With an average high of 72 degrees Fahrenheit year round, there’s truly no wrong season to visit Los Angeles. But with several exciting restaurant and cocktail bar openings to look forward to, and not just one but three separate Ai Weiwei exhibits coming to L.A. this fall, now’s the time to go.
Whether you’re a local or are looking for your next weekend getaway destination, here are four of our favorite picks for the best new places to eat, drink, and get cultured in Los Angeles over the next few months.
Eat pizza at the first Roberta’s on the West Coast
In late September, co-owners Brandon Hoy and chef Carlo Mirarchi opened the first West Coast location of the popular Brooklyn pizza restaurant at the Platform shopping center in Culver City. Fans of Roberta’s can expect classic pies like The Bee Sting (soppressata and spicy honey) as well as brand-new dishes inspired by the California setting like San Diego Sea Urchin (with clam broth, polenta, and seaweed), plus a new juice bar–focused cocktail menu. 8810 Washington Blvd., Culver City, robertaspizza.com
Installation view of Ai Weiwei’s “Life Cycle” at the Marciano Art Foundation
Courtesy of the artist and Marciano Art Foundation/ Photo by Joshua White/JWPictures.com
Experience Ai Weiwei three different ways
For the first large-scale exhibition of his work in Los Angeles, renowned Chinese artist Ai Weiwei opened three separate shows in tandem at galleries throughout the city. From September 28, 2018, to March 3, 2019, a previously unseen piece called Life Cycle will be on display at the Marciano Art Foundation. A response to the global refugee crisis, the work features human figures in a lifeboat entirely made out of bamboo using ancient Chinese kite-making techniques. 4357 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, free, marcianoartfoundation.org
Over at the brand-new Jeffrey Deitch gallery, Ai’s Zodiac—a series of 12 portraits of the animals of the Chinese zodiac made with LEGO bricks—will be on display from September 29 to January 5, 2019, along with Stools (2013) a collection of 5,929 wooden stools from the Ming and Qing dynasties and Republican period in China. 925 N. Orange Dr., Los Angeles, free, deitch.com
The third and final exhibit, Cao / Humanity, runs from October 4 to December 1, 2018, at the UTA Artist Space in Beverly Hills, which he also designed (the first and only architectural project by this artist in the United States). Featuring a series of new and historic marble sculptures, the show will also allow visitors to record themselves reading excerpts from his book Humanity that will then be collected and projected in the gallery daily. 403 Foothill Rd., Beverly Hills, free, utaartistspace.com
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, by Everett Raymond Kinstler, 1996. Oil on canvas. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.
Copyright 1996 Everett Raymond Kinstler
Channel your inner Notorious RBG
Starting October 19, the first-ever retrospective about the life of Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will come to L.A.’s Skirball Cultural Center. Based on the eponymous book, Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg will feature RBG’s official portrait on loan from the National Portrait Gallery, one of her iconic robes and jabots she has worn in court, as well as listening stations where you can revisit 10 of her landmark arguments and dissents from Supreme Court cases. The exhibit runs through March 10, 2019, in Los Angeles before traveling to several other yet-to-be announced U.S. cities through 2022. 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles, $12 general admission (free on Thursdays), skirball.org
With only 26 seats, Bar Alta will serve cocktails custom-made to the tastes of each guest.
Courtesy of Bar Alta
Sip custom cocktails at Bar Alta
Following a $60 million, two-year renovation project, downtown L.A.’s historic Hotel Figueroa started welcoming guests and locals alike to its four different restaurants and bars earlier in 2018. But in early December, the reservations-only Bar Alta will open inside the 92-year-old building with just 26 seats and bespoke cocktails prepared tableside via a roaming bar cart. 939 S. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, baralta.com
>> Plan Your Trip with AFAR’s Guide to Los Angeles
