Weekend: LA Auto Show

What's under the shiny, ready-to-pull-off covers, car mavens?

LOS ANGELES AUTO SHOW: The debut vehicles run the super-unveiling gamut -- look for a Ford Mustang Shelby GT350, a Lexus LF-C2 Concept, and a Porsche Cayenne GTS -- and the Ride & Drives, where fans get to sit in the driver's seat of "the latest models," are perennial favorites. Still many a maven of car culture looks forward to simply strolling the vast floor and peeking in windows and talking with the people schooled in particular makes and models. It's one of the world's biggest car shows, and it'll vroom for an appropriately out-sized ten days, from Nov. 21 through 30, at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

BEVERLY HILLS HOLIDAY LIGHTING: Are the out-of-towners starting to arrive for their SoCal Thanksgiving? Lucky you -- you've got another add to your get-'em-out-of-the-house driving tour. Beverly Hills is ready to start its sparkly season, and we do mean sparkly: Sixteen Baccarat chandeliers, totaling a million bucks, will glow above Rodeo Drive starting on Sunday, Nov. 23 (a night that comes with fireworks and more). But will the relatives believe you? You better show them that SoCal really lives up to its SoCally rep, sometimes.

CHILL OPENS: Ever been inside the big dome that's next to the Queen Mary, the one that used to house the Spruce Goose? Each holiday season it goes full winter wonderland, complete with ice slides, cold 'n' cute sculptures, and a frozen Queen Mary (that, you can guess, is not to scale, though it is rather large). An impressive ice rink is outside the dome, with the Long Beach ocean-liner in the background. And Santa? He makes cameos. The ship's seasonal treat debuts on Nov. 21, running on select days into the early new year.

THE GREAT LOS ANGELES WALK: The free, come-join-us-and-explore strut down some of our city's most storied thoroughfares started almost a decade ago, when Mike Schneider, the man behind the Franklin Avenue blog, organized the Saturday-before-Thanksgiving walk. This year the daylong stroll makes for the Valley and Ventura Boulevard on Saturday, Nov. 22. Want to meet people interested in de-car-ing for a day and getting to know the street by foot? Look no further (but do look further whilst on the boulevard -- that's the point.)

THE MUSTACHE DACHE: If you're growing some facial hair in the upper lip region in support of Movember, which backs a host of men's health initiatives, and you're game to run a 5K, then trot for CBS Radford on Sunday, Nov. 23. Mustache-sporting participants -- and non-mustache-sporting participants -- shall complete the course then receive a medal that's shaped like a mustache. (It's also a bottle opener.) And is there a beer garden at the end of the run? (Here's where we nod and give an affirmative thumbs up.)

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