A new Southeast Asian supper club debuts in North Park. The format: a rotating menu built around a single regional cuisine each month — Vietnamese one month, Lao the next, Khmer after that. The chefs are the diaspora kids who grew up eating this food at home. This is the opening. Invite-only but they are still filling tables. DM @chaoclub on Instagram.
The guitar tone that comes off a stage in a room like Constellation Room doesn't survive a recording — Willowake in Santa Ana on May 7, 2026 is the version that only exists if you're in the room. Willowake performs at Constellation Room in Santa Ana on May 7, 2026. Doors at 7pm, show at 8pm, All Ages. There is no second chance at this particular night in this particular room — that is the only thing a live show offers that recordings can't replicate.
The version of Grace Ives that exists on record is the map — the show at Teragram Ballroom in Los Angeles on May 7, 2026 is the territory. Grace Ives performs at Teragram Ballroom in Los Angeles on May 7, 2026. Doors at 7pm, All Ages. The people in the room carry it differently than the people who watched the stream.
There are rooms in Santa Ana where live music works differently, and Constellation Room is one of them — the kind of space where the low end hits before the volume registers. Stanley Simmons performs at Constellation Room in Santa Ana on May 6, 2026. Doors at 7:00 PM, show at 8:00 PM, All Ages. The setlist is fixed, the room is real, the sound doesn't survive the door — this is the version that lives only in the people who show up.
Some shows exist because the room and the artist are the right match — Saults at Teragram Ballroom in Los Angeles is one of those, the kind of night the regulars mention for months. Saults performs at Teragram Ballroom in Los Angeles on May 6, 2026. Doors at 7pm, All Ages. The recording is already out there — this is the version that isn't.
Agriculture at Constellation Room in Santa Ana — the stage-to-crowd distance that changes what a live show means, in the city where this particular crowd assembles. Agriculture performs at Constellation Room in Santa Ana on May 5, 2026. Doors at 7:00 PM, show at 8:00 PM, All Ages. The setlist is fixed, the room is real, the sound doesn't survive the door — this is the version that lives only in the people who show up.
There are rooms in Santa Ana where live music works differently, and The Observatory is one of them — the kind of space where the low end hits before the volume registers. Peach Pit performs at The Observatory in Santa Ana on May 4, 2026. Doors at 7:00 PM, show at 8:00 PM, All Ages. Live shows at rooms this size leave a different imprint than arenas — the ones who go remember the set list; the ones who don't remember the night they said no.
May 1 – May 3, 2026
Del Mar Fairgrounds, 2260 Jimmy Du…
Come hungry. That is the only requirement.
FoodieLand is the nation's largest food festival — 250+ vendors packed into Del Mar Fairgrounds across three evenings in May, each one running 3 PM to 10 PM. This is not a county fair with funnel cakes and a corn dog stand. It is a full passport stamp: Korean BBQ next to Oaxacan tacos next to Taiwanese shaved ice next to wood-fired Argentine empanadas. Festival-only menu items that vendors do not sell anywhere else. Artisan shops. Live music threading through the crowd. Games. The smell of a dozen cuisines hitting you at the same time and somehow all of it working.
They built it for people with dietary needs too — kosher, halal, gluten-free, vegan, and vegetarian options spread throughout the grounds, not tucked into a corner.
Tickets are $12 in advance on Eventbrite. Children 5 and under get in free. There is no gate sale — buy before you go. Parking is $16 online or $20 at the gate via Del Mar Fairgrounds. Bring cash; not every vendor runs a card reader, and the ATMs on-site will have lines by 5 PM. No re-entry, so pace yourself and stay the full seven hours. You will need them.
Follow @foodielandsd for vendor announcements and drop lineups before the weekend.
Smorgasburg Los Angeles runs every Sunday from 10 AM to 4 PM at ROW DTLA, an open-air market and arts complex in the warehouse district south of the Arts District. The event is a West Coast outpost of the Brooklyn original — the largest weekly open-air food market in the country.
On any given Sunday there are 50 to 80 food vendors, almost all of them small independent operations selling a single signature item. The variety is genuinely broad: Japanese milk bread, birria tacos, Nashville hot chicken, Hawaiian poke, Filipino ube desserts, Korean corn dogs, birria ramen, artisanal ice cream. Many vendors are pre-restaurant — this is where they test concepts before opening a brick-and-mortar.
