The Brief

From neighborhood celebrations and museum exhibitions to comedy shows and movie screenings, there are lots of fun things you can do in Southern California this Juneteenth on Thursday.

First, if you aren’t already familiar with the history of America’s newest federal holiday and how it’s been celebrated for decades in L.A. (specifically Leimert Park), you can quickly brush up with this article by former LAist associate editor Aaricka Washington.

Then, take your pick of events happening in SoCal on or around Juneteenth (Thursday, June 19):

Juneteenth Eve (Wednesday)

Wednesday, June 18, 7:30 p.m.
Bri Giger’s Prideteenth Show
The Elysian
1944 Riverside Dr., Los Angeles
COST: $16 + $4 fee; MORE INFO

This annual all-queer, all-POC variety show at the nonprofit alt-comedy theater The Elysian features live music, comedy, acting and poetry. The “celebration of Black queer power” is presented by actress, activist and comedian Bri Giger and Club Cleo.

The holiday (Thursday)

8 a.m. - noon 
Black Folk Juneteenth Freedom Day Ride
Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza to Leimert Park
COST: FREE, BUT REGISTRATION REQUIRED; MORE INFO

Join cyclists from all over Southern California for this second annual bike ride that “promotes Black excellence, Juneteenth, and safe cycling in one of the world's best cities.” It’s a 9-, 14-, or 19-mile group ride through central L.A. that ends at the Leimert Park Village Juneteenth Celebration.

11 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Leimert Park Village Juneteenth Celebration
Leimert Park Village, Degnan Boulevard, Los Angeles
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

Celebrate Juneteenth where many say the holiday was first celebrated in L.A. back in 1949, with live music (drum circles, jazz, and DJ sets), poetry, line dancing, health and wellness resources, and a fashion show at Sole Folks at 5 p.m.

Noon - 1:30 p.m.
Altadena Historical Society Juneteenth Celebration and Luncheon
Loma Alta Park
3330 N. Lincoln Ave., Altadena
COST: $30-35; MORE INFO

The historical society’s fourth annual Juneteenth celebration will feature a luncheon, photo exhibition, quilt drawing and an awards ceremony for scholarships awarded to local students affected by January’s Eaton Fire.

The scholarship award is named after Ellen Garrison Clark, a Black educator and civil rights activist who fought against slavery and was buried in an unmarked grave in Altadena after she died in 1892. The historical society raised funds to purchase a headstone for Clark and unveiled it during their 2021 Juneteenth celebration.

Noon - 3 p.m.
Museum of African American Art
Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza
Level 2, Suite 283
3650 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Los Angeles
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

Visit the Museum of African American Art on Juneteenth and get a free tote bag (while supplies last) when you bring in a receipt from any Baldwin Hills Crenshaw retailer. Tour the museum’s collection and share what “Freedom Is…” to you.

3 p.m. - 4 p.m.
Gallery Conversation: Costuming Black History with Sharen Davis
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
6067 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles
COST: FREE WITH ADMISSION; MORE INFO

Make a trip to the Academy Museum and enjoy a conversation with Emmy Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated costume designer Sharen Davis (Watchmen, Ray, Dreamgirls) about memorable costume designs from her 30-year career.

5:30 p.m. - 8 p.m.
Repossessions and Reparations
California African American Museum (CAAM)
Figueroa Street and Exposition Boulevard, Los Angeles
COST: FREE WITH RSVP; MORE INFO

Celebrate Juneteenth with a visit to CAAM to check out all their exhibitions, but specifically on the evening of Juneteenth, for a curator-led tour with artists in person from Repossessions (Feb. 14 - Aug. 3), a group exhibition reflecting on reparations for descendants of enslaved African Americans. The event also features a panel discussion with Reparations4Slavery and The Reparations Project, moderated by guest curator Bridget R. Cooks.

8:30 p.m.
The UCB Juneteenth Improv Extravaganza
Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre
5919 Franklin Ave., Los Angeles
COST: $11.96-17.94; MORE INFO

Prepare to laugh — either in person (at the UCB Theatre) or at home (for the livestream, also available for 7 days after) — during this show made up of four teams of Black improvisors. The show is hosted by comedian Ronnie Adrian.

