St. Patrick's Day: True, true, there shall be celebrations on Monday, which is March 17, but you know the rule: When St. Patrick's Day falls on a Monday, there shall be celebrating, uh, early. (It's not the catchiest or rhyme-iest rule on the planet, mind you.) Hermosa Beach throws its big parade on Saturday, March 15. And practically every Irish pub in town, and there are quite a few, will kick off the revelries on Saturday, but one of the top-shelf-iest is Tom Bergin's, which will mark its re-debut with a weekend-long party. Prefer to celebrate on the day? Farmers Market is going the tunes and corned beef route on Monday proper.
PaleyFest: Comic-Con gets all of the big names across the pop culture board, for chitchat and whatnot, but the Paley Center for Media's annual television confab cannot be beat for sheer small screen star power. Bunches of casts -- so, well over a dozen -- and their creative behind-the-scenes people will Q&A it up at the Dolby Theatre through March 28. On the docket? "Sleepy Hollow," a "Lost" Reunion, and "How I Met Your Mother."
Chinese Cuisine Festival: Haven't caught this mondo 10-dayer that's drawing gourmands to a dozen-plus-1 San Gabriel Valley restaurants? There's still time, hot pot lovers. You'll need to make advance reservations if you want Peking Duck at Duck House -- no surprise with that -- but oodles of other delicacies await. A peek at "restaurants' secret menus" is promised as well. Good stuff.
World's Largest Blooming Plant: It sounds like something out of science fiction, but believe: A giant, ginormous, gargantuan vine twirls and blooms over two Sierra Madre backyards. It's a wistaria plant that started growing in the late 1800s, and the town marks its purple-y majesty each year with a festival. Sunday, March 16 is the only day of the year you can see it, and it is free to see, if you walk up the hill from the village. A ride up, on a shuttle, costs. No joke, flora fans: This plant is supersonic.
Claremont Pie Festival: March 14 is Pi Day -- 3/14 -- get it? -- you totally get it -- which means that math-minded bakers are going to do their best to ladle some whimsy upon the already whimsical day. True, National Pie Day happened in January, but Claremont will party, pie-style, on Saturday, March 15. Demos, an eating contest, and, so sweet, an apron parade fill the homespun hoedown.
