If you have been watching One Piece long enough to know what Elbaph means, this event was built for you.
ONE PIECE Fest 2026 is the first official Toei Animation production of its kind in North America — two days inside COSM Los Angeles, an 87-foot LED dome in Inglewood that wraps the entire room in continuous animated One Piece visuals. Floor. Ceiling. Walls. All of it moving. The experience is themed around the Elbaph arc — the land of giants at the center of the current manga storyline — which means attending this in 2026 puts you inside the story as it is happening, not in a museum of what already ended.
Attendees from the Tokyo edition describe it as the closest thing to actually stepping onto the Grand Line. That is not marketing copy. That is fans trying to explain something a photo cannot capture.
The festival runs August 25–26, 2026 at COSM LA (777 Prairie Ave, Inglewood, CA 90301). Doors open at 10:00 AM each day. Day one is the high-demand session — exclusive merchandise goes fast, often before noon on the first day. Day two typically has more breathing room for the dome immersion and interactive installations. If you have access to both days, prioritize merch on the morning of day one and save the dome experience for day two when crowds thin.
Capacity is approximately 7,000 across both days and access is lottery-based. Fan communities on Discord have been organizing group registrations since the announcement. The lottery is not a suggestion — register before it closes. After lottery notification, tickets move through Ticketmaster for official purchase.
COSM LA is in Inglewood adjacent to SoFi Stadium. Transit: Metro K Line (Crenshaw/LAX line) to Inglewood Station, approximately a 10-minute walk. Parking: SoFi Stadium campus lots are the closest option. Arrive before doors — entry is timed and lines form early. Merch is exclusive to the event and does not ship. Cosplay is strongly encouraged. The crowd spans all ages and all factions of One Piece fandom.
One Piece has been running for 27 years. The Elbaph arc is the payoff fans have waited a decade for. ONE PIECE Fest 2026 is where you experience that payoff inside a room engineered specifically for it. Events like this do not happen twice in the same city. This is the one.
What to know before you go: tickets are sold in timed entry windows — selecting your session matters more than most events. The dome experience runs approximately 45-60 minutes and is designed for repeat entry across both days if you purchase a weekend pass. COSM is located in Inglewood near SoFi Stadium with parking available on-site and rideshare reliable from the Inglewood transit hub. The event runs August 25 and 26 only, with two sessions each day (10am–2pm and 4pm–8pm). Plan around your preferred arc moments — the Elbaph-themed visual sequences hit differently when the dome runs at full darkness.
The cultural moment: ONE PIECE Fest at COSM is not a convention and not a screening. It is the first time Toei Animation has built a complete immersive environment around an active manga storyline in the United States. If you have followed the Elbaph arc in real time, this event is a live entry in a story you are already inside. Tickets are sold in pairs at $109 per pair and are non-transferrable — the name on the order stays with the ticket. Sessions run 10am–2pm or 4pm–8pm; book the session that works for your crew before the other fills. If you discovered One Piece through the Netflix live-action adaptation, this is where you understand why 500 million people have followed Luffy across 25 years. Either way, the dome is the room where it becomes three-dimensional.
5807 people have found this event.
Your audience is already here. See exactly who found you.
In 7 days· Aug 8 – Aug 9
Disneyland Hotel Convention Center…
The room smells like fresh card sleeves and barely contained adrenaline. Every table is a quiet war between two people who've been thinking about this matchup since Tuesday. The SoCal Pokemon Regional Championship returns to the Disneyland Hotel Convention Center on August 8-9, 2026 — the largest competitive Pokemon TCG event in Southern California.
This isn't a casual league night. Regionals draw hundreds of players across Junior, Senior, and Master divisions, all competing for Championship Points, prize money, and the kind of bragging rights that only matter to people who understand why they matter. The side event schedule is stacked: open play, casual leagues, vendor floor access with Magic: The Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh!, One Piece TCG, Disney Lorcana, and Dragon Ball Z Fusion World dealers.
If you've ever explained to someone that your deck isn't meta but it works — this is where you prove it or retire the line. Two days, hundreds of players, and the only convention center where you can buy a Charizard and ride Space Mountain in the same afternoon.
Registration through the official Play Pokemon event page. Spectator access included with event entry.
In 14 days· Aug 15
Oxnard Performing Arts Center, 800…
Ventura County has spent years being the place you leave to find your people — an hour to San Diego, an hour to LA, a drive and a crowd on the other end. IchigoCon is the answer the community built for itself: proof that you don't need to be in a major metro to have a real fandom gathering, just people who care enough to make one.
