10 Kooky, Spooky Things To Do In October

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There’s Halloween…and then there’s the rest of the month. Grab a pumpkin spice latte — if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em — and check out these things to do while you’re figuring out what to wear, and who to scare, on All Hallow’s Eve.

When the MOCA Annex at the PDC closed, many feared the permanent loss of a gallery in the iconic buildings. But owner Charles S. Cohen has come through with the creation of the PDC Design Gallery, a two-level museum-quality exhibition space, located in the same freestanding building in the Pacific Design Center Plaza as its predecessor. “Design and art are such an important and integral part of Southern California’s cultural landscape today,” said Cohen. “With the founding of the PDC Design Gallery, we will be able to highlight our homegrown talent as well as shine a spotlight on inventive artists from around the world.” The inaugural exhibition, SUPERSHOW, features the work of Los Angeles-based artists Fallen Fruit (David Allen Burns and Austin Young) and will be on view from October 3, 2019 til February 23, 2020. More below on the show and artists. Free and open to the public, the gallery’s hours are Tuesday – Friday 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM; Saturday – Sunday 11:00 Am – 6:00 PM.

Celebrating its 7th year, WestEdge Design Fair, the West Coast’s premier contemporary design fair, returns to Santa Monica’s Barker Hangar October 24-27, 2019, with a highly-curated selection of domestic and international manufacturers and independent designers and makers as well as the Convo By Design Programming Lounge and a full schedule of daily demonstrations and tastings in the official Signature Kitchen Suite Culinary Pavilion.

Just in time for Halloween, The Natural History Museum will present “A Natural History of Horrors, on view from October 10, 2019 through April 20, 2020. The exhibition links science, history and the art of movie making by exploring scientific discoveries that inspired some of cinema’s most iconic monsters, from Dracula to Frankenstein, The Mummy and The Creature From The Black Lagoon.

La Cienega’s Design Quarter presents their 3rd Annual LCDQ Sidewalk Sale on Friday, October 11th, from 10am-7pm. It’s a one day mega blowout sale with plenty of deals and steals to be had. With 20 participants, everyone from Arteriors to Farrow & Ball, Harbinger and Hollywood at Home, to Marc Philips, Mecox, Serena & Lily and Woven, and merchandise from furniture and fabrics to rugs, lighting and more, along with refreshments, it promises to be a day of happy home finds.

Bonhams Los Angeles, upcoming auction, Modern Design | Art, curated by Jason Stein, Director at Bonhams in Los Angeles on Sunday, October 27, will offer more than 400 inspiring lots spanning from the 1940s through the 1990s and ranges in style from stark, modern design to high-style Hollywood. Highlights include: property from the iconic Clift Hotel of San Francisco, including custom furniture by Philippe Starck, Salvador Dali and Jean-Baptist Mondino; selection of pieces previously owned or designed by mid-century industrial designer Raymond Loewy, including the model of Air Force One made for the Kennedy Administration and RL monogrammed dinnerware collection; as well as works by Dale Chihuly, Dieter Rams, Rene Lalique, Sam Maloof, Studio Job, Victor Kagan and others. The full sale will be on public view at Bonhams Los Angeles starting October 23.

In honor of breast cancer awareness month, Knoll is painting their furniture pink and offering a pink powder-coat finish version on both the 1952 Side Chair by Harry Bertoia and the 1947 Hairpin Stacking Table by Florence Knoll. All net proceeds from the sale of the limited-edition classics will go to benefit both the Susan G. Komen LA County and Susan G. Komen Greater New York City organizations.


Product designer and artist Jason Koharik has cited The Forest Lawn Museum as one of his favorite secret spots in Los Angeles. While the idea seems macabre, this museum’s show, “The Elevated Eye: Aerial Photography, past and present”, will quickly convince you that it is, in fact, an uplifting way to spend the afternoon. Many of the images focus on Los Angeles and Southern California, revealing how the region has developed over the course of more than a century. Not surprisingly, it also traces the parallel developments of flight and photography as well as the intersections of art and technology, illustrating how a simple change in perspective transforms the familiar into the spectacular. On view from October 10, 2019 through March 8, 2020.

Artist: Emily Marchand

Brought to you by The Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the Institute of Contemporary Art, “CURRENT: LA FOOD,is a month-long public arts initiative taking place from October 5 to November 3 in fifteen public parks throughout Los Angeles. All installations and related programming, including 75 events, are free and open to all. The idea is to bring world-class exhibitions to public spaces while igniting important discourse around issues that affect not only Los Angeles but cities around the world. Fifteen artists, including Ry Rocklen, Michael Rakowitz, Jazmin Urrea and Nancy Kupo, take on the subject of food accessibility and equity — and their responses are as varied as the communities that make up the city, shedding new light on the precarious balance between pleasure and peril found in food today, and the many ways food gives expression to social and political life.

The Sanrio feline is celebrates her forty-fifth trip around the globe with a “immersive, multisensory, walkthrough experience” that whirls visitors through five vibrant experiences — Hello Kitty’s house in London, a Parisian bakery serving cookies from the Hello Kitty Cafe, New York, Honolulu and Tokyo. Get your Instagram on now through October 20th at A Plaza Village (555 N Spring St). For more information and timed tickets, click here.

Boundary-pushing lighting and product company Apparatus Studio presents an exhibition of their latest collection, Interlude, a limited edition that inaugurates APPARATUS EDITIONS. Under the direction of Creative Director Gabriel Hendifar, it’s conceived as a suite of furnishings designed for an imagined, modernist concert hall, with playful musical references informing the design. Hand embroidery, alabaster, Carpathian burl, and eel skin ground the pieces in decorative references, while playful proportion and scale carry the work into the realm of historical fantasy. From 10-5, Monday through Friday, beginning October 11th and running through December 6th at Apparatus Studio, 1021 N. McCadden Place, Los Angeles.

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