To begin talking about what to do this weekend, do you actually need to disconnect and not do *anything* for a change?

UCLA Health is offering free online meditation sessions all month, and access to all their Mindful Awareness archives if you missed any, along with a meditation app. Definitely an important respite in these challenging times.

"Couriers of Hope" is an online exhibit of ten local Long Beach galleries & museums, featuring artwork on new or found mailing envelopes. Inspired by the mail-art movement of the 1960s in which artists used the envelope as a canvas. This experience is enhanced by a powerful 3D website to make it feel like you are really walking around the gallery.

Palm Springs is celebrating “Modernism week” early all month of February with virtual films, discussions, and online experiences you can stream at home.

Downtown Santa Monica is celebrating Black History Month with Public Art Installations Created by Black Artists on Third Street Promenade. Go to their website for exact addresses on where to find them.

Ready to visit your favorite animals again in person?

The Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens is now back open to a limited capacity with timed-entry reservations required for all guests, and stringent safety protocols one of them staying the length of “three flamingos apart.” Make your reservations now.

What to eat:

The Rose Bowl is hosting a Drive-Thru Fair Foodie Fest through February 28, featuring fair foods like turkey legs, deep-fried Oreos, doughnut cheeseburgers, and even a mouth-watering Hawaiian Chicken Teriyaki Pineapple Bowl. I think I just put on some calories just reading about this! Register online now and receive a free funnel cake.

Or how about a pop-up event that will blow you away, almost literally with food prepared with a blow torch! Go to The Gastro Garage for tickets at the W Hollywood Hotel this weekend, and more info on this tasty culinary concept that will make your mouth sizzle.

Did you know tortilla chips were invented on accident at a local downtown L.A. factory in the 1940s by a quick-thinking chef who took “rejected” tortillas, and fried & cut up “rejected” tortillas for 10 cents a bag? Well, to celebrate this crunchy national pastime, February 24th is National Tortilla Chip Day! Order some of the best homemade chips from local eateries such as Los Toros Meat Market or Los Cincos Puntos, or even better, make your own at home yourself!

The Skirball Cultural Center presents “Skirball Suppers” where you buy a carry-out, three course meal and watch an online concert. This weekend is a southern theme.

Now, here’s what to watch at home:

Top Class: The Life & Times of the Sierra Canyon Trailblazers — a new documentary on one of the most high-profile high school basketball teams right here in our backyard of Chatsworth. 

The roster includes the sons of NBA superstars Dwayne Wade, and LeBron James and mirrors some of the same pressures their fathers have faced in the spotlight on and off the court. Bronny’s dad is also an executive producer on the film. All episodes premiere Feb 26th on IMDB TV.

And finally, in case you missed it, the true crime series Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel was the number one show on Netflix about Elisa Lam & the web sleuths who