Offbeat activities in Los Angeles?

September 5, 2015 11:59 AM

Help me find the weird, the wacky, the whimsical, the quirky, the offbeat participatory activities in Los Angeles?

Ideas I've found so far:
Dr. Sketchy (figure drawing meets burlesque)
BlacklistLA (running meets urban art/graffiti)
Passage Riding group (biking, urban exploration)
LA Obscura Society (exploration of strange and overlooked places)
The Really Terrible Orchestra (ok, so that one's in Scotland...is there an LA version?)

Anything and everything...art, music, flora, fauna, science, history, photography, gardening, outdoors, exploring, excavating, archaeology, architecture, astronomy, robots, lichens, dinosaurs, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc.

posted by lemonade to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (17 answers total)

Dearly Departed Tours
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 12:01 PM on September 5, 2015 [2 favorites]

Gorey and Poe at the Huntington Library
posted by shesbookish at 12:09 PM on September 5, 2015 [1 favorite]

I adored watching Apocalypse Now in the Hollywood Forever cemetery via Cinespia...
posted by pretentious illiterate at 12:20 PM on September 5, 2015

The Big Parade!
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 12:26 PM on September 5, 2015

Check out The Cinefamily
posted by drapatz at 12:31 PM on September 5, 2015

Dance Dance Party Party
Daybreaker
posted by wsquared at 12:51 PM on September 5, 2015

Machine Project is usually up to something interesting.
posted by three_red_balloons at 1:03 PM on September 5, 2015 [1 favorite]

LAist is a good resource for stuff like this.
posted by BlahLaLa at 1:11 PM on September 5, 2015 [1 favorite]

Oh, also The Great Los Angeles Walk.
posted by BlahLaLa at 1:12 PM on September 5, 2015

You MUST go to the Museum of Jurassic Technology
You should also check out the Forest Lawn (make sure to go to the Glendale one)
posted by nanook at 1:32 PM on September 5, 2015 [1 favorite]

The Pan Am Experience.
posted by evoque at 1:59 PM on September 5, 2015

Lucha Vavoom!
posted by sprezzy at 2:46 PM on September 5, 2015

The Groundlings improv theatre in Hollywood is fun. If you're like my hubby and can recognize actors easily in any context, for months afterwards you will be saying "hey, that's that guy we saw at the Groundlings" every time you see a commercial on tv.
posted by vignettist at 2:48 PM on September 5, 2015

Oh yeah, does the RVIP Lounge still make stops around L.A? RVIP Lounge!
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 5:07 PM on September 5, 2015

The Museum of Jurassic Technology.
posted by jrobin276 at 12:14 AM on September 6, 2015

The Los Angeles Zoo is really quite interesting, but you do not hear about it and not that many people go there. Also one more vote for the Museum of Jurassic Technology, and if you like boardwalks and sideshows, Venice Beach. Say hi to the friendly Bearded Lady.
posted by mermayd at 10:52 AM on September 6, 2015

I've been meaning to try this: Hiking Up the Outdoor Staircases of Hollywoodland
posted by oxisos at 8:45 PM on September 6, 2015 [1 favorite]