If there's a single Los Angeles look for the summer of 2026, it's got to be this one: soccer jersey — usually Mexico — camp chair on one shoulder, pastel Trader Joe's tote on the other, riding transit (of course). Color-blocked Owala water bottle, sunblock, and N95 mask on standby, should the smoldering cold storage warehouse filled with 85 million pounds of no-longer-frozen food experience a flare-up. (When, exactly, do our air quality alerts get swapped for rotting chicken cutlet odor alerts?) Despite the emergency declarations, unreliable infrastructure, and floundering leadership, we're all on our way to somewhere better — places all over the city dedicated to being exuberant in public.
What's been most striking to me as I've checked in at watch parties over the last two weeks is how easy it is to turn an underused LA space into a truly great one. Sure, there's been questionable screen placement, shade struggles, and the occasional butt-kiss of blistering asphalt. But there's really no such thing as a bad watch party; it really is as easy as JUST ADD PEOPLE. After seeing how effortlessly we can come together, I'm done making excuses for this city. Leaders, take notes: as we reach the midpoint of our World Cup journey, here's my survey of the best of LA's celebratory urbanism.
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The malls have it all
Does it feel like LA's malls were kind of having a moment already? Most of the biggies were making upgrades in advance of the megaevents, and now we see it wasn't really about the retail. It was no surprise to see Rick Caruso's properties decked out with tiny Nike stadia; he'll turn that spray-painted lawn over to whatever brand comes knocking. (Did you know he also installed an actual soccer pitch on the rooftop of the Americana?) But it was heartening to see the same level of fan engagement at malls like Ovation (aka Hollywood & Highland), Century City, and Santa Monica Place. Not all the changes have been welcoming: Universal City Walk now requires a stroll through metal detectors just to access the mall, which they swear isn't for the Olympics — remember squash is happening here — but I've added this to my guide so I can go inspect this expanding security perimeter in person.
The Bloc's artificial turf square offers prime no-chair seating
The case for malls is a good one, and not just because they have really clean bathrooms. But I kept coming back to the Bloc, which I also love because one portal to the 7th and Metro subway station is properly integrated right into the building. (Is this the ONLY ONE of these we really have in LA? We are so embarrassing!) The happenings are tucked just far enough away from the bustle, but you can still peek in from the street and see what you're missing. At the end of the summer, however, a new pickleball club will move into the empty Macy's and renderings show most of that artificial turf lawn being converted into courts. I know, it was always a mall, but it would be a shame to lose this quasi-public, transit-first space, further privatizing one of our most well-equipped spaces to gather.
Soccer as art
I'm not sure I would have believed you if you told me the Getty Museum was showing World Cup games, a high-resolution screen framed between the travertine columns like video art. Go now, before the museum closes for a glow-up that includes a new Frank Gehry-designed tram. Or, I guess, go again in 2028 when I'd estimate they'll be screening the Olympics and Paralympics in the same stunning setting. From the Hammer Museum to the Autry Museum, I've been impressed at how effortlessly our cultural centers have blended soccer into their programming.
At the Music Center's inaugural summer dance party last Friday, the transition into salsa-dancing lessons after Spain defeated Uruguay felt seamless. My favorite people-watching venue never disappoints: I saw hacky-sacking teens mixing with ballet-goers in sequinned gowns, LA County Public Health director Dr. Barbara Ferrer, and some really inspired art-making activities for kids. I have a whole story to write about how some of these organizers have masterfully curated children's activities that aren't "throw a bunch of markers and an AI-generated coloring sheet on a rickety unshaded table." I am waiting to confirm if the splash pad —which is tucked under a dance floor for the bigger parties — will be open for future daytime match screenings, which might make it the best place to watch soccer in the whole city.
There were no matches screened at LACMA during its solstice art parade — although don't miss the exhibition Fútbol Is Life by Lyndon J. Barrois, Sr. — but the array of soccer jerseys and a hardworking D meant the World Cup simply pulsed right through the event. During Supervisor Holly Mitchell's remarks, her voice echoing from somewhere deep within Peter Zumthor's loading-dock underbelly, she reminded a cheering crowd that LACMA was a public facility that belongs to all of us. Here's to more institutions that bring everyone in.
Public squares
As I've noted in my previous reporting, LA’s Kick it in the Park series continues to be the shining star of the World Cup. The Department of Recreation and Parks-branded trailers with their pop-up digital screens are genius; movie nights citywide just got a huge upgrade. And while any park is a good park, I'm personally most excited to see MacArthur Park and Lafayette Park connected with the Park to Park/Parque to Parque open streets event/watch party on July 10 and 11 — and I wrote a little preview of how this event peers into our public space future for the Living Infrastructure Field Kit's new publication Neighbors.
But the city has done more than just plan public events; the Office of Major Events has created an extremely useful public event calendar. (If I'm praising a city website, you know it must be good.) In fact, it was due to the Kick it in the Park website listing events happening at other LA city properties that I discovered the Central Library was hosting watch events in the Taper Auditorium. What a vibe! Theater-quality screen and seating. Dozens of hand-selected soccer books. City employees streaming in on their lunch breaks to catch a match. The care and consideration that our librarians bring to their roles on full display. On the afternoon I visited, the scene brought me to tears. LA deserves this! (And can we talk about lapl.org's new look? Another great new city website.)