It's run by the nonprofit behind the Oxnard Performing Arts Center, which gives it a genuine arts-and-culture weight most hotel-hall cons never get — a single, packed day of gaming tournaments, anime screenings, voice-actor guests, a vendor hall, and a cosplay competition, all tightly run. For fans from Ventura, Santa Barbara, and the western Valley, this is the home con, the place local fandom actually forms instead of just briefly gathering in someone else's crowd.
Oxnard Performing Arts Center, August 15 — a single-day pass, details and cosplay-contest registration at IchigoCon's page as the date nears. The show that deserves more attention than it gets, which is exactly the kind that grows.
If a skull-shaped mug and a rum drink named after a deity have ever exerted a genuine pull on you, there is a five-day gathering in Mission Valley where several thousand people feel exactly the same way. Tiki Oasis is the world's largest tiki culture convention and one of the most coherent subcultures in American pop culture - a shared aesthetic vocabulary, a love of craftsmanship, and a real reverence for the mid-century obsession with tropical fantasy. Since 2001, it has drawn collectors, artists, musicians, bartenders, and fashion enthusiasts to the Town and Country Resort, all in full tiki regalia: vintage Hawaiian shirts, muumuus, leis, elaborate cosplay. Each year turns on a theme that shapes the art, entertainment, vendors, and fashion. Expect live exotica and tiki-adjacent performances, rum and cocktail seminars led by some of the country's top bartenders, an extensive marketplace of handmade ceramics and collectibles, and exhibitions from the best tiki artists working. Tiki Oasis 2026 runs August 5-9 at Town and Country Resort, 500 Hotel Circle North, San Diego. Individual-night and full-weekend passes at tikioasis.com. The pool parties and live band sets sell fastest - book early.
In 6 days· Aug 7 – Aug 16
Main Street, Sturgis, SD 57785
Ten days in August, and the small town of Sturgis, South Dakota — population 7,000 — becomes a city of half a million. The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally has been doing this since 1938. Arrive in Sturgis on the first Friday of the rally and the sound alone tells you something is different. Main Street closes to cars and opens to motorcycles, and the flow of custom Harleys, touring bikes, and custom builds becomes a continuous parade. The surrounding Black Hills are the real draw for serious riders: Needles Highway is 14 miles of narrow tunnels and granite spire switchbacks that belong on every motorcyclist's bucket list. Iron Mountain Road corkscrews through South Dakota's most dramatic terrain. The rally itself spawns music stages, vendor villages, stunt shows, bike shows, and pop-up bars across a 50-mile radius — the Buffalo Chip alone hosts major touring acts nightly. The diversity of the crowd surprises first-timers: veterans and newcomers, engineers and mechanics, people who rode three states to get here and people who flew in and rented a bike. The common denominator is the machine. Sturgis is for anyone who rides or wants to understand what riding means to the people who live it. This is not for people looking for a sanitized festival experience with VIP sections and scheduled activities. It is for those who find meaning in the open road, want to ride some of the most dramatic terrain in the country, and are comfortable with ten days of organized chaos. If you are a motorcyclist who has never been, Sturgis before you die is not a cliche — it is a genuine recommendation. Book accommodations now. Not soon. Now. Hotels and campgrounds within 50 miles of Sturgis sell out months in advance, and the closer to Main Street, the earlier they go. The Buffalo Chip is the largest campground and hosts the best concerts — book a camping package directly with them. Bring rain gear: August in South Dakota includes afternoon thunderstorms that clear fast. Gas up before you reach Main Street — the lines at pumps on rally days are long. Parking on Main Street is motorcycle only, which means you park your bike among 50,000 others and walk the strip. That is the point. There is no corporate polish here, no influencer activations, no sponsored experiences. There is Needles Highway at sunrise, a custom build that took three years, and 450,000 people who made the same choice to show up. That kind of authenticity is increasingly rare. Sturgis 2026 runs August 7-16 in Sturgis, South Dakota. Event information at sturgis.com.
In 6 days· Aug 7 – Aug 9
35.0
Long Beach Convention Center, 300 …
There are people who live for the season all year, who treat October like a religion and spend the other eleven months in withdrawal. This is the weekend that carries them through summer. The signature draw is the Hall of Shadows - a massive darkened section of the convention center holding more than a dozen fully produced haunted experiences, all three days, included with every badge type, no separate ticket. It's the largest indoor haunt zone in California outside the October season itself. The show floor runs 350-plus vendors and artists selling horror costumes, seasonal decor, original artwork, vintage collectibles, props, and franchise merchandise. Celebrity guests for 2026 include Matthew Lillard, Barry Bostwick, and Jasmin Savoy Brown, plus a 20th anniversary celebration of Repo! The Genetic Opera with director Darren Lynn Bousman and actor Bill Moseley confirmed. Panels cover haunt design, genre cinema, practical effects, cosplay construction, and industry Q&As. Now in its tenth year and themed 'Horror Musicals,' Midsummer Scream is the West Coast's largest Halloween and horror convention. Long Beach Convention Center, 300 E Ocean Blvd, minutes from the waterfront. August 7-9, 2026. Weekend and single-day passes online in advance.
