The best things to do in Los Angeles this week

Taste of the Eastside is back, but this time it’s popping up for dine-in, takeout and delivery and spots all over Silver Lake, Echo Park, Los Feliz, Atwater Village, Highland Park and Eagle Rock. Eastside-dwelling foodies (alright alright, Westsiders are welcome, too) can take advantage of limited-time dishes like Go Get Em Tiger’s chile-queso breakfast burrito; Masa’s trifecta of salad, deep dish and bread pudding; and a “winesplaining” class from Vinovore.

It’s all for a good cause, too: 25% of your total order will be donated to No Us Without You and Silver Lake’s Rose Scharlin Cooperative Nursery School.

For one weekend only, a free ’90s-inspired roller rink is landing at the Westfield Century City. The black-and-white–checkered rink, which celebrates Freeform’s new series Cruel Summer, will pop up on April 24 and 25 with a playlist that goes all in on tunes from 1993, ’94 and ’95. Reservations are available for time slots between noon and 6pm on Saturday and 11am and 6pm on Sunday. The rink will accept walk-ups, too, if there’s room.

Just as the Festival of Books nears its finish, the L.A. Times is holding yet another literary must-attended: Former President Barack Obama in conversation with filmmaker Ava DuVernay to discuss his memoir, A Promised Land.

Travel a few millennia back in time to see jewelry, sculptures and cuneiform writing from the ancient Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians, dated from the first Mesopotamian cities in about 3200 B.C. to Alexander the Great’s conquest of Babylon in 331 B.C.

KCRW’s music and food teams are coming together for this series of three, free streaming events that take stock of where we go now after a year without traditional restaurant or live music culture.

For the first event on April 22, Good Food’s Evan Kleiman and KCRW program director of music Anne Litt host a conversation with chef Roy Choi and John Gourley from Portugal. The Man.

Two of our favorite restaurants, Woon and Lasita, are teaming up for this bao box pop-up—in chicken, pork belly and mushroom varieties. The restaurants are putting together these packages (available for pre-order only) for 4/20, so each will come with rolling papers courtesy of Old Pal. Plus, 20% of the proceeds will benefit local organizations supporting the AAPI community. You can place your order on Woon’s site and then pick it up at Far East Plaza.

Help Golden Road clean up the L.A. River (or a beach or watershed, depending on the location) and get a deal on some beer during this socially-distanced (just after) Earth Day event. Meet up at Golden Road’s Atwater Village pub (or the ones in Huntington Beach and Anaheim) and you’ll be led on a guided cleanup; each $15 ticket includes four canned beers, a koozie and a draft beer ticket for the bewery’s Earth Day Kolsch. Golden Road will donate $5 of each ticket to a local waterway organization.

Have a Porsche, love burgers and tacos, and at least mildly interested in vaping? Then, wow, is this weekend car cruise perfectly suited to your tastes. On April 25, join a procession of Porsche drivers at George’s Burger Stand in Boyle Heights, where you’ll pick up a free meal and some products from Timeless Vapes, which is backing the event. From there, you’re encouraged to swing by a couple of BIPOC-owned shops: Elysian Barbershop, where you can redeem a free haircut; Cosmic Vinyl for a free coffee and vinyl record; Black Leaf Flower Shop to get a free flower coupon for Mother’s Day; and Sherbinskis for even more Timeless products. Things wrap up with a free meal at Guisados in Beverly Hills.

L.A.’s favorite cemetery screening series has left gravestones behind for now, but it’s been resurrected as a drive-in just outside of the Greek Theatre. Expect some familiar Cinespia fixtures at each screening, including DJs, a concession stand and meals that you can pre-order.

Oakland hosted the launch of Porter Robinson’s Second Sky Festival a couple of years ago, and for its third go-around it’s once again online.

Porter Robinson headlines and curates the fest, set for Apr 24 with a lineup that includes the likes of Baauer, Boys Noize, End of the World and more. The 14-hour livestream will take place in a virtual auditorium (that, sort of like an IRL show, lets you walk around and opens 30 prior to the showtime) on a slew of digital platforms.

The fest is also partnering with Postmates for free delivery on orders over $10 during the stream’s run; just use the code SECRETSKY.

Not quite ready to eat inside of a restaurant? Here are some of our favorite spots for alfresco eats in L.A.

You’ve eaten through two bags of beans and six cans of chickpeas. Now what? You leave it to some of the city’s top restaurants and bars, who are making your social distancing as painless as possible.

Some of L.A.’s best restaurants and bars have your back when you need a stiff drink at home. Restaurants and bars can now deliver alcohol to your door—whether it’s craft beer, wine or house-made cocktails—as long as they’re offering food, which means we can finally sip from some of our favorite spots in town from the comfort of our own couches.

Cinephiles, rejoice! You can watch a movie from somewhere other than your couch at L.A.’s half-dozen or so old-school drive-ins.

Alfresco screenings usually pop up across the city well past the summer season. But this year, with most screenings pivoting to drive in formats, it seems like we still have months of movies to look forward to.

Finally, our automobile-addicted culture has an upside: You can see some of L.A.’s most stunning scenery safely from your car window.

We’re so thankful that we have access to some many incredible trails in L.A. (assuming you’re following proper social distancing guidelines and wearing a face covering).

If your neighborhood isn’t conducive to walking and you’re looking for a wide-open outdoor space, most major gardens are open again. Do note that tickets are limited and must be purchased online. And remember to keep a safe distance from other visitors.

Most of our favorites are back open again—with a bunch of new exhibitions worth visiting.