Weekend events close to home: Celebrating Lunar New Year, good whiskey and art
Ring in the Lunar New Year early with lucky lion and dragon dances, art fairs and lots of whiskey.
Los Angeles
Works of art from all over the world fill more than 200,000 square feet at the 2019 LA Art Show at the Los Angeles Convention Center. This year’s fair puts a spotlight on the Latin American and Asian art influences as well as the women who have powered the low-brow new contemporary art movement in Southern California. Art includes pop and street art as well as performance and virtual reality.
When: 7 p.m. Jan. 23; 11 a.m. Jan. 24-27
Cost, info: $30. Family-friendly. Only service dogs allowed. (310) 822-9145, laartshow.com
Indio
Support Coachella Valley nonprofits when you buy a ticket to the Southwest Arts Festival, where more than 250 artists and vendors set up shop at the scenic Empire Polo Club. Stroll through the booths of traditional, contemporary and abstract art to find interactive displays and demonstrations, live music, and food and beverages.
When: 10 a.m. Jan. 24-27
Cost, info: $15. Family-friendly. Only service dogs allowed. (760) 347-0676, swartfest.com
Santa Monica
Try whiskeys from more than 60 brands — and have your hair cut by the Blind Barber after a visit to the cigar lounge — at the WhiskyX at the Barker Hangar at Santa Monica Airport. Participating brands include El Segundo-based R6 Distillery and whiskeys by late master distiller Dave Pickerell. Between sips, watch soul band St. Paul and The Broken Bones, and grab bites from the White Rabbit Truck, Chinese Laundry and more.
When: 6 p.m. Jan. 25
Cost, info: $75. 21 and older. No dogs.
Long Beach
Singers, dancers and musicians with disabilities will teach workshops in hip-hop wheelchair dancing, sign-language singing and wheelchair painting at the Festival of Human Abilities, a celebration of diversity and creativity at the Aquarium of the Pacific. After the performances, you can check out the rest of the aquarium with sign language interpreters and audio and Braille guides.
When: 9 a.m. Jan. 26 and 27
Cost, info: Free with aquarium admission. Family-friendly. Only service dogs allowed. (562) 590-3100
Monterey Park
Egg waffles, folk art, and lions and dragons set the scene at the Lunar New Year Festival in Monterey Park. Check out food booths, carnival games, crafts vendors, and traditional dance and martial arts performances along five blocks of Garvey Avenue, and add your wish for the new year to the wishing tree.
When: 10 a.m. Jan. 26 and 27
Cost, info: Free. Family-friendly. Dogs OK. (323) 859-8991, lunarnewyears.com
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