Let's cut right to the nub of the situation, in no uncertain terms: The final Saturday of September 2015 will be hot in Southern California, as in pushing-into-the-90s hot, as in "is it really the first weekend of fall?" hot.
If ever a weary "what the what?" was in order, it might be now.
Thank goodness that there are museums full of ideas that we can retreat to, to both grow our minds and cool our heels. We're saying, in short, that the Smithsonian magazine's Museum Day Live! is once again well timed for our region, though simply saying you'd like to visit a local institution to escape the toasty temps surely isn't the whole picture.
You'd like to grow your mind, and, for a day, you'd like to forego paying for the privilege. As is tradition, Smithsonian magazine, in partnership with hundreds of museums across the nation, is waiving get-in fees for cultural and historic and art and craft and music institutions from here to a lot of theres around the United States.
It's very nice, very Smithsonian, and easy to get on board with. The kicker? You'll need a ticket, even though there's no admission price to these museums, but you can line that up online.
As for participating SoCal spots? The Museum of Latin American Art, the Grammy Museum, the Fowler Museum at UCLA, the Chinese American Museum, and several more spots within LA and to the south and north of us are on the most excellent and diverse roster.
And that's the long and the short of it. Enjoy the museum of your choice, for free, by procuring a ticket ahead of time, and plan to be there on Saturday, Sept. 26.
The Scene
Want to find new things to do in Los Angeles? The Scene's lifestyle stories have you covered. Here's your go-to source on where the fun is across SoCal and for the weekend.
We were being only a bit cheeky, of course, by tying the warm weather to the temperate-indoors event. But consider just how often weather shows up as a major player in paintings -- swirling clouds and such -- and historical happenings and cultural traditions. (Answer: a bunch.)
Drawing in our late-September heat to the museum-nice fold doesn't feel all that awkward. In this big human experience, everything touches in the end, as the Smithsonian itself has so aptly illustrated, via its many outlets and institutions, throughout the decades.
