Weekend Events: January 4-6, 2019

It’s a new year, it’s a new you. Whether or not you followed through on your resolutions so far in 2019, you deserve to treat yourself to a weekend of fun in LA. In the city of stars there is no shortage of thrills. We rounded-up the best “Angeleno” approved events to spruce up your first weekend of the year!

Read below for events happening in and round LA January 4-6.

Discover your inner Angeleno!

Friday, January 4th

First-Time Fridays at LACMA

You haven’t been to LACMA you say? Well luckily for you, LA’s Contemporary Museum of Modern Art accepts this and offers First Time Fridays. This monthly event invites guest to explore the museum from 3:00pm-8:00pm for LA residents. If you let the ticket office know it is your first visit to LACMA, you will receive a free poster and discounts at the LACMA store, LACMA Cafe and C+M.

Click here for more details.

Abbot Kinney First Fridays

AK’s neighborhood block party returns this Friday on the “coolest block in America”. Whatever your craving, you’ll be sure to find something with new and old food trucks joining the event and merchant discounts plus late hours.

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LA Lakers vs. New York Knicks

NBA tickets to see the Los Angeles Lakers play the New York Knicks are sure to be selling quickly! Fans from both sides of the nation won’t want to miss this exciting regular season game! If you want to be there to catch all of the action you’d better act now. Secure your seats so you can cheer on your favorite team!

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Saturday, January 5th

Watson Adventures’ Thrilla at the Getty Villa

Roam for Romans on a unique scavenger hunt that transports you to ancient Greece and Rome via the Getty Villa. You’ll follow a trail of clues and answer fun, tricky questions. Discover facts you never knew about the odd aspects of gods, goddesses, and the inventors of the toga party.

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Golden Globes Foreign Language Nominee Symposium

Discover the best foreign language films of 2018. This year’s five nominees include Capernaum from Lebanon, Girl from Belgium, Never Look Away from Germany, Roma from Mexico, and Shoplifters from Japan. The symposium will also include a free roundtable with the Directors for each of the nominated films. The panel will be moderated by Mike Goodridge, former HFPA member and VP turned festival director and programmer. Advance sale tickers are available until 5:00pm January 4 but will still be available for standby the day of.

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Bricks LA 2019

Come share your love of Lego and discover hundreds of fan created models at the Pasadena Convention Center ! Enjoy their vendor area with new, used, and unique brick accessories as well as building techniques and panel discussions. It will be a weekend of fun for all ages.

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Sunday, January 6

Annual Carroll Shelby Cruise-In

Come see some of the fastest, rarest and most beloved Shelby’s of all time. The Petersen will celebrate Carroll Shelby’s birthday by having a cruise-in on the third floor parking structure of the museum. All car enthusiasts are invited to participate in the car show and contest. Coffee and snacks will be provided.

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A Faery Hunt Magical Adventure

Named by Nickelodeon the “Best Children’s Theater” in Los Angeles, A Faery Hunt delights as a magical adventure. Auntie Angelica leads the audience on a gentle journey to help the Faery royalty! With the help of the audience and the Faeries, it’s a musical filled afternoon with fun, laughs and surprises.

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LA Kings Holiday ICE at L.A. Live Final Day

Just because the holidays are over, doesn’t mean the fun has to be. Don’t miss out on the last day of the LA Kings Holiday Ice at L.A. Live. Skate your way through the weekend as a family fun activity or date night.

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‘Cat Art Show’ Returns to DTLA

The biennial Cat Art Show is returning to Los Angeles for the third time, filling DTLA’s Think Tank Gallery with kitty-inspired work from over 100 different artists, starting Thursday, June 14.

Cat Art Show’s Susan Michals, who also founded CatCon, is a former journalist and current cat enthusiast. She said she created these feline-centric events as a way for people to connect in the real world as opposed to the virtual one, and to share experiences together. After all, cat videos have siphoned countless hours of our time, but it’s nothing compared to gathering with your fellow cat lovers to look at a trove of cat art.

“Cats are beautiful creatures, both inside and out, and have been revered since the days of ancient Egypt,” Michals says. “They can be found in museums the world over.”

