Cheap thrills; Bargain hunting in Southern California

A very wise woman or man named Anonymous once said that you get what you pay for. History doesn’t tell us whether she or he bought wholesale or whether she/he lived in Southern California.

But we all know the drill when it comes to consuming culture here. For starters, better whip out that gold-plated AmEx card and plunk down 25 bucks, which may not cover the parking fee. After that, the ka-ching-ing starts in earnest. In metropolitan L.A., the sun, surf and heart-stopping Griffith Observatory views on a clear day are free for the taking. For most everything else, you pay a premium. Whether you’re bound for a Wagnerian rave-up at the Dorothy Chandler, a screening of “I Love You, Man” at the ArcLight or an electronica concert in Echo Park, you know an afternoon or evening on the town is likely to cost more than if your entertainment options were on par with those of, say, Tuscaloosa or Oshkosh. (And don’t even think about scoring Lakers tickets unless you’re either about to win the California Lottery or dating Sasha Vujacic.)

Supposedly, paying through the nose for culture is part of the privilege of keeping oneself edified while living in the “world’s entertainment capital.” But that rationalization won’t help pop-culture cognoscenti and art mavens ride out the Great Decession of 2009. That’s why our critics and reporters have been tightening their belts and scouring the cultural landscape in search of off-peak-hours museum prices, free outdoor concerts and movie-ticket giveaways. Call it the Calendar Cultural Stimulus Package.

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Offers you can’t refuse

Want to savor some of Southern California’s many-splendored cultural possibilities without having to skip the car payment or cash in the kids’ college tuition? Here’s how, categorically speaking.

Theater

In recognition of these strangling economic times, Center Theatre Group has launched an “entertainment stimulus package,” which is making available 100,000 $20 tickets to the shows in its current season. For the price of a good backyard Pinot Grigio, you can catch “Frost/Nixon” at the Ahmanson (albeit without the ailing Stacy Keach now), Octavio Solis’ “Lydia” at the Mark Taper Forum (opening April 15) or an experimental piece at the Kirk Douglas. And when the theater is really satisfying, it’s easy to bypass the booze. www.centertheatregroup.org

-- Charles McNulty

Movies

Money-saving clubs aren’t just for supermarkets, they’re for cinemas too. The Laemmle Sneak Preview Club ( www.laemmle.com) offers free monthly screenings from its selection of art-house fare. Being a member of the First Weekend Club ( www.bherc.org) will get you into free, special presentations at the Grove or Century City 15 of films featuring African Americans; coming up is “The Soloist” in April. And if you really must go to the ArcLight ( www.arclightcinemas.com), joining its club will shave $1 off the price, which tops out at $14. All three clubs are free to sign up.

-- Scott Sandell

In the shadow of the Grove’s crowded multiplex lies one of L.A.’s best-kept secrets: Regency’s Fairfax Cinemas. The triplex may be a bit run-down (the original theater opened in 1932), but the selection for the price before 6 p.m. can’t be beat. For $5 during matinees, film buffs can catch up on films varying from art-house fare such as Sweden’s critically lauded “Let the Right One In” to the Oscar-winning Sean Penn vehicle “Milk.” But the best part might just be the $1 Eisenberg all-beef hot dogs. And for an even better deal, check Regency’s Buenaventura 6 theater in Ventura, where all second-run flicks (such as “Revolutionary Road”) are $3 day or night. www.regencymovies.com.

-- Charlie Amter

Art

Southern California is home to two outstanding collections of outdoor sculpture, and, aside from being free to visit, together they’re an ideal demonstration of the evolution of the form. The Murphy Sculpture Garden at UCLA is a lovely 5-acre garden of rolling grassy lawns, pathways and seating areas in front of Young Research Library, dotted with 70 Modernist sculptures -- Auguste Rodin, Jean Arp, David Smith, etc. -- most of them pedestal-bound. The Stuart Collection at UC San Diego, dispersed all over campus (including a few indoors), picks up from the post-1960s move of sculpture down off its pedestal, with site-specific works commissioned from Michael Asher, Bruce Nauman, Alexis Smith and 14 others. www.ucla.edu, www.ucsd.edu.

-- Christopher Knight

California Scenario, a free sculpture garden designed by the late Isamu Noguchi, is a contemplative environment amid high-rises and restaurants on Costa Mesa’s Anton Boulevard, not far from South Coast Plaza. Noguchi conceived the 1.6-acre garden as an abstraction of California, with water flowing down a steep triangular form and meandering through a stream to a gleaming metal pyramid. www.noguchi.org/cascen.htm.

