Where to celebrate Lunar New Year in Los Angeles

The Chinese Club of San Marino hosts its annual Lunar New Year Festival in idyllic Lacy Park, which will be filled with cultural performances and displays, games and food vendors serving up savory and sweet treats. The free community event aims to channel good fortune and unite people after the fires affected so many in the San Gabriel Valley. To that end, the fest will also have a dedicated donation booth to raise funds for fire relief. 

Members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic will celebrate the Lunar New Year by performing Chinese folk songs reimagined for a string quartet by Yi-Wen Jiang, including Haihuai Huang’s Racing Horses—a nod to the year of the independent and free-spirited horse. Arrive early to toast the holiday with a complimentary glass of wine.

Pasadena’s USC Pacific Asia Museum museum rings in the Lunar New Year with a free afternoon of pan-Asian activities—and a grand reopening. In addition to traditional performances in the museum’s courtyard (think: lion dances, martial arts demonstrations, Korean classical music and storytimes) plus art activities and food trucks, you’ll also be able to visit the museum’s galleries for free. Check out the brand-new immersive new exhibition “Mythical Creatures: The Stories We Carry,” which takes visitors on an interactive journey through the immigrant experience.

What better place to celebrate the Lunar New Year than the Huntington Library’s beautiful Chinese garden? Usher in the Year of the Horse with lion dancers, mask-changing performances, martial arts demonstrations, floral art and music, from Chinese opera to traditional Vietnamese music, during this two-day event. Kids will enjoy storytime, arts and crafts and a Lego display. Look out for some sweet and savory treats just for the occasion (think banh mi and creamy shaved ice) from on-site food trucks. Advance ticket reservations are required.

Santa Monica Place is welcoming the Year of the Horse with red and gold lanterns, cherry blossom wishing trees, arts and crafts for kids and shopping deals for adults. Stop by on the afternoon of February 21 for a free, family-friendly event—expect Chinese lion dance performances and martial arts demos, dough and balloon artists, live music and special Lunar New Year blessings spelled out by a calligraphy artist. While you’re there, pick up a red envelope with exclusive offers from the shopping center’s retailers and restaurants, valid through March 2.

This South Bay Lunar New Year celebration offers live entertainment, dancers, arts and crafts, food trucks and more at Crafted at the Port of Los Angeles. The free, family-friendly event typically boasts a petting zoo, too, where visitors can get close to roosters, sheep, goats and pigs—maybe even horses in honor of the Year of the Horse. Parking is also free; head to 22nd and Miner streets to park and catch a free ride to the event from the San Pedro Downtown Trolley. 

Welcome the Year of the Horse amid the lush greenery of South Coast Botanic Garden every weekend this February. Enjoy an afternoon of festive Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean traditions, with activities including the Korean game Yutnori, the Vietnamese game Bầu Cua Cá Cọp or the Chinese game of Mahjong. Enjoy the grounds on a Zodiac Stroll, the new dragon walk or a morning tai chi class. You’ll also find storytelling, a wishing tree, live music, a themed photo op and specialty food and cocktails (available for purchase from 10am–4pm). Admission is $18, but for $9 more, you can catch a performance by lion dancers, martial artists, drummers and folk dancers (Sat, Sun at 11am, 1pm, 3pm).

Join in one of L.A.’s oldest traditions at the 127th annual Golden Dragon Parade. The colorful procession of lion dancers, dance troupes, music groups and more will make its way through Chinatown (kicking off at Hill Street at Temple, traveling toward Bernard, then right onto Broadway then back to Broadway & Temple) on Saturday, February 21, from 1 to 4pm. The parade historically coincides with a free Lunar New Year festival in the Central Plaza as well.

Westfield Topanga is welcoming the Year of the Horse in style. The Valley shopping center is decked out in festive decor through February, and will host a lion and dragon dance performance (through Level 1 and ending with a grand finale in front of food hall Topanga Social) and give out lucky red envelopes to guests on February 15. 

Participate in a 5K or 10K run/walk, a 2K dog walk, a kiddie run or a 20- or 50-mile bike ride that will take you along the L.A. River and through Griffith Park during this weekend-long Lunar New Year tradition centered in the heart of historic Chinatown. All courses start and end at Chinatown Central Plaza, which will host a concurrent, free family-friendly festival with a beer garden, kids’ activities and live entertainment, if you want to celebrate without breaking a sweat. Don’t miss the weekend opening ceremony, with lion dancers and the traditional lighting of 100,000 firecrackers. Check the website for a detailed schedule of events.

Coinciding with the Firecracker Run’s Paw’er Dog Walk, this third annual Lunar New Year celebration specifically caters to dogs and their owners. The Blossom Plaza event includes Year of the Fire Horse–themed pet photography sessions and custom portraits, plus shopping from local pet-centric businesses and cultural activities. 

Every year, the L.A. Zoo hosts an animal-filled celebration of the Lunar New Year. (2026 is the year of the horse, and though the zoo may not be home to horses, you can see their cousins, the zebras.) Take a self-guided tour through the animals of the Chinese zodiac, watch special feedings of the zoo’s inhabitants, and write down your hopes for the new year on the Wall of Well Wishes. You can also catch the Asian Arts Talents Foundation’s Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese dance performances, as well as calligraphy demos and Chinese fan decorating. All weekend activities are included in the price of zoo admission.

Scope out dozens food and craft booths while dragon dances, kung fu demonstrations, live candy sculpting and other entertainment play out across a street festival. For those new to celebrating the holiday, the fest’s “cultural passport” experience teaches you how different regions celebrate Lunar New Year. This annual event takes place just on Alhambra’s Main Street and celebrates the diversity of the San Gabriel Valley.

The historic theater is putting on a mix of music, film, theater, dance and comedy programs to mark the Lunar New Year during this multi-week festival, which kicks off the playhouse’s year-long spotlight on Asian and Asian American voices. Highlights include a performance by experimental pop artist Jett Kwong (Feb 20); Tam Tran Goes to Washington, a family-friendly play put on by the East West Players (Feb 21); the first public screening of a documentary about composer Earl Kim (Feb 21); a laugh-out-loud show by the first and longest-running Asian American improv troupe, Cold Tofu (Feb 21); and an afternoon of dance by the Vietnamese American Thủy Vân Dance Company (Feb 22). See the full lineup of events here.

Head to Benny Boy Brewing for a free Lunar New Year concert by multilingual singer and accordionist Jessica Fichot, who returns to channel the swing era of Shanghai with her band. Expect to hear classic Chinese New Year songs, jazz songs sung in Mandarin and Mandopop. Pair pours from the Lincoln Heights brewery and cider house with food from Yakitori Cartel (noon–6pm) and Zef BBQ and the Dumpling Dream (6–11pm). The San Gabriel Valley Chinese Cultural Association will close out the night with drumming and roaming lion dancers.

The L.A. Department of Cultural Affairs and Asian makers’ market MAUM are teaming up to present the fourth annual Lunar Block Party in North Hollywood, celebrating Korean, Vietnamese and Chinese cultures. Welcome in the new and good at the free community event, which will fill Lankershim Boulevard (between Otsego Street and Magnolia Boulevard) with arts and crafts for kids, shopping at MAUM market, cultural performances, Asian-owned food trucks and more.

Ring in the Lunar New Year in the heart of L.A.’s Chinese community at this annual two-day Monterey Park festival. This street fair takes over five blocks of downtown Monterey Park (Garvey Ave between Garfield and Alhambra) with folk art, delectable bites, live entertainment and a carnival zone. The action kicks off Saturday morning with traditional New Year dragon and lion dancers. Past fests have brought in over 100,000 people, so plan ahead; the city suggests utilizing the free parking and shuttles from Mark Keppel High School (501 E Hellman Ave) or Repetto Elementary School (650 Grandridge Ave).

Learn more about Asian culture as you celebrate Lunar New Year at dining and shopping destination Koreatown Plaza, where you can watch a Chinese lion dance, Korean drum performance and a multicultural fashion show—all for free. You can also shop from a variety of Asian American-owned small businesses and buy books at the Asian American Authors’ Corner. And don’t forget food: The first 500 people in attendance will receive $15 vouchers to use at the plaza’s food court, which counts Awoolim Kimbop, Gamja Bawi, Pao Jao, Tonkatsu House, Bosco Bakery and Cheesetella among its vendors.

Celebrate the Lunar New Year early with this pan-Asian celebration of the flavors, sights and sounds of Asia. The expo, established more than four decades ago, will take over multiple stages and exhibition halls at Fairplex in Pomona. Over 1,400 vendors, live entertainment—from Chinese acrobats to Japanese taiko drummers—and multiple food pavilions share the space with concurrent, separately ticketed celebrations devoted to K-pop, anime and more.