Best things to do this week in Los Angeles and Southern California: July 29 - August 1

Soccer fever continues to grow in L.A. as LAFC takes on the Vancouver Whitecaps FC in the group stage of the Leagues Cup. Head down to BMO Stadium to check it out. If you’ve never been to a game, it is a real slice of true local fandom that just keeps getting more and more popular.

From the Last Bookstore to Lucky Cat, 25 downtown galleries will participate in the monthly downtown art crawl, which brings folks downtown after hours and spans a walking circuit from 2nd St. up to Olympic Blvd. between Grand and Los Angeles. There’s more on display than we could possibly share here; the full gallery events list will post the night before, so check back for more details at the link above. Emerging Gallery on 4th St. is the suggested starting point.

I’m pretty sure that when Willie Nelson calls and asks you to play with him, you say yes. I have to assume that’s what happened when the lineup for Outlaw Fest came together. Nelson and his family band join music icons Bob Dylan and John Mellencamp as well as rising country star Brittney Spencer at the Bowl for an event that starts early and will surely jam till Bowl curfew.

I’ve lived in Venice nearly 20 years, and while much has changed, the history and influence of skate and surf culture has remained. You can still meet legends walking the Boardwalk and see the best skaters of today and yesterday showing off their skills at the skate park by the Breakwater. The California Heritage Museum has put together a great exhibit with boards, photography, and art about the original founders of Venice skate culture, the Z-Boys who made Venice, well, Venice.

Comedian Maria Bamford’s two pugs, Blueberry and Bert, became a couple of pretty famous pups after her Netflix series, Lady Dynamite, was a hit back in 2016. Now Bamford and her husband, artist Scott Marvel Cassidy, have teamed up to write about their romance and the dogs (from the dogs’ point of view, natch!) in a new graphic novella, Hogbook and Lazer Eyes. They — presumably Bamford and Cassidy, not the dogs, but you never know! — will be signing at Skylight Books in Los Feliz.

Nancy Baker Cahill is a Los Angeles-based artist who has worked across multiple types of media, and her latest installation, a full 30-minute immersive film at the new venue COSM, is truly an inspiration. COSM is a venue somewhere in between the new Sphere in Las Vegas and an IMAX theater with a full 360-degree screen. Seeing anything there is likely incredible — they are also showing UFC fights and other events — but I’d encourage you to check out Cahill’s environmental-themed film, which premiered last week. She takes the viewer on a journey through space and time, the human body, weather events, and more, pushing you to think more deeply about the connection between our world and ourselves.

Can’t make it to Tahiti for the Olympics' surf competition? Drive up to Malibu, where the Dirk Braun Gallery is hosting a watch party for the surfing starting at 10 a.m. in the perfect setting – alongside their current exhibition of photography from the 1972 surf film Morning of the Earth. They will also screen the newly remastered film at 7 p.m.

Start with a short meditation, then head into a traditional tea ceremony featuring summer flavors including soba cha from Japan and Puerh tea from Yunnan. Each will pair with a treat and attendees will take home samples of herbal teas and Lavender & Truffles ice cream.

It’s melon season! Taste all kinds of melons from canaries to cantaloupes, honeydews to yellow watermelons at Tanaka Farms. The one-hour-fifteen-minute tour includes a guided wagon ride on the 30-acre farm, a stop to harvest a seasonal vegetable, and samples of squash and melon of all kinds.

Taco Bell has a short list of cities that are home to the new upscale (well, there’s still a Cheesy Gordita Crunch on offer, so keep your expectations in line) version of the fast food chain, the Taco Bell Cantina. Now, Los Angeles is counted among them. The downtown location just opened, so now you can enjoy a beer or margarita alongside your soft tacos.