Downtown Los Angeles & Boyle Heights
This grand space is a Center Theatre Group venue in the Music Center, used primarily for big-time musicals on their way to or from Broadway.
Must-see entertainment in California
Del Mar Racetrack & Fairgrounds
San Diego
Del Mar’s biggest draw during summer months was founded in 1937 by a prestigious group which included Bing Crosby. It’s worth trying to brave the crowds…
San Diego
Balboa Park’s Old Globe Theater dates from the 1935 Exposition, and in the 1970s the main stage was rebuilt à la 17th-century Globe in England, where…
Hollywood
It might be tucked in a ho-hum office building (enter through the garage), but once you're inside this sultry, premier jazz club all is forgiven. Expect a…
San Diego
This elegant 1924 building began life as a vaudeville and movie theater, then presented Mexican films to a growing Latino audience in the 1930s before…
Oakland
Yoshi’s has a solid jazz calendar, with talent from around the world passing through on a near-nightly basis. It’s also a Japanese restaurant, so if you…
San Diego
This Gaslamp venue presents an eclectic lineup of concerts (some free), a good-mood-inducing Sunday Gospel brunch, raucous party nights and other events…
Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Brentwood & Westwood
A Sunset fixture since 1973, the Roxy has presented everyone from Miles Davis to David Bowie to Jane’s Addiction, and still occasionally manages to book…
San Francisco
The 49ers were the National Football League's dream team from 1981–94, claiming five Superbowl championships. But after decades of chilly, fumbled games…
Orange County
Hear ye, hear ye! All those who have sired knights-to-be and future princesses, gather ye clans and proceed forthwith for an evening-long medieval feast…
Yosemite National Park
Behind the Yosemite Valley Visitor Center, this theater screens two films: Ken Burns’ Yosemite: A Gathering of Spirit, a celebration of the Yosemite Grant…
Pasadena & the San Gabriel Valley
Home of the legendary Seabiscuit, this stunning, art deco thoroughbred racetrack is the oldest and one of the most prestigious in Southern California…
Downtown Los Angeles & Boyle Heights
This county-owned complex is one of America's largest performing arts centers. Its multiple venues – Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Dorothy Chandler…
Berkeley
This lively little theater runs plenty of musicals, including a fair number of shows (Pippin, The Wizard of Oz, and The Little Mermaid, for example) that…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
SF's reigning megaclub hosts bands, literary slams and big-name DJs, with two floors of late-night dance action just seedy enough to be interesting…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
In 2018 the city's newest music venue slid into the former home of douchey nightclub Ruby Skye, and lots of San Franciscans are happy about it. The 15,000…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
Hidden in an alley behind Hotel des Arts, and brought to you by the folks from Madrone, comes this wacky downtown art bar. The interior is color-filled…
San Fernando Valley
At the heart of Glendale, this 1400-plus-seat art deco landmark opened in 1925 as a vaudeville and movie palace and now stages productions from cultural…
South Bay Beaches
Families shouldn't miss this dated game arcade, which bills itself as the largest on the West Coast, flashing and blinging with old-fashioned arcade games…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
What a comeback: this 1917 theater has shed its 1970s porn-palace notoriety and reclaimed the limelight as the American Conservatory Theater venue for…
Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Brentwood & Westwood
This dank, but still hip, art and revival house presents the best in offbeat and cult flicks, including a highly interactive screening of The Rocky Horror…
Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center
Los Angeles
Grammy-nominated jazz singer and educator Barbara Morrison has sung with the likes of Ray Charles and Dizzy Gillespie and at jazz festivals worldwide, but…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
For ideas too big to squeeze into 10-minute TED talks, count on the Commonwealth Club. America's most influential public-affairs forum hosts several…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
Once only musicians were allowed backstage at the Symphony's cavernous rehearsal space, because the acoustics weren't fit for audiences – but with digital…
Downtown Los Angeles & Boyle Heights
Downtown’s most avant-garde performance laboratory where theater, dance, music, poetry and film merge into impressive exhibitions presented in its own…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
Go Public for story-slam nights with NPR's the Moth, appearances by Questlove, European electronica fascinators like Jan Blomqvist, SF Opera pop-up nights…
Japantown, Fillmore & Pacific Heights
Underground cinema draws small but dedicated crowds to this independent 143-seat basement theater. Local indie films, international documentaries, current…
Downtown Los Angeles & Boyle Heights
One of two NBA basketball teams in Los Angeles (the other is the Clippers), the Lakers are based at Downtown's Staples Center. Although few teams can…
San Fernando Valley
Built in 2011, VPAC has brought highbrow culture to the campus of the California State University Northridge (CSUN). It books in a rotating schedule of…
The Mission, Dogpatch & Potrero Hill
Combining performance art and dance, maverick Joe Goode's troupe tours internationally – but it all begins in the Mission's Joe Goode Annex, where you can…
Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Brentwood & Westwood
You can thank Grammy Award–winning jazz legend Herb Alpert for the standout acoustics here. After all, he designed the elegant, romantic spot. A…
Downtown Los Angeles & Boyle Heights
A historic gem of a theater restored by the Ace Hotel, which curates the calendar. Offerings are eclectic, ranging from music performances to dance acts…
The Mission, Dogpatch & Potrero Hill
Velvet curtains and round booths invite you to get comfortable under the disco ball for an evening of utterly unpredictable entertainment, ranging from…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
It resembles a surf shack, but this old waterfront restaurant regularly features R&B, reggae, Latin bands, DJs, mellow rock, the occasional jazz pianist…
Japantown, Fillmore & Pacific Heights
Hot jazz comes extra spicy at Sheba's – a Fillmore supperclub where jazz combos play nightly, while sister co-owners Israel and Net Alamayehu dish out…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
Holding your breath is instinctual as you watch this classically trained modern-dance troupe throw themselves into precise, muscular choreography, with…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
With a steady lineup of top-notch regional and national blues and jazz talent, this intimate place off Union Sq earns its reputation as the Bay Area's top…
Santa Barbara
Built by Works Progress Administration (WPA) artisans during the 1930s Great Depression, this naturally beautiful outdoor stone amphitheater has ocean…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
First ladies of the world, look out: these dazzling Asian divas can out-hostess you in half the time and half the clothes. Cocktails and Asian-inspired…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
Sprawling across the top floor of the Metreon mall complex, the 16-screen Metreon cinema has comfortable stadium seats with clear views of digital…