Riding the bus home, I've found myself browsing the Kick it in the Park website, trying to triangulate which nearby park is hosting the party that night and if I might have time to stop by. Imagine having all the programming at city properties in one place like this all time: parks, plazas, libraries, museums — a legacy to outlast the World Cup. Surely we can keep a version of this centralized calendar for whenever we want to kick it in the park, even when there's no soccer to be watched.
Coworking the room
This phenomenon took me while to figure out. During every 9 a.m. game I'd see a few people tapping away at computers. Do they work here? I wondered. No, they were actually "at work." Perhaps the best possible setup I found was in the Grand Central Market basement, with a full bar and quite a few laptop warriors imbibing at noon. What camaraderie! What conviviality! You can select your match-appropriate cuisine from upstairs and sit here all day in the meat locker chill of the AC, choosing to ignore the aggressive Coca-Cola branding, or give in and have a Coke. Bars and breweries everywhere have opened early and tweaked their menus to accommodate a daytime audience. I even saw computers out at Clifton's. Okay, one of them was me, holed up in that little second-floor sequoia forest nook.
A resurrected Clifton's has become a must-visit at any time of day
I see so much handwringing about office vacancies but very little handwringing about why we don't have more of these types of destinations welcoming the growing remote workforce. Instead of being worried about workers not returning to the office, worry about why we don't have more places for them to work together outside of the home! Beyond permitting more coffee shops, here lies another opportunity to cater to coworkers in our quasi-public spaces. Leave the tables and umbrellas up in the malls! Install powerbanks and wifi boosters in the plazas. Use those screens to throw on a baseball game or a movie. Hire a daytime DJ. Let's work together!
Branded™ experiences
I honestly wasn't expecting much from the sponsor activations, aside from affirming that Chobani and Michelob Ultra on an empty stomach don't mix. Engaging requires a transactional exchange of information — including, sometimes, your face — although compared to the ostentatious SXSW activations of my youth, few of the giveaways have been free. Purely from a production perspective, the highlight, I regret to say, was that Michelob Ultra Pitchside Club on the Santa Monica Pier. Good seating, lots of space, local restaurants popping up inside, a fairly decent attempt at shade sails, free bike valet, and, of course, those cooling offshore breezes. A bonus: Santa Monicans could visit to affirm their smugness that they never needed LA28's beach volleyball.
Of course the French along brought the best cafe
We only had a handful of hospitality houses in town for the World Cup, but these will be ubiquitous in 2028. France's Paris Saint-Germain Football Club occupied the Hollywood Athletic Club, a place not currently open to the public, with great thoughtfulness: the gymnasium converted into a comfortable viewing zone ringed by a range of age-appropriate kid activities, a classy atelier, and the best patisserie — a branded macaron-topped pain au chocolat, bien sûr! It was a shameful contrast with the sterile U.S. Soccer House, a warren of crowd control stanchions crammed with flimsy booths plopped into Venice with little neighborhood context.
Not a fan (zone)
The official FIFA-programmed fan zones have been disappointing overall. Even for someone tracking all these events closely it's becoming too complicated to suss out 10 different versions of rules on what you can bring in, along with the fluctuating prices, and varying definitions of what age constitutes a child. Should we have parked the fan festival somewhere like Expo Park or Grand Park for the entire 39 days instead? Unsure if I would have wanted this either, as the garish tangles of fencing, rings of metal detectors, and heavy law enforcement presence really squashed the good vibes.
I skipped Downey due to air quality, but the Farmers Market fan zone felt ominous: is the plan really to just barricade people in parking lots without any seating or shade? One intrepid Torched subscriber noted that the situation was so dire at the Farmers Market that fans wandered into the adjacent Cost Plus World Market to buy cushioning, and many a family went home with new throw pillows and rugs. I'm looking forward to more of the upcoming fan zones happening in actual parks that provide a respite from all that pavement.
Union Station felt busy in a way it hasn't in years
The Union Station fan zone, which closed yesterday, was better, but only because Metro curated a space it knew best and rippled activity out into the surrounding neighborhood. With Alameda open to pedestrians, a boisterous Olvera Street, Pico House open, Casa México at La Plaza, and shuttles to SoFi, a sprawling Union Station-El Pueblo complex asserted its role as the region's center for a few days. Let's not forget the triumphant images of watching match after match — and a surprise Warren G concert — in the Union Station ticketing hall, one of the best rooms in the entire city. This is truly the heart of LA! Revive the scaled-back Alameda esplanade, cap the 101, and reconnect the city's birthplace to its downtown. Give the gateway to the city back to the people. 🔥
🎙️ Today! Join me at noon for Torched Talks with Stephanie Richard and Paloma Bustos of the Sunita Jain Anti-Trafficking Initiative at LMU's Loyola Law School. We'll talk about what's happening on the ground in LA right now and the lack of plans to prevent human rights abuses at megaevents in the future
Alissa Walker
Alissa Walker
Alissa Walker
Alissa Walker