In 7 days· Aug 8
Holiday Inn La Mirada, 14299 Fires…
The specific joy of a small con is inventory - a dealer who has the exact 1980s action figure you've been chasing for a decade, with enough floor space that you can actually find it. Geekin Out is built for that: focused enough to draw serious collectors with deep inventory, accessible enough for a casual fan who just wants to browse.
Organized by Toy Depot, this one-day toy and pop culture convention takes over the Holiday Inn La Mirada on August 8, 2026. The floor features vendors specializing in everything from original 1980s action figures and vintage board games to modern collectible figures and custom fan art, with a Creator Alley giving independent artists and craftspeople dedicated space to sell original work directly to attendees. It's family-friendly, with free parking in the hotel lot.
The La Mirada location makes it a convenient option for collectors coming from the South Bay, Orange County, and the San Gabriel Valley. Doors open at 9am and the convention runs until 6pm. Advance ticket pricing is available through Eventbrite.
In 7 days· Aug 8 – Aug 10
Santa Clara Convention Center, 500…
You've been in rooms full of pinball machines before. Not like this.
Every July, collectors and operators bring their machines to Santa Clara — not for display, not behind velvet rope — but set up on free play for the entire weekend. Five hundred of them. The 1970s electromechanical tables that require a different kind of patience. The golden-age arcade cabinets. The obscure things from the late eighties that haven't been in a room together since the mall they lived in closed down. You pay once to get in, and then you just play.
This is California Extreme, July 17-19, 2026 at the Santa Clara Convention Center. The people who go every year describe it the same way: they expected to spend an hour and stayed the whole weekend. The machines are part of it. The other people who showed up knowing exactly where they were going — those people are the rest of it.
All-weekend pass recommended. You cannot see five hundred machines in a day. Advance tickets at caextreme.org. Santa Clara Convention Center, 5001 Great America Pkwy, Santa Clara, CA.
Every card in this set reads at two levels at once - the mechanical function, and the character or moment from the books it was pulled from - so opening a favorite is not just a good draw, it is Middle-earth arriving in your hand. Magic: The Gathering's The Hobbit set brings Tolkien's foundational fantasy into Magic's card frame, and the lore is built straight into the design: Gandalf, Bilbo, the dragon, the dwarves. Release Day is the Friday the shelves open and the sealed product is finally there to crack, and the first weekend of a new set is when the community gathers to figure out what everything actually does at the table - the theory meeting the card for the first time. Bring your deck-building instincts and expect the set to surprise you. Find your local SoCal game store and its Release Day events at magic.wizards.com. Local game shops across SoCal, August 14th - the Unexpected Journey begins for real.
In 14 days· Aug 15
$15-25
Oxnard Performing Arts Center, 800…
IchigoCon returns to the Oxnard Performing Arts Center on August 15, 2026 — Ventura County's own gaming and anime convention, $15-25 entry, one day packed with tournaments, screenings, voice actor guests, cosplay, and vendors.
Ventura County has needed this event. The nearest alternatives are San Diego and Los Angeles, which means a drive and a crowd. IchigoCon is the version that belongs to the community that built it: smaller, more personal, run by people who actually care about the fandoms on the floor. The voice actor guests do signing tables you can reach without a three-hour wait. The gaming tournament bracket is competitive but accessible — register at the door. The vendor section mixes anime merch with local artist prints and handmade goods.
The Oxnard Performing Arts Center handles the event well — good parking, air conditioning, a layout that keeps the different program tracks from colliding. Day pass $15-25 at the door. This is the local show that deserves more attention than it gets, which is exactly the kind of event that tends to grow year by year.
Aug 16, 2026
From $75
Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N Highland Av…
You've been following YOASOBI since before 'Idol' turned into the Oshi no Ko opening theme and became one of the most talked-about anime songs in years - or you found them through that exact moment - and either way, this is the Los Angeles chapter of a tour that doesn't come through often. The project was built on a genuinely strange premise: adapting novels into pop songs, one book per track. The catalog runs deeper than the one breakthrough - 'Yoru ni Kakeru,' 'Gunjo,' 'Biri-Biri,' the songs that built the international following are all in this set, performed live in a room that handles production at this scale. YouTube Theater in Inglewood has the sound and the sightlines to hold a show like this correctly. YouTube Theater, 1011 S Prairie Ave, Inglewood. July 20th. From $75 at yoasobi-music.jp/en. Get your ticket before the floor sections close.
