memories to this collective tapestry of Los Angeles.
200 N Grand Ave
Lucha Libre in Los Angeles
Grand Performances and PBS SoCal present Lucha Libre: Music, Masks, Family and Culture at California Plaza as part of the Grand Ave Arts: All Access Festival. A free, family-friendly event bringing together live music, lucha libre exhibitions, a film screening, and interactive activities, the event explores the artistry of lucha libre and celebrates how generations of wrestlers and fans have transformed Mexican wrestling into a vibrant expression of heritage with a lasting influence on Los Angeles culture.
350 South Grand Avenue