She points to a 2015 Brooklyn Museum exhibitDivine Felines: Cats of Ancient Egypt, which contained a bevy of objects including sculptures, amulets, and even cat-shaped wooden coffins meant to house cat mummies. The exhibit toured to a handful of other museums, including the Smithsonian in D.C. in 2017. According to Antonietta Catanzariti, a curatorial fellow with the Smithsonian at the time, Egyptians did not worship cats as gods, contrary to popular belief. They were actually associating the behavior of cats—the way they might hunt or protect their families—to specific deities.

“For some people, it’s quite hard to see how that works, but then when you think about how a cat you own has a hunting attitude or is more relaxed, it can be related to Egyptian gods and goddesses,” she told the Washington Diplomat. “Don’t think of Egyptians as worshipping animals, but as observing the natural world.”

It’s not so far off from associating a cat with, say, grumpiness or the desire to buy a boat. So when you think about it, humans have, in a way, been making cat art and cat memes for a long, long time.

Dr. Paul Koudounaris, “Mewcifer” Photo: Cat Art Show

Cat Art Show has grown over the years, now featuring more artworks than ever before. While they saw some 4,500 guests in 2014, Michals says they’re expecting about 10,000 visitors over the course of this year’s 10-day run. These guests might find work from “godfather of pop-surrealism” Mark Ryden, German photographer Ellen von Unwerth, and Los Angeles’ own Dr. Paul Koudounaris, who will also present a lecture on cats throughout history on June 21.

Michals has several pieces she’s excited to see in this year’s show, including Tiffany Sage’s painting “Apollo and Garfield,” in which an orange tabby is cradled by a person in a Garfield mask. There are also two pieces from Serbian painter Endre Penovác, whose watercolor cats bleed into the paper like a passing apparition. Scott Hove, who previously installed a ‘cake maze‘ at Think Tank Gallery in 2016, now offers a cat sculpture in the same style, called “Kittycake.”

Some of the artwork is political, like Rose Freymuth-Frazier’s “Divine Intervention,” in which a fluffy, white cat with amber eyes places one paw on a stuffed Trump toy. Other pieces are more playful, like Penelope Gazin’s “Pussy Princess,” in which a beautiful woman in a green gown wears a similar fluffy, white cat on her head.

“I love Jayne Mansfield and [the piece] reminds me of her, plus it’s got a great camp quality to it that reminds us to lighten up and have a laugh,” Michals said.

Proceeds from the Cat Art Show will benefit two different charities: Kitten Rescue, a volunteer-run rescue for homeless kittens and cats, and the Ian Somerhalder Foundation, which, among other efforts, offers funds to low-income pet owners for emergency animal care. (If you ever feel like becoming a volunteer at Kitten Rescue, their Atwater Village no-kill sanctuary always needs people to help socialize and care for their animals.)

And yes, Michals does have a cat of her own: a Maine Coon named Miss Kitty Pretty Girl, rescued from a South Central shelter when she was just eight weeks old on what was to be her last day. Miss Kitty is now 13 and Michals calls her, appropriately, “The Muse.”

Alexey Sovertkov, “Triptych” Photo: Cat Art Show

Cat Art Show opens today, June 14, at Think Tank Gallery, located at 939 Maple Ave. in the Fashion District. The exhibition runs through June 24.

There will be a public opening on June 14 from 8 to 11 p.m. with a full cash bar, vegan food via Beyond Vegan, and a photo booth from Vetted Pet Care. Tickets are $10. Starting June 15, gallery hours will be daily from noon to 5 p.m. Admission is free on weekdays and $5 on weekends.

On June 21 from 7 to 10 p.m., Dr. Paul Koudounaris will present his lecture, Feline Frolic: An Evening of Famous Feline History with PURRlesque PURRformances by Vanessa Burgundy and Iza La Vamp. Cash bar. Tickets are $20.

On June 23 from 7 to 10 p.m., there will be a closing party with adoptable kittens from Kitten Rescue LA and a photo booth via Vetted Pet Care. Tickets are $25 and include two cocktails. Find all ticketing info here.

Article courtesy of We Like LA.