Events OC Fair 2026: The Food, the Deals, and the Deep-Fried Everything The OC Fair is back for its 136th year, running July 17 through August 16, 2026 at the OC Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa. Five weeks of carnival rides, livestock barns, concerts, and the real reason most of us go: the food.
Events What's Happening in July: Santa Barbara, Pasadena, Newport Beach, Palm Springs, and Beyond July arrives on a Saturday this year, which means the Fourth gets a full three-day weekend instead of the usual scramble. It also happens to be the country's 250th birthday, so cities across Southern California have leaned into the occasion with bigger lineups than usual. Most of
Events Featured What's Happening · Southern California Events across Santa Barbara, Pasadena, Newport Beach, Palm Springs, and the wider region, from Goleta down to San Diego. Dates and times subject to change.
Events Where to See the Best Fireworks in Southern California This July 4th Southern California puts on some of the best Independence Day shows in the country, and 2026 carries extra weight as the nation's 250th anniversary.
Bikes & Hikes Top 5 Weekend Escapes in Southern California for July July gives you long evenings and warm water, but it also brings desert heat and weekend traffic. These five trips all sit within a half-day drive of Los Angeles, and each one suits the month for a different reason. Drive times below assume you leave before the afternoon rush.
Food & Drink 5 Best Rooftop Venues in Southern California Summer is when these rooms earn their rent. Long sunsets, warm nights, and views that run from the ocean to the mountains.
Bikes & Hikes The Best Coastal Bike Rides in Southern California The hiking gets most of the attention around here, but some of the best ways to see Southern California happen on two wheels and flat ground. The coast is lined with paved paths that run right along the sand, most of them easy enough for a beginner and long enough
Farmers Markets The Best Farmers' Markets in Southern California, Day by Day Southern California grows food year-round, which means somewhere nearby there's a great farmers' market open almost any day you want one.
Barbers & Salons Ben's Barber Shop: A South Pasadena Tradition That Carries On The man who built that reputation is gone, but the shop he made is still open and still busy.
Food & Drink The Best New Restaurant in Los Angeles Is in a Former Church Hermon's, an American chophouse in a 1903 banquet hall on the edge of Northeast L.A., is doing something almost subversive: it's just very good.
Food & Drink The Best Brunch Patios in Southern California The hard part is picking where to go. Here are nine patios worth the drive, spread from the desert to the coast. For each one, I noted what to order and how to land a good table.
"Sponsored" The Electric Frontier: LifeRush Adventures Wants to Take You Somewhere You Didn't Know You Could Go A Santa Monica e-bike and adventure company is opening up Southern California's mountains and coastline to people who'd never ride them otherwise.
Food & Drink The Bars You Have to Look For. That's the Whole Point. A short, opinionated tour of Southern California's hidden rooms, the ones behind the bookcase, the kitchen, the unmarked door, the second restaurant.
"Sponsored" The Eyes Have It For over 25 years, Image Optics has been the quiet secret behind Hollywood's most iconic faces. Now, they're fitting yours.
Barbers & Salons Your Hair Called. It Wants to Look Like It Has Somewhere to Be As Vogue reported at the top of the year, the effortless beachy texture that has defined the last several seasons is packing its bags. What's replacing it isn't stiff or precious — it's polished. Intentional. The kind of hair that looks like you made a decision and meant it.
Art & Music One Night, $1.1 Billion, and Nicole Kidman Staring Into a Golden Sculpture Christie's just had the kind of evening that makes you want to buy a Brancusi. You can't, obviously. But still.
Art & Music Golden Hour at the Norton Simon There is a particular quality to late afternoon in Pasadena, when the light turns the color of weak tea and good bourbon at the same time, and the Norton Simon’s sculpture garden does its best impression of a place where nothing has ever gone wrong.
Unsolicited Advice What do most people misunderstand about getting older? Most young people think that getting older is a decline. It isn’t. It’s a refinement. We’re sold a narrative that aging means becoming less relevant, less desirable, less capable.
Palm Springs Every Thursday Night, Palm Springs Closes the Street and Opens Everything Else Palm Canyon Drive shuts down to cars every Thursday evening and becomes something far more interesting. This is the Palm Springs the locals actually live in.
Art & Music The Curtain Is Up. Southern California's Theater Season Is Not Waiting for You. From Pasadena to Hollywood to Costa Mesa, the stages across Southern California this June are offering the kind of evenings that remind you why live theater exists in the first place.
Food & Drink The Best Meal in Southern California Might Come Through a Window No reservation required. No dress code. Just some of the most extraordinary food in the region, served from the side of a truck by people who mean it.
Bikes & Hikes The Mountains Are Right There. Go! Santa Barbara sits between the Pacific and the Santa Ynez Mountains. Most people stay on the coast. The ones who go up remember it for years.
Bikes & Hikes The Desert Wants You to Walk Into It Palm Springs has over 140 hiking trails within reach. Here are the ones worth lacing up for.
Pasadena Old Town Pasadena Is Eating Well Right Now A new wave of restaurants is quietly making Colorado Boulevard one of the most interesting dining streets in Southern California. Here's where to pull up a chair.