8:35 p.m. and 11:10 p.m. 
Rooftop Cinema's Celebrating Black Cinema Series
888 S. Olive St., 4th Floor, DTLA
COST: FROM $23; MORE INFO

Check out one or both movies screening at Rooftop Cinema for Juneteenth: 1997’s Love Jones starring Larenz Tate and Nia Long, and Gina Prince-Bythewood’s 2000 film, Love & Basketball, starring Omar Epps and Sanaa Lathan. Or if Saturday works better for you, the rom-com Brown Sugar (2002) is playing at 11:10 p.m.

Beyond Juneteenth

Friday, June 20, 7 p.m. - 11 p.m.
KCRW Summer Nights @ CAAM
California African American Museum (CAAM)
Figueroa Street and Exposition Boulevard, Los Angeles
COST: FREE ADMISSION; MORE INFO

This dance party includes after-hours access to CAAM, with food trucks, beer garden and crafts for you to enjoy outside.

Saturday, June 21, noon - 4 p.m.
City of West Hollywood Juneteenth Celebration
647 N. San Vicente Blvd., West Hollywood
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

Head to West Hollywood Park for food, music, live performances, and vendors from Black-owned businesses.

Saturday, June 21, 1 p.m. - 4 p.m.
Culver City Juneteenth Celebration
Ivy Station
8840 National Blvd., Culver City
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

The City of Culver City Juneteenth celebration features food, activities for kids, and live music performances from BriJolie and Friends and Top Shelf Brass Band.

Sunday, June 22, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Juneteenth in South LA: Team Tennis Tournament & Beginners' Clinic
Jackie Tatum Harvard Recreation Center
1535 W. 62nd St., Los Angeles
COST: FROM $17.85; MORE INFO

For tennis lovers and newbies to the sport alike, All-Love Racquet Club and Fortune Tennis are organizing a tennis clinic and tournament, complete with music, food and backyard games.

Alysa Liu’s comeback at this year’s Olympics — and her stunning gold medal win — has rocked the world of figure skating, making headlines due to her joy while performing and her commitment to mental health on and off the ice.

Though she primarily trained in Oakland, Liu, who’s also a psychology student at UCLA, has used a facility in Lakewood as one of her home bases away from home. The 20-year-old started training there as she came back from retirement and prepared to take the gold medal (not that that was necessarily her goal, to hear her tell it).

It’s part of a long history for the Rinks-Lakewood ICE, which has also hosted many champions and Olympians over the years, including Mariah Bell, Nathan Chen, Ashley Wagner and Adam Rippon, and counts prominent figure skaters among their staff.

“ We're not unfamiliar with Olympic ties,” said Braden Overett, the skating manager at Lakewood ICE, though he also clarified, “that does not in any way diminish the fun and the coolness [of Liu’s win].”

Lakewood ICE’s place in this year’s Olympics

Working with her coaches remotely, Liu started to drill down on perfecting her skating while also attending classes at UCLA. And though she moved on to her home base at Oakland Ice Center as the Olympic training started to ramp up, the staff who worked with her at Lakewood ICE kept cheering her on.

Overett said that he loves highlighting the Olympic connections at the rink, which may not be obvious to everyone who skates there.

“It's always fun just to connect the dots, right?” Overett said. “It's like going to a restaurant and then you find out later it's your favorite actor's restaurant.”

Ashleigh Ellis runs the nonprofit Unity Ice Academy, which focuses on increasing access to figure skating for kids of all backgrounds at Lakewood ICE.

“ That's just very much how the skating world is. It's very small, you never know who you're going to run into at any time,” Ellis said. “ Could you imagine just being on the ice with a national champion and Olympic skater of any sort? It's just so inspiring for the kids to see that and be within the vicinity of that.”

And Liu wasn’t the only 2026 Olympic figure skater who's used the facility. Li Yu-Hsiang, the Taiwanese national champion who represented Chinese Taipei in Milan this year, also trains in Lakewood.

The rink’s coaches

The small world of skating means that even novice skaters can take classes from world-class skaters: 1976 Olympic silver medalist Dianne de Leeuw teaches there, as do national medalists (and future Olympic contenders) Starr Andrews and Josephine Lee.