-- Suzanne Muchnic

At Bergamot Station, the 8-acre former Red Line trolley stop in Santa Monica that houses more than 30 art galleries, you can spend long afternoons Tuesdays through Saturdays, often seeing work by big-name painters and sculptors and sometimes discovering a new name worth knowing. There’s also a pleasant little cafe, as well as the Santa Monica Museum of Art, and even its $5 admission is a suggested donation. Parking is free too. www.bergamotstation.com

-- Craig Fisher

Pop music

On Monday nights, the Echo in Echo Park, Spaceland in Silver Lake and the Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa let their hair down and invite the neighborhood over for monthly residency series, where the A-list of local bands and often much bigger national names kick out jams with hand-picked openers and other scruffy scene rats. This month, it’s the eclectic indie-leaning roster of Origami Records (at the Echo), the Springsteen-ophilia of singer-songwriter Nico Stai (Spaceland) and the scruffy, soulful rock of Aushua (the Detroit Bar). Come early though, as the very nice price (free) often draws lines around the block. www.attheecho.com, www.clubspaceland.com, www.detroitbar.com.

-- August Brown

A little secret: That show that costs $10 at, say, the Hotel Cafe you might catch free at one of the in-store concerts at Amoeba Music in Hollywood (cases in point: the store hosted Franz Ferdinand in January and brings in Andy Bell of Erasure fame for a DJ set April 9) or Fingerprints in Long Beach (singer-songwriter Anya Marina play her shimmering pop, spiced with a wry indie-rock wit, March 29). The settings are casual, the sets typically brief, but who wants to stand that long by the Q-R bin anyway? www.amoeba.comand www.fingerprintsmusic.com.

-- Margaret Wappler

Classical music

Los Angeles thus far lacks a real new-music club such as the new Le Poissin Rouge in New York, but that also means that the new-music/improv scene is still a steal. On the third Thursday of the month, ResBox at the Steve Allen Theater in Hollywood presents luminaries along with new acts for $10. Electronic music wizard Carl Stone appeared last month; next up on April 16 are Bay Area multi-instrumentalist Eric Glick Rieman, New Zealand’s Parasitic Fantasy Band and Corey Fogel. Parking is free. Bring your own booze. www.myspace.com/resboxmusic

The Santa Monica Symphony plays in a barn (the Civic Auditorium), but the orchestra is more than respectable, and the price is always right: Concerts are free. Every program offers standard repertory but also rarities, and the soloists are emerging artists for whom you might have to shell out a lot of money in a few years. www.smsymphony.org.

For chamber music, go to the museum or go to church. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Sunday chamber music series is hit or miss, but it’s always free. And churches around town are packed with music, day and night. Not all of it is free but much is, and when it’s not, ticket prices tend to be a fraction of those in concert halls. The Clickable Chamber Music Newsletter ( www.sundayslive.org/newsletter.cfm) is the best source of information.

-- Mark Swed

Jazz

Exposed brick may not be ideal from an acoustic standpoint, but it’s perfect for bargain-minded jazz at downtown L.A.’s European-styled Cafe Metropol. Offering weekly performances co-presented by the late, lamented club Rocco, past performances have varied from traditional standards to chamber-jazz and contemporary improvised music. It’s a $10 cover, plus $10 minimum purchase, 8 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. www.cafemetropol.com.

-- Chris Barton

Tours

The L.A. Conservancy hosts nine regularly scheduled, docent-led walking tours of architecturally rich neighborhoods, whether it’s the Victorian mansions of Angelino Heights or the Art Deco edifices of downtown L.A., which include the stunning Oviatt and Eastern Columbia buildings. The dates, times and locations vary. It’s $10, but $5 for LAC members and children younger than 12. www.laconservancy.org.

Get a deliciously (un)healthy dose of bao, shu-mai, har gao and other Cantonese delicacies at the monthly Get Sum Dim Sum Ride. Adam and Josef Bray-Ali of Flying Pigeon LA, which specializes in the gearless, retro-styled bikes ubiquitous in Beijing, lead the ride. It starts at a station along the Gold Line and visits a different Chinese restaurant each time. Except for the meal’s cost, which all participants split equally, there’s no fee to ride; the next one is 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. April 19. www.flyingpigeon-la.com.

-- Elina Shatkin

Gardens

The Huntington is free the first Thursday of each month (see the accompanying museum story), but if you find yourself in Arcadia on the third Tuesday of the month -- and really, why wouldn’t you? -- you can stop and smell the roses at the Los Angeles County Arboretum without paying the usual $7. www.arboretum.org

-- Mike Boehm

Theme parks

A single day at Disneyland or California Adventure costs a not-very-happy $69 if you’re 10 or older, $59 for those in the single digits. But on your birthday you can get in free to either. The trick? You have to register in advance on the Disney website, and two weeks before your birthday you’ll receive a confirmation e-mail. Bring the e-mail and proper ID and voila! www.disneyland.com.

-- Elina Shatkin

Comedy

Since 2005, the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in Hollywood has kept prices for most shows at $5 with no drink minimums and no frills. You’ll probably be able to catch some big names such as “Saturday Night Live’s” Fred Armisen -- especially on “Comedy Death Ray” evenings. Now, if we could only find a way to find free parking on that stretch of Franklin Avenue. www.ucbtheatre.com.

-- Charlie Amter