Griffith Observatory Public Star Party — August 2026

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Griffith Observatory Public Star Party — August 2026

Name: Griffith Observatory Public Star Party — August 2026
Start: 2026-08-08T20:00:00-07:00
End: 2026-08-08T23:00:00-07:00
Location: 2800 E Observatory Rd, Los Angeles, CA 90027

Going? You can check in after it ends.

In 13 days · Saturday, August 8, 2026

8:00 PM PDT – 11:00 PM PDT

2800 E Observatory Rd, Los Angeles, CA 90027

Part of Griffith Observatory at dusk →

“August is one of the best months for Southern California…”

— @falkorcommunity

Tickets & More Info

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About

The summer Milky Way core is nearly overhead by midnight, and volunteers wheel telescopes onto the west lawn below the dome for anyone who walks up - free, no registration, the second Saturday of the month, weather permitting. August lands during one of the year's best stretches for Southern California stargazing, with the Perseid meteor shower peaking in mid-August.

The Los Angeles Astronomical Society runs the scopes. Peak Perseid dates (typically August 11-13) may overlap with this event - check griffithobservatory.org for special meteor shower programming. Even without meteors, August skies offer Saturn near opposition at its best, Jupiter rising in the east, and summer deep-sky targets including the Lagoon Nebula and Omega Centauri, all accessible from Griffith's hilltop.

No registration, no fee. Arrive after sunset. The Observatory building stays open until 10pm for concurrent planetarium shows and the Zeiss telescope exhibit. The marine layer typically clears the hills by 9pm in August. The DASH Observatory shuttle from Los Feliz is the recommended way to arrive if parking is a concern.

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Griffith Park Free Shakespeare Festival 2026 — Independent Shakespeare Co.

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Griffith Park Free Shakespeare Festival 2026 — Independent Shakespeare Co.

Every Wednesday · Next Aug 5 Old Zoo at Griffith Park, 4730 Cry…

Every summer, 800 people spread blankets on the ground in the ruins of the old zoo in Griffith Park and watch Shakespeare performed for free under the open sky. They bring wine and cheese and children who squirm for the first twenty minutes and then go completely still because someone on a stage built from nothing is saying something that somehow matters. Independent Shakespeare Co. has been doing this for over two decades. No tickets. No assigned seats. No walls. Just actors and language and the particular magic that happens when a story written four hundred years ago lands in a park in Los Angeles and still makes strangers laugh at the same moment. The 2026 festival runs two productions. Coriolanus — a taut political thriller about a soldier who despises the public he serves — plays June 24 through July 26. The Comedy of Errors — a music-filled, raucous comedy about mistaken identity and the chaos of being human — plays August 5 through September 6. Performances Wednesday through Sunday at 7pm. The dell at the top of the Old Zoo can hold 800 people. Registration is requested at IndieShakes.org to manage the crowd, but admission is always free. Bring low beach chairs or blankets. Bring a picnic. Bring someone who thinks they do not like Shakespeare and watch what happens. This is one of the best free things in Los Angeles and most people who live here do not know it exists. The kind of event that someone tells one specific friend about — not broadcasts, but sends directly: "You need to come to this." That is how 800 seats fill every night without a marketing budget.

Sizzling Summer Nights 2026 — Free Latin Music at the Autry in Griffith Park

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On Friday nights in the summer, the Autry Museum opens its courtyard and something happens that most museums would never allow: people start dancing. Sizzling Summer Nights is a free outdoor concert series at the Autry Museum of the American West in Griffith Park. The best salsa and Latin fusion bands in Los Angeles play live while families spread out across the courtyard. There is a separate dance floor for kids. Free dance lessons start early in the evening for anyone brave enough to try. Food trucks line the parking area. The sun sets over Griffith Park and the music keeps going. This is the kind of event that exists because someone at a museum decided that the building should come alive on Friday nights instead of sitting dark. No tickets. No reservations. No velvet ropes. You show up, you eat tacos from a truck, you dance badly with your children, and you drive home remembering why you live in Los Angeles. The series runs select Friday evenings through the summer at the Autry Museum, 4700 Western Heritage Way in Griffith Park. Gates open at 5:30pm. Music typically runs 6-9pm. Free admission. Free parking. Bring the whole family. The kids' dance floor is the best part — a separate space where small humans move with the kind of fearless joy that the rest of us spend the whole evening trying to recover.

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Street Food Cinema: Wet Hot American Summer — The Autry Museum, Griffith Park

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Street Food Cinema: Wet Hot American Summer — The Autry Museum, Griffith Park

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If you know, you know — and if you don’t, this is your chance to find out why a deeply absurd 2001 summer camp comedy became the secret handshake of an entire generation of comedy nerds. Street Food Cinema is screening Wet Hot American Summer on the lawn of the Autry Museum in Griffith Park, and honestly, there is no better way to watch this movie than outdoors, surrounded by people who will laugh at the right parts. Doors open at 6pm with a live band and a sprawl of food trucks serving everything from Korean tacos to artisan ice cream. The movie rolls at 8:30pm. The Autry’s Griffith Park setting adds its own layer of absurdity — watching a movie about summer camp while literally sitting on a hill in the park feels like the kind of meta joke the film would approve of. General admission $23. The Autry Museum, 4700 Western Heritage Way, Griffith Park. Dog-friendly. Bar on site. Free parking. Bring a blanket and someone who appreciates Paul Rudd’s range.

Street Food Cinema: Shrek + Drone Show — Griffith Park at The Autry

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Street Food Cinema: Shrek + Drone Show — Griffith Park at The Autry

Aug 22, 2026 The Autry Museum, 4700 Western Her…

You’ve seen Shrek. You’ve quoted Shrek. You’ve sent the “Somebody once told me” meme to at least three people this year. But you haven’t watched Shrek on a massive screen in Griffith Park surrounded by food trucks while a drone show lights up the sky afterward. Street Food Cinema’s August 22 screening at The Autry Museum grounds is one of those nights LA does better than anywhere: outdoors, warm, a bar on site, food vendors lining the path, and a movie that hits differently when a hundred strangers are laughing at the same Donkey line. Doors open at 5:30pm. The movie rolls at 8pm. Then the drones. The drone show is exclusive to this screening — you won’t get this combo anywhere else in the city this summer. General admission is $38, car entry $44. Dogs are welcome. Parking is free. This is a date night. This is a friend group night. This is a bring-a-blanket-and-claim-your-spot-early night. The Autry’s Griffith Park location means you’re eating tacos while the Hollywood sign watches.

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Griffith Observatory Public Star Party — August 2026

Griffith Park Free Shakespeare Festival 2026 — Independent Shakespeare Co.

Sizzling Summer Nights 2026 — Free Latin Music at the Autry in Griffith Park

Street Food Cinema: Cars 20th Anniversary — The Autry Museum, Griffith Park

Street Food Cinema: Wet Hot American Summer — The Autry Museum, Griffith Park

Street Food Cinema: Shrek + Drone Show — Griffith Park at The Autry

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