Things to Do in Arcadia

The 16th century comes booming back to life during The Original Renaissance Pleasure Faire, which has re-created the culture, cuisine, and history of the Elizabethan era for more than five million attendees since its inauguration in 1963. Atop 13 stages sprinkled across 20 acres of festival grounds, live performers don traditional garb to demonstrate Renaissance music, dancing, battle customs, and blogging techniques. The talented actors stay in character throughout the bash, mingling with the crowds to perform alongside artisans purveying leatherware, clothing, and perfumes.

Workshops instruct visitors on how to make period crafts, after which guests can refuel with samplings of traditional Renaissance cuisine, such as hefty turkey legs and shepherd's pies, or more modern fare such as strombolis, coffee, and sweet confections. Rides and games challenge kids to toss javelins, race turtles, and recite Shakespeare's complete works on giant swings, and interactive RenQuest exhibitions hone little ones' sword-fighting skills and trivia knowledge.

Many people feel an indescribable urge to follow in the footsteps of celebrities long passed—hoping that a connection to their genius or charm still lingers in the air of their apartments and favorite pubs. The guides of Esotouric understand and share this urge, though they prefer to roam the paths of history by bus. After scouring the famed neighborhoods of Los Angeles in search of interesting and outlandish locations, they share their findings on bus adventures that retrace the trails blazed by local artists, filmmakers, writers, and actors.

Esotouric's odysseys wind through haunts such as Raymond Chandler's favorite breakfast spot and the salon Charles Bukowski visited for his weekly knuckle-hair perm. Coloring their tours with anecdotes about the films adapted from his noirish stories, guides also visit locales captured in the cinematic landscapes of James M. Cain. Various tours explore Southern California’s spiritual, musical, and architectural sides, giving history hounds the chance to sniff out sinister deeds in old-time tattoo parlors, burlesque shows, and crime scenes.

Over the course of the summer, Street Food Cinema rolls out more than a dozen events that showcase the greatest hits of the silver screen and the LA food-truck scene. When the gates open, guests spread blankets on the grass, pop open coolers, and even settle down with their dogs—the park is pet friendly and broadcasts canine subtitles for each film. Live bands presented by The Viper Room play until dusk, when crowd-pleasing movies such as Napoleon Dynamite and Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol slide across the big screen. Meanwhile, a rotating food-truck schedule assembles a diverse curbside lineup, which might include short ribs from Kogi Korean barbecue or the gooey delight of The Munchie Machine's famous four-cheese, ciabatta-bread grilled-cheese sandwich.

Street Food Cinema's eclectic assemblage of food, music, and films has picked up attention beyond the park's bounds, snagging mentions on NBC4 and in The Huffington Post's Broke Girls Guide. It's also become known for its philanthropic work: each year the organization supports one designated local charity.

For Urban Outdoor Skills staff Pascal Baudar and Mia Wasilevich, living sustainably is more than just talk. Baudar has been sourcing his own food since his childhood in Belgium, and Wasilevich—a self-taught chef—lives off her own urban garden. Together they run Urban Outdoor Skills, teaching their students self-reliance through classes where they pickle and can their own foods or make organic soaps from wild aromatic plants. Underlying every session is a bounty of expertise in foraging from the surrounding mountain wilderness: nettles and yucca become piquant sauces, seeds become breads and crackers, and flowers become wood-sprite birthday cakes.

Experienced instructors at Billy Camarillo Cutting Horses tailor classes to horses’ dispositions and riders’ goals. Although they offer beginners lessons in basic Western-riding techniques, the staff specializes in training more advanced horsepeople in cutting, a fast-paced equestrian sport in which the rider attempts to separate a single cow from the rest of its herd. To facilitate cutting practice, live cattle graze on the premises 95% of the time, and students practice on a mechanical cow famed for its iron-flavored milk during the remaining 5%. The full-service facility also provides room and board for many patrons' steeds, and Billy himself takes in young colts in need of starting.

The GRAMMY Museum aims to immerse guests in a historic and melodic experience with four floors devoted to American music. The 30,000-square-foot museum celebrates the American musical tradition with concerts, lectures, and exhibits on genres ranging from classical and jazz to rock and hip-hop. The Clive Davis Theater sits at the center of the museum, ready and waiting for the gold-plated performances of tiny GRAMMY trophy orchestras. A rooftop terrace hides atop the building for special programs and private events. In the interactive exhibit space, visitors can peer into musical time capsules with stage outfits that once belonged to Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, and Stevie Ray Vaughan.