Aug 16 – Aug 17, 2026
The Compound by Dirt Dog, 6540 E W…
Luffy finds a new island and the entire crew loses their minds. That is the energy in this room at midnight.
COSRAVES brings One Piece Rave back to Los Angeles for another night of anime-meets-dance-floor chaos at The Compound in Commerce. DJs spin remixes of One Piece OSTs alongside house, bass, and whatever else makes a room full of cosplaying pirates lose control. The visual projections are anime clips synced to drops. The crowd is split between people who can name every Straw Hat and people who came because their friend said trust me.
This is the intersection of two obsessions that should not work together but absolutely do — anime fandom and rave culture. The cosplay is encouraged and wild. The bass hits like a Gear 5 punch. You will leave at 2 AM with ringing ears and the conviction that you belong to something.
August 15-16, 2026. Doors at 11 PM. 18+. Tickets at cosraves.com.
Aug 19, 2026
$25+
Echoplex, 1154 Glendale Blvd, Los …
Down a ramp beneath Echo Park, a sound system has been shaking the walls every week since the year 2000, and Dub Club remains the beating heart of LA's reggae underground, a room where the bass is felt in the sternum and the crowd knows every riddim by heart. This night brings Jah9, the Jamaican singer whose jazz-inflected, deeply spiritual roots music has made her one of the most revered voices of the new reggae generation, with Rik Jam and the Dub Club DJs holding it down. Wednesday, August 19, 2026, 9 PM, the Echoplex in Echo Park, 21+. Come for the sound-system culture done exactly right, the outdoor bleachers, the deep vibes, and a crowd that treats this as church. Bring the friend who lives for bass. This is the good, hidden LA that tourists never find.
Jul 1 – Jul 4, 2027
Los Angeles Convention Center, 120…
Anime Expo 2027 returns to the Los Angeles Convention Center over the Fourth of July weekend, marking another year of what has become the largest anime convention in North America. AX draws over 100,000 attendees annually to experience the full spectrum of Japanese animation, manga, gaming, music, and pop culture in one of the most densely packed convention weekends in the world.
The LACC footprint spans multiple halls and the adjacent JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels, hosting industry panels, world premiere announcements, screening rooms, an exhibit hall with hundreds of vendors, autograph sessions with voice actors and anime composers, and concerts and live performances that sell out weeks in advance. Industry guests from major animation studios in Japan make AX their primary North American announcement platform — if a major sequel, adaptation, or licensing deal is going to be revealed, AX is often where it happens first.
For fans of specific series, the AX floor is where you find rare imported merchandise, exclusive collaboration products, and limited-run items that do not appear anywhere else. For casual anime watchers, the convention is a crash course in the depth and breadth of the community surrounding the medium.
Badge types range from Premier Fan badges (early access, priority room entry) to general admission single-day passes. The convention runs Thursday through Sunday over Independence Day weekend. Plan for crowds and book hotels inside the connected hotel corridor months in advance for the most convenient experience.
Oct 9 – Oct 11, 2026
Los Angeles Convention Center, 120…
There are only two US Regional Championship stops in 2026. This is one of them.
SCG CON Los Angeles runs October 9-12 at the Marriott Burbank, with the Regional Championship as the headline tournament — one of the highest-stakes competitive Magic: The Gathering events in the country. The weekend runs a full slate alongside it: Classic opens, side events, Commander pods, and the dealer hall.
Star City Games runs the circuit. The Regional Championship determines who qualifies for the national series. If your Magic game is competitive, the question is whether this trip makes the season schedule.
The side events run across all four days — $10 entry drafts, Commander brackets, and Standard opens that don't require the Regional grind. The dealer hall is one of the better places to buy and trade singles in Southern California.
Marriott Burbank, October 9-12. The $10 entry side events run across all four days and don't require Regional-level preparation. Good entry point for players building toward the circuit.
The magic of an open gaming convention is that no one is running a side event for you. You walk in, you find a table, and you play what you want with whoever wants to play it.
LFG CON is four days of that. Los Angeles' dedicated tabletop gaming convention — board games, tabletop RPGs, miniatures, trading card games, and everything in between. The 2026 edition runs August 13-16 at the Marriott Burbank. Community-run and designed for the players who know what they want to play before they arrive.
The game library is available throughout: check out a game, find a table, play. Organized tournaments run alongside the open gaming. The RPG schedule runs multi-session campaigns across all four days — pre-registration available for the longer formats.
This is not a show floor with demos. It is a room full of tables where gaming is the whole point. No spectators. Just games.
Marriott Burbank, August 13-16, 2026.