June 2012 event guide: Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York

May 31, 2012
LadyLUX

Now that Memorial Day has passed, summer has unofficially begun and it’s time to start planning your social calendar! With the toasty warm weather, it’s the season for exciting foodie adventures, music and film festivals, art exhibits and maybe even a wine event or two. There’s no reason not to partake in all the festivities, especially when Lady LUX has it all mapped out for you from Los Angeles to San Francisco to New York. Let the fun begin!

Los Angeles

Bite Size Food and Craft Festival
On June 2, New York’s favorite outdoor market is coming to Hollywood for a series of four fun-filled and free events one block east of the historic intersection of Hollywood Blvd. and Vine. The opening event of the Bite Size Food and Craft Festival will present a collaboration of great food and indie crafts at its finest! LA’s favorite restaurants, indie chefs and a selected group of food trucks bring their best menus in Bite Size portions. Everything is Bite Size to encourage foodies to taste and discover something new. Additionally, over 120 amazing artisans, vintage vendors and collectors will be in attendance for the premiere event, tapped off with a craft beer garden and live music.

Taste of the Nation
Attention foodies: If there is one event that’s a must-attend, it’s the Taste of the Nation. This year the event is taking place in Los Angeles and Laguna Beach. The Laguna Beach event will be held at the Montage on June 3 with chefs Craig Strong of Studio at Montage, Lee Smith of the Montage, Suzanne Goin of Lucques, Alan Wong of Alan Wong’s Restaurant in Honolulu, Floyd Cardoz of North End Grill in New York, William Bradley of Addison at the Grand Del Mar, Michael Voltaggio of ink in Los Angeles and Jennifer Carroll of Concrete Blonde. Proceeds locally benefit the Community Action Partnership of Orange County, Second Harvest Orange County Food Bank and Father Serra’s Food Pantry at Mission Basilica San Juan Capistrano.

The Los Angeles affair will be held on June 10 at The Lot in West Hollywood and is featuring chefs from all over the city including Culina, Whist, BLD, Border Grill, FIG, ink.sack, Lukshon & Father’s Office, Picca and Mo-Chica, Haven Gastropub +Brewery, along with representatives from Angelenos’ favorite bars, wineries, and craft breweries. Guests who purchase access to the special VIP area will enjoy delicacies from Waylynn Lucas of Fonuts and UMAMIcatassen’s PIGG by Chris Cosentino, all to benefit the country’s leading anti-hunger organization, Share our Strength.

Los Angeles Film Festival
Celebrating its eighteenth year, the Los Angeles Film Festival showcases the best in new American and international cinema, providing movie-lovers with access to some of the most critically acclaimed filmmakers, film industry professionals and emerging talent from around the world. From June 14 to June 24, the film festival takes place at L.A. Live in Downtown LA.

Opening night at the Hollywood Bowl
A Los Angeles institution, the Hollywood Bowl is famous for its summer concerts. On Friday, June 22, the Bowl is celebrating this season’s opening night with performances from Reba McEntire and Chaka Khan who will join Thomas Wilkins and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra on stage for the grand event. Tickets are available here.

Street Food Cinema at Exposition Park
Street Food Cinema is a new summer event series featuring exciting outdoor movies, mouth-watering food trucks and live music. The fun takes place every Saturday from now until August 25 at Exposition Park. The finale soiree occurs on September 1 at Bloch Field at LA Port. Doors for the event open at 5:30PM, with a band playing at 6:30PM and the movie beginning at 8:30PM. Tickets are available for $10 or $5 for ages 6-12.

Ends of the Earth: Land Art to 1974
Exhibiting at the MOCA until September 3, “Ends of the Earth: Land Art to 1974” is the first large-scale, historical-thematic exhibition to deal broadly with Land Art. The exhibit exposes Land Art as a media practice as much as a sculptural one, focusing on the extent to which language, photography, film and television served as an integral and not a secondary or supplementary part of its formation. Over eighty artists and projects from the United Kingdom, Japan, Israel, Iceland, Eastern and Northern Europe, as well as North and South America are included in the show.

