Oddly, three-day holiday weekends – when you’d think people would have more time for fun – tend to be a bit lighter on scheduled special events than more “ordinary” weekends. Â Maybe they think everyone’s going out of town. Â For those of us who aren’t, though, we definitely do have an eclectic slate this weekend:
Tonight, Friday, January 15, from 7:00-10:00 p.m., the 5 Every Day app is sponsoring It’s the Pits at the La Brea Tar Pits.  The event “reimagines the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum as a science-skewed creative salon, inviting artists, musicians, and filmmakers to stage pop-up interventions and performances throughout the Museum space. Los Angeles’ Ice Age history will collide with Los Angeles’ bubbling, red-hot present, as dancers take over the atrium, experimental animation interrupts the theater’s usual programming, music spills across the terrace—all while patrons explore the grounds with an unorthodox tour guide, drink cocktails among the fossils, and grab eats from handpicked food trucks.” Admission is free with RSVP…but do note that advance reservations are already FULL.  They will, however, “allow a limited number of additional guests in at the door on a first-come, first-served basis, and recommend arriving early.”
If you can’t get into the Tar Pits event, or film is more your style, the American Cinematheque launches Samurai of the Screen: The Films of Akira Kurosawa at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood tonight.  The series runs through January 24.  Features this weekend include: Friday – Yojimbo/Sanjuro, Saturday – The Seven Samurai, and Sunday – The Hidden Fortress and Throne of Blood. All shows start at 7:30 p.m.
Running both Saturday and Sunday, the 22nd Annual African American Film Marketplace, S.E. Manly Short Film Showcase and Youth Diversity Festival plays out on several screens at Raleigh Studios, 5300 Melrose Ave. More than 45 short films will be shown, including live action, documentaries and animation, featuring filmmakers from all over the country, as well as a Q&A after selected blocks of films. With more than 300 submissions, the festival proudly presents an array of storytellers with diverse topics, stories, techniques and themes, multi-layered with humor, drama and reality. A complete list of filmmakers and their shorts can be found, along with complete schedules and showtimes, at the link above.  There will also be a special screening of Charles Burnett’s 1990 “To Sleep with Anger,” at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, at the Harmony Gold Theater, 7655 W. Sunset Blvd., followed by a live Q&A with Mr. Burnett.
If you’d rather walk than sit in a theater on Saturday afternoon, check out Los Angeles Urban Adventures‘ Ethnic Neighborhoods Food & Culture Tour Starting at 2 pm, participants will meet in front of the Gaylord Apartments at 3355 Wilshire Blvd., for a walking tour through Koreatown, Hollywood, Thai Town and Little Armenia, for a food and history tour “that reveals hole-in-the-wall eateries, markets, snack shops, and the fine art of riding the metro.”  The tour lasts about four hours and includes about three miles of walking.  And do come hungry – you definitely won’t leave that way!  Full price tickets are $82.00 through the link above (though discount tickets are currently available on  Goldstar for $49.20).
For the crafty types, Yarn Bombing Los Angeles will hold its monthly “Stictch ‘n’ Bitch” event at the Craft and Folk Art Museum from 2:00-5:00 p.m. on Saturday.  Come find out what your local guerrilla knitters are up to, share projects you’re working on, and enjoy some good conversation. All skill levels are welcome and encouraged!
Later, the Mummies: New Secrets from the Tombs exhibit at the Natural History Museum is closing on Monday, but due to popular demand will stay open late on Saturday night, until 9:00 p.m. The purchase of timed tickets is required, and the museum strongly urges advance reservations to guarantee admission. Â The Museum will also be open on Monday, Martin Luther King Day, which is the last day to see this incredible exhibition.
Finally, since Monday is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, we’re throwing in a Monday bonus holiday event: the  31st Annual Kingdom Day Parade, presented by the Congress of Racial Equality Los Angeles, honoring the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.. The popular televised parade, which kicks off at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Western Avenue at 10:15 a.m. on Monday morning, will also be aired from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on ABC Channel 7. The big event features dozens of colorful floats, a full contingent of celebrities, beauty queens, civic leaders, three equestrian teams, and scores of community organizations.  Also, there will be a replica of the actual 1950 bus ridden in by civil rights leader Rosa Parks, which will tool down the parade route courtesy of Metro. The theme of this year’s parade is ‘Our Work is Not Yet Done.’ January 15, 2016, would have been Dr. King’s 87th birthday.
And, last but not least, we’ll leave you with a couple of weekend warnings:  today (Friday, January 15) is the second South Coast Air Quality Management District No Burn Day in a row – please do not burn wood or manufactured logs in your fireplace today.  Also, this will be the second weekend of a two-weekend closure of northbound La Brea at Wilshire Blvd. The closure will be in effect from 9 p.m. Friday until 6 a.m. on Monday, January 18, so please plan alternate routes while enjoying your weekend activities.
