Earth Day: Honoring an occasion that's all about loving on our home turf? People across Southern California shall over the weekend, with the huge, weekend-long festival in Santa Barbara, where Earth Day's beginning has its roots, serving as one major happening. There's a Cold Wash Party at the Wash House in Silver Lake — score a free cold wash for a load of clothes — on April 22, a CicLAvia cycling through The Heart of the Foothills on April 22, Pasadena Earth Day at Memorial Park on April 21, a Golden Road/Heal the Bay pop-up (in Venice) on April 22, and a Family Forest Festival at Skypark at Santa's Village on April 21 and 22.
LA Times Festival of Book: It's one of our city's literary centerpieces, a free gathering of great size that includes all sorts of bestselling writers and booksellers and storytellers and musicians. Where to go to find this beloved page party? The USC campus on Saturday, April 21 and Sunday, April 22. Joyce Carol Oates, Leslie Odom, Jr., and Ed Asner are three of the stars set to appear, but best check and see if your favorite author will be sitting on a Q&A stage (so many are). Finding a new favorite scribe or picking up some cool new tomes? Possible. Very.
Dapper Day: Vintage wear, or articles of clothing that boast some retro panache, is something that Southern Californians see daily, or even wear daily, if that's their vibe. For waiting to don our loveliest crinolines and bow ties? We're not holding out for special occasions. But one of the ultimate vintage-strong, elegant-clothing celebrations is just ahead, where the outfits will be sublime, the details divine, and the photo opps plentiful. It all takes place at Disneyland Resort, so, yes, you'll need a ticket to the park or parks, on April 22. There's an expo, too, at the Disneyland Hotel, on April 21 and 22.
Record Store Day: That new song, the one you started over again 29 times, in a single sitting? Yeah, you heard about it from the music-smart person working at your local vinyl shop. Or, if you didn't, you've learned about dozens of other bands there, over the years, which all leads to this: You love that shop, deeply. Show your appreciation on Saturday, April 21 as fans turn out to honor indie record stores and those stores, in turn, host live concerts, deals, and more. Get in the groove, visit a new shop, or stop in the one you haunt weekly.
National Park Week opens: It would be impossible, in real life, to hug Half Dome, or at least it would take a lot of people in a hug chain to embrace it all at once, but you can hug it in your mind. (Which you might have done already, on every Yosemite visit.) If you want to hug your favorite park during its annual celebratory week, do so by calling upon it, joining a clean-up effort, or listening to a ranger talk. And here's the sweet hug back: Saturday, April 21, the first day of National Park Week, is a fee-free day at those parks that have an entry fee. So, yes, best go Yosemite National Park, or Death Valley National Park, or your go-to place of peace, nature, and stunning beauty.