The complex also hosts design, vintage, and craft vendors alongside the food. Seating is spread across the open plaza. It operates rain or shine year-round.
ROW DTLA is at 777 S Alameda St, Los Angeles. Parking is free on the property. Metro Gold Line Little Tokyo/Arts District station is a 10-minute walk. Admission is free. Budget $20–40 for food.
Live music in a room like The Observatory has a specific physics: the sound arrives before you've decided how to feel about it, and Asim Azhar has always known what to do with that. Asim Azhar performs at The Observatory in Santa Ana on May 3, 2026. Doors at 7:00 PM, show at 8:00 PM, All Ages. The crowd at a show like this has been waiting for exactly this room — the specific night where the distance between stage and floor is close enough to matter.
Constellation Room in Santa Ana is the kind of venue where the crowd can see the sweat and the setlist changes feel personal. The Slackers performs at Constellation Room in Santa Ana on May 3, 2026. Doors at 7:00 PM, show at 7:30 PM, All Ages. There is no second chance at this particular night in this particular room — that is the only thing a live show offers that recordings can't replicate.
Dandadan Season 2 picks up where one of the most chaotic, tender, genuinely funny anime in recent memory left off — Okarun, Momo, and the supernatural nonsense that keeps pulling them back toward each other. Nerd Bar San Diego is screening the Season 2 premiere with the crowd that was already texting about it before the opening song ends. The show that proved shonen could be weird and still hit you right in the chest.
May 2, 2026
$15-25
3800 Homer St, Heritage Square Mus…
They all laughed at Carrie. Outdoors at Heritage Square Museum, Street Food Cinema screens one of horror's defining films under the open sky. A Half-O-Ween night for the off-season horror crowd.
Lucha Libre wrestlers. A Chihuahua Beauty Pageant. Frankie J and Baby Bash live. Oh, and the tacos. Over 30 taco vendors, Friday through Saturday at SeaWorld. This is the most San Diego thing that has ever happened. 10AM–8PM Friday, 10AM–7PM Saturday. Tickets required, SeaWorld entry included.
Live music in a room like Morongo Casino Resort and Spa has a specific physics: the sound arrives before you've decided how to feel about it, and Roberto Tapia has always known what to do with that. Roberto Tapia performs at Morongo Casino Resort and Spa in Cabazon on May 2, 2026. all ages. The crowd at a show like this has been waiting for exactly this room — the specific night where the distance between stage and floor is close enough to matter.
The way The Slackers w/Special Guests: Very Be Careful, Eu plays a small room is a different argument than the record — The Regent Theater in Los Angeles on May 2, 2026 is where that argument gets made in person. The Slackers w/Special Guests: Very Be Careful, Eu performs at The Regent Theater in Los Angeles on May 2, 2026. Doors at 7pm, show at 8pm, ALL AGES. Live shows at rooms this size leave a different imprint than arenas — the ones who go remember the set list; the ones who don't remember the night they said no.
May 1 – May 2, 2026
Old Town Front Street, Temecula, C…
You hear it before you see it — that low, purposeful rumble that tells you somebody spent years on that motor.
For one weekend Old Town Front Street stops being a tourist district. The wine bars and antique shops stay open, but the brick-lined street belongs to five hundred-plus classic cars and the people who built them, standing beside their machines ready to explain every decision they made.
Friday is Cruise Night, 5 to 8 PM — engines running, owners driving slow through the crowd. Saturday is Show and Shine, 9 AM to 4 PM, when everything stops and the hoods come up. Model A's. T-Buckets. T-Birds. Roadsters built on donor frames with period-correct details. Projects mid-obsession parked beside builds that took decades.
Old Town Front Street, Temecula. Free admission both days, no tickets, no registration. Free parking in the public lots and surrounding streets.
The people who know about this have been coming for decades. The ones who stumble into it once tend to come back.
Live music in a room like The Wiltern has a specific physics: the sound arrives before you've decided how to feel about it, and Moonchild: Waves Tour has always known what to do with that. Moonchild: Waves Tour performs at The Wiltern in Los Angeles on May 2, 2026. All Ages. The crowd at a show like this has been waiting for exactly this room — the specific night where the distance between stage and floor is close enough to matter.
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