Ancient Beer at the Getty Villa, Then Free Art and Car-Free Streets

The Getty beer night costs $110. ArtNight Pasadena, the Hammer's opening party and CicLAvia cost nothing.

On a stone seal carved in Sumer more than 4,000 years ago, seated figures at a banquet drink through straws. The Getty picked that seal as the image for its Saturday beer night at the Getty Villa, and it's the best reason to spend money in L.A. this weekend.

It's close to the only reason. We Like L.A.'s weekend roundup turned up the leads, and three of the best cost nothing: Pasadena opens 23 arts venues Friday night, the Hammer Museum throws a fall opening party Saturday and CicLAvia closes 6.5 miles of streets to cars Sunday. The other ticket worth buying is a seafood festival on the Santa Monica Pier. We Like L.A. also warns that rain is on the way, so check the forecast before anything outdoors.

Bacchus Uncorked, Getty Villa, Saturday. The Getty pitches this series as a look at the ancient world's art, culture and wine. This time it's beer. Archaeologist Tate Paulette of North Carolina State University, who wrote In the Land of Ninkasi, works through the traces Mesopotamian and Egyptian brewers left behind, and his own tries at making their beer.

Then Travis Rupp, a classicist at the University of Colorado Boulder, takes over. He runs a research brewery called The Beer Archaeologist, and he'll talk about how the earliest beers probably tasted before introducing the night's pours, modern beers inspired by ancient methods.

Talks start at 5:15 p.m. in the Villa auditorium. Beer and appetizers follow on the Café Terrace until 8:30. Tickets are $110, it's 21 and over, space is limited and there are no refunds. Your ticket also counts as your Villa entry reservation, and parking costs extra. The two Egypt shows, Sculpted Portraits of Ancient Egypt and The Egyptian Book of the Dead, reopen during the party. Go at 7:30.

Off the Hook, Santa Monica Pier, Sunday. Westside blogger Todd Rick Allen flagged this one on Oct. 4. It's the eighth year for the festival, which promises food from more than 25 L.A. restaurants and chefs, a yacht-rock band called the Windbreakers and a nod to National Seafood Month, according to the festival's website.

Proceeds go to Heal the Bay, the Santa Monica environmental nonprofit. It's 21 and over and runs 4 to 7 p.m., and We Like L.A. lists tickets from $128.56.

ArtNight Pasadena, Friday. From 6 to 10 p.m., ArtNight opens 23 arts and cultural venues for free, the city of Pasadena says. Start at the City Hall hub, where Bob Baker's Marionettes do a spooky set alongside Theater Americana's “Thriller.” Then find Fulcrum Arts, a first-time partner, which is opening a show of crystallized hair sculpture.

The city's Arts and Culture Commission pays for part of the night. It's the same commission that gives mini-grants to small arts groups and individual artists, so a lot of what you see Friday is that money at work. Food trucks park at City Hall and many other stops.

Fall Exhibitions Celebration, Hammer Museum, Saturday. The Hammer opens four new shows with a free party from 8 to 10:30 p.m., with DJ Shay Elys in the courtyard and food and drinks for sale. The headliners are two retrospectives: Huguette Caland: A Life in a Few Lines and Mavis Pusey: Mobile Images.

Get there early. It's first come, first served, and an RSVP won't hold you a spot if the place fills up. The museum also closes at 2 p.m. Saturday to get ready, so skip an afternoon visit. Museum parking is a flat $9, with extra room at UCLA Lot 36, 11020 Kinross Ave.

CicLAvia—Heart of LA, Sunday. CicLAvia hands 6.5 miles of streets through downtown, Chinatown, Little Tokyo, the Arts District, Boyle Heights and Echo Park to people on foot, bikes and skates. It runs 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., it's free, and it's the group's 68th open-streets day.

There's no start or finish line. The hubs are Echo Park, Chinatown, Little Tokyo and Mariachi Plaza, and free pedicabs run between them, first come, first served. CicLAvia warns that the route climbs and drops quite a bit, and the stretch from Little Tokyo to Mariachi Plaza alone is about 3.1 miles.

Open map.ciclavia.org on your phone Sunday morning, pick a hub and go.

Source: welikela.com, retrieved October 8, 2026. Other sources: getty.edu, toddrickallen.com, the Off the Hook festival's website, cityofpasadena.net, hammer.ucla.edu, ciclavia.org.