Cleopatra: The Exhibition
At the California Science Center, “Cleopatra: The Exhibition” features the largest collection of its kind ever assembled in the U.S. It includes more than 150 priceless Egyptian artifacts illuminating the life of Cleopatra VII, one of the most provocative and powerful women in history. Pieces on view include colossal statues, jewelry, coins and items from her sunken palace in Alexandria and other ancient sites that were significant during her reign as queen.

LadyLUX via sterngrove.org, sanfrancisco.travel, goldengatebridge75.org, and sanfrancisco.travel

San Francisco

Stern Grove Festival
Celebrating the opening day of the 75th season no June 24, the Stern Grove Festival is presenting The Big Picnic, a private catered fundraising event in the West Meadow benefiting the Stern Grove Festival, and The Big Picnic Concert, an admission-free concert open to the public. R&B legend Anita Baker will be the headlining act for the summer concert.

Dine About Town
From June 1 to 15, the 11th annual Dine About Town returns to San Francisco for a tasty affair. Foodies can enjoy a 2-course prix fixe lunch for $17.95 or a 3-course dinner for $34.95. Dates and times of participation vary by restaurant. Reservations are not required but are highly recommended.

Golden Gate Bridge 75th Anniversary
From now until September 15, The Presidio Trust and the Walt Disney Family Museum present a Golden Gate Bridge 75th anniversary commemorative film festival featuring seven films starring the Bay Area’s iconic superstar.

San Francisco’s Union Street Eco-Urban Festival
Celebrating its 35th year on June 2, this festival is one of the city’s largest free annual events. This year’s offerings will include arts and crafts created with recycled and sustainable materials and eco-friendly exhibits. There will be 150 arts and crafts booths, 25 gourmet food booths, two stages of live entertainment and bistro-style cafes.

2012 Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon
If you’re tough enough to participate or maybe just watch, join hundreds of top athletes from all over the world to take over the streets and bay waters of San Francisco for the 32nd Annual Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon. Triathletes must endure an ice-cold 1.5-mile swim from Alcatraz Island to the San Francisco shoreline, an 18-mile hilly bike ride through Presidio and an 8-mile run through Golden Gate Recreational Area. The race takes place on June 10 at 7:30AM.

Pinot Days San Francisco
For pinot noir enthusiasts, Pinot Days San Francisco brings together the largest single gathering of pinot noir producers in the world. On June 16 at Fort Mason Center, aficionados can immerse themselves in the event that boasts 200 pinot producers and 15 wine-related purveyors.

LadyLUX via fredtorres.com, nevillewakefield.com, 92y.org, timeout.com and nycgo.com

New York

Fashion Icons with Fern Mallis: Michael Kors
To conclude the “Fashion Icons with Fern Mallis” series, New York Fashion Week founder Fern Mallis chats with legendary American designer Michael Kors, whose fashion label recently celebrated its 30-year anniversary. The talk begins at 8PM on June 6.

Courtney Love: And She’s Not Even Pretty
“Courtney Love: And She’s Not Even Pretty,” the first art exhibition from musician-actress Courtney Love, features a bold selection of self-portrait paintings in which colorful, childlike execution contrasts with the darker themes of her lyrics and poetry, scribbled beside the blonde figures. The title of the show may reference the way women put each other down around men, but Love claims most of the work is about a particular romance. In addition to the paintings, there is also a wedding gown made by John Galliano for nuptials that never happened, now embroidered with profanities in red. The exhibit ends on June 15.

Helmet Lang: Sculptures
Helmut Lang left his eponymous line and the fashion world in 2005 to explore art. In his first exhibition in New York City, the artist showcases monochromatic structures that present a visual meeting of natural and industrial materials, including rubber, foam, plaster, sheepskin and tar. Lang’s exhibit ends on June 15.

Beer Here: Brewing New York’s history
Beer has been brewed in New York City since the first European settlements. Explore the history of beer and brewing in the city at the New York Historical Society exhibition, which features artifacts and documents from the colonial era as well as from modern day mass-production and artisanal breweries that still operate in the city. The beer experience will run until September 2.

New York's Golden Age of Bridges: Paintings by Antonio Masi
In a unique art exhibit that runs until September 30, Antonio Masi, an Italian-born artist who immigrated to NYC with his family in 1947, displays 26 breathtaking watercolors depicting all nine of the city’s major bridges. The paintings are on display at the New York Transit Museum.

Stay tuned for next's month calendar of events featuring Chicago and Seattle!