 "To get to see them and to get to share ice with them just has a layer of magic that you can't replace and you can't get anywhere else,” Overett said. “ You see the turnover of generations, and it brings in a huge element of history.”

What Liu’s win means for the skating world

Ellis is already using Liu’s example to stress the importance of mental health to the kids and families she works with, like one parent who was worrying about her child taking two weeks off skating due to pneumonia.

“I was like, ‘Alysa Liu took two plus years off and she just won the Olympic gold. Do not worry about it this two weeks,’” she said.

A bipartisan bill aimed at protecting pets during disasters has been introduced in Congress, with a Southern California representative citing the rescue efforts of local organizations during last year’s L.A.-area fires.

The PETSAFE Act of 2026 — which stands for Providing Essential Temporary Shelter Assistance For Emergencies — would expand the use of emergency management funds so local governments can plan for evacuations that move animals to safety, as well as provide veterinary care and rescue equipment during disasters.

Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) helped introduce the bill earlier this month with several House of Representatives colleagues, including Republican Rep. Brian Mast of Florida and Democrat Rep. Dina Titus of Nevada.

Chu, who represents Pasadena and Altadena in the 28th Congressional District, said when the Eaton Fire tore through her district, many families delayed evacuations because they couldn’t bear to leave their pets behind.

She told LAist she’ll never forget seeing the cats, dogs and other animals with burned feet and singed fur who were being cared for by Pasadena Humane in the aftermath.

“But to think, if there is even one more thing we could do to keep our precious pets safe, wouldn't we want to do that?” Chu said. “So this PETSAFE Act could go a long way towards making sure that our loved pets can indeed survive a disaster.”

About the bill

Pasadena Humane teams looked for pets and wildlife in Eaton burn zones, dropping off food and water along the way.

(

Courtesy Pasadena Humane

)

The PETSAFE Act now has been referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. The bill would amend the Emergency Management Performance Grant program to increase the federal cost share for certain animal-related preparedness activities from 50% to 90%.

Supporters say this would lower barriers and make it more affordable for communities to roll out emergency protection plans for people and pets.

Specifically, the PETSAFE Act would allow state, local and tribal governments to use grant money awarded by FEMA toward pet supplies, crates, veterinary equipment, emergency generators and training, among others.

Pet owners whose homes are under disaster-related evacuation orders can be faced with an “impossible choice” — leaving their pets behind or staying home with them, which risks the owner’s own safety and complicates rescue efforts for first responders, according to Chu’s office.

The bill aims to address the challenges pet owners and first responders face without authorizing new federal spending, according to Mast’s office.

How we got here 

Chu said local shelters, including Pasadena Humane, and communities across California stepped up to care for all kinds of animals during the Eaton Fire, which ignited in January 2025.

Pasadena Humane helped more than 1,500 pets and wildlife during the fire and in the aftermath by providing shelter, medical care and emergency resources.

A horse was housed in the organization’s garage when Chris Ramon, Pasadena Humane’s president and CEO, ran into its owner walking down Raymond Avenue for miles.

“Part of me likes to think that this won’t happen again,” Ramon told LAist last month. “But the realist in me realizes … disaster preparedness is something that just is an ongoing conversation for us at Pasadena Humane.”

Chu also cited the work of the ASPCA, which helped more than 530 animals during the Eaton Fire, including goats, parakeets, pigs and a gecko, according to the organization.

She said local organizations did “tremendous” work and “lovingly cared for” the rush of animals affected by the fire.

“But what we would want to do is to make sure that there is an even better system for animal evacuation and ways to ensure that pets could be safe,” Chu said, adding that would relieve the burden on places like Pasadena Humane.

Other laws aiming to protect pets

This is not the first time last year’s fires have led to new legislation focused on protecting pets during emergencies.

A new state law known as the FOUND Act, which went into effect Jan. 1, was inspired by Oreo the Pomeranian, who reunited with its Pacific Palisades owner in an emotional, viral video during the Palisades Fire.

The law requires cities and counties to include procedures for rescuing pets during mandatory evacuations in their next emergency plans, which need to be updated every five years to qualify for FEMA assistance.