Three day weekends are clearly fantastic opportunities to book it out of town, but let’s not forget that we live in a place that people actually come to for their vacations. This Labor Day weekend, play tourist in your own city by staycationing at one of these LA Labor Day weekend events.
KJazz Blues Bash: This blues festival from Long Beach's excellent jazz radio purveyor KJazz features headliners including James Cotton, with special guest Robby Krieger of The Doors, Lil' Ed and the Blues Imperials, and Ana Popovic. Even if you don't recognize any of the artist's names, you can trust that KJazz is going to give audiences the blues in the best way.August 3, 12pm – 6pm, $55-$175Carpenter Performing Arts Center, 6200 Atherton Street, at McNab Avenue, Long Beach (562-985-70000 or jazzandblues.org)The Taste: Get epicurious at this LA Times-sponsored four day food and booze extravaganza, which will go down across town in Beverly Hills, Hollywood and Downtown. The event's notable guests include Giada DeLaurentiis, Roy Choi, Susan Feniger, and Michael Voltaggio, but the event's real star will clearly be all the damn food. Event tickets are all inclusive, which means unlimited tastings from more then 40 area restaurants, wineries, breweries and distilleries. Swimsuit season is nearly over, so feel free to indulge in… everything.September 2-5, $125-$325Locations vary, see website for details, (events.latimes.com/taste)Cinecon Classic Film Festival: A five day festival for the hardcore film buff set, Cinecon will feature over thirty classic films from the medium's early days. The lineup includes 'Stronger than Death' from 1920 and 'The Coward' from 1915, in addition to other rare and unusual films from the silent and early sound era. Silent films will include live piano accompaniment, which sounds just lovely. The event also includes a movie memorabilia sale featuring posters, stills, books and other classic Hollywood whatnots.September 2-5, $25-$150, $20 membership required to buy ticketsThe Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Boulevard, at North Las Palmas Avenue, (323-466-3456 or cinecon.org)FYF Fest: There's a reason that an F-bomb is embedded in this music festival's acronym title, and that reason is because this event is going to be completely effing awesome. This eighth inception of FYF will feature Death From Above 1979, Descendents, Broken Social Scene, Girls, Four Tet, Fool's Gold and Cults, among a slew of other up and coming and already arrived acts, many of them local. F yeah, indeed.September 3, all day, $40- $99LA State Historic Park, 1245 North Spring Street, at West College Street, (fyffest.com)Fiesta Hermosa: The only thing better than a staycation is a beach staycation, which can be accomplished by heading to Hermosa for the beach hamlet's 40th annual pier festival. Fiesta Hermosa will feature nearly 300 booths of artisan crafts and wares in addition to two stages of live music (the lineup features tribute bands for acts including Neil Diamond, Journey, the Beach Boys and Steely Dan), plus a beer garden and carnival rides.September 3-6, 10am – 6pm, freeHermosa Beach Pier, 1 Pier Avenue, at The Strand, Hermosa Beach, (213-480-3232 or fiestahermosa.com)