Weekend Fun 4/24-4/26

This weekend is a busy one...lots of fun events & free things!

Friday: 

NFT Book Release Party: Not For Tourists are releasing their 2009 Los Angeles Guide and you're invited to the party! Termed the "ultimate guide for the savvy city dweller", NFT books will help you discover there's much more to Los Angeles than the Hollywood Sign and the Santa Monica Pier. Print out an invitation and bring it with you to receive a FREE copy of the new guide (worth over $20) and a free beer!! The party starts at 6pm at Footsie's, and books & beer will be available while supplies last. 

Cost: FREE

The Warehouse Sale: The country's largest warehouse sale is coming to Pasadena this Friday for one day only. The Warehouse Sale offers tremendous discounts on designer clothing, and draws quite a crowd in every city (see pictures on their website)! If you're looking for a new pair of jeans, it might not be a bad idea to head to the Pasadena Convention Center between 2pm and 8pm...but RSVP first or you'll have to pay a cover charge! Thanks to Tiffany for sending this over to us.

Cost: Depends on how much you buy...

Saturday: 

Grilled Cheese Invitational: We've been counting down the days to this event for weeks now, and it's finally here. The Grilled Cheese Invitational is making its way to LA this Saturday and it is bound to be a glorious event, filled with cheese-themed poetry, comedy, and of course the grilling competition. Kraft Singles will be on-site giving out FREE grilled cheese sandwiches, but if you get there early enough you can sign up to be a judge in the competition... which means you get to try ALL the delicious cheesy concoctions! The event runs from 12pm - 6pm and admission is only $5. We highly recommend taking the metro (to chinatown station) so as not to deal with parking. More details about location/times/cheesy activities can be found here.

Cost: $5

Ikea Sampling: Ikea has been bringing a little taste of Sweden to it's stores for years but this time the taste is FREE! From 1pm to 3pm Ikea in Burbank will be handing out free samples of delicious swedish delicacies! Well maybe they're delicacies, we don't really know the difference. Either way head to their kitchen department on Saturday for some eats!

Cost: FREE

Swap Meet: Free Karaoke is back again! If you missed the video we did about Beta Level's monthly Swap Meet check it out!

Cost: FREE

Sunday:

Freak Dance: We love the Upright Citizens Brigade for always having great comedy shows for about $5. But we especially love them this weekend for having a free show on Sunday evening! Freak Dance: The Forbidden Dirty Boogaloo is UCB's in your face musical theater extravaganza! It's got "More sex than Flashdance. More drama than Footloose. More danger than The Lambada. More fighting than You Got Served. More pretentiousness than Save the Last Dance..." Interested? Click here to get more details.

Cost: FREE

All Weekend:

LA Times Festival of Books: This 2 day event at UCLA features more than just books. The annual festival includes 6 outdoor stages featuring musical performances, interviews with authors like Kristin Chenoweth and Bob Barker, live cooking shows, and poetry readings. There will also be panel discussions indoors for $.75 a ticket and an entire section devoted to comics, graphic novels, and manga. There really is too much to write here so check out the official website for a full schedule. The festival runs from 10am-6pm on Saturday and 10am to 5pm on Sunday and it's sure to be a blast!

Cost: FREE (or $.75 for the panels)

Burbank Art Festival: This Saturday and Sunday Burbank will be shutting down San Fernando Blvd. to make way for over 100 award winning artisans to sell they're wares. You'll be able to find everything from photography to ceramics at this semi annual event and this time they're devoting an entire block to the art of Burbank's students with art projects, performances, and demonstrations of all forms of art. Check out Just Burbank's page for more detailed information.

Cost: FREE

Weekend Fun 4/4 - 4/5

All Weekend: 

Museums on Us: It's your last chance to take advantage of Bank of America's Museums on Us campaign! We did a full write up on this last month, if you need a recap.

Saturday Afternoon:

International Pillow Fight Day: Pillow Fight Day is happening in pretty much every major city in the world this Saturday! LA's event is taking place in Pershing Square at 3pm, where hundreds will gather for a massive pillow fight. We are extremely excited for this fun afternoon! The official Pillow Fight LA website includes all event details, including suggested bars to meet at before the pillow fight!

All Day Sunday:

The LA International Curry Festival: Stop by to enjoy some authentic Thai curry dishes and desserts, as well as various types of curry from other countries! This annual festival is expected to draw thousands of people looking to experience the Thai ambiance and taste delicious curry! One of the main events at the festival is the Curry King contest - in which you too can cast a ballot for your favorite curry. The festival runs from 10am-7pm on Sunday. For more information, visit the festival's official website!  (special thanks to boredLA for this event)

Sunday Afternoon:

LA D-Fenders Basketball Game: Make sure you get to the Staples Center early Sunday morning to collect your free tickets to the LA D-Fenders noon game. The D-Fenders are the Lakers' development team, and they will be playing the Utah Flash. For more details on this event, take a look at our original post about it. 

Weekend Fun 3/28-3/29

Just a few suggestions for how we think you should spend this fine weekend...

Food: 

The Stand. With four locations in Los Angeles, and amazing afternoon specials, The Stand is one of LA's hottest hot dog spots. They have $1 hot dogs everyday from 3pm-5pm. If you wanna spice it up a bit, you can get a loaded hot dog for $2.50. And 20 oz. beers are only $2! The website doesn't list veggie dogs as an option, but I'll call to check and then re-update this post.

Cost? A few bucks.

Saturday Night: 

Swap Meet! We posted about this event last month and even shot a video so that you could really get a feel for what "super secret karaoke" is like. It only takes place once a month, so you should really try to fit it into your Saturday night plans. :)

Cost? FREE.

Sunday Afternoon: 

L8S ANG3LES at the Annenberg Center for Photography. A collection of work from eleven celebrated LA photographers, all celebrating the human condition as seen through the lens. This weekend is opening weekend for the exhibit - so if you can't make it this weekend it's not the end of the world (it runs until June 28th). For more information on the Annenberg Center and this exhibit, visit their official website. Seeing as Paul is a photographer, we will definitely be visiting the exhibit at some point in the next few weeks!

Cost: FREE.

Sunday Night:

Movie Night! Stay in and watch a good movie from Red Box. Go to your nearest Red Box rental location and use the code "DVDONME" when checking out! You'll get a free one-day rental, and as long as you bring it back in time, your card will not get charged. This code works once per credit card, so use it wisely.  Our rental recommendation?  Rachel Getting Married.

Cost: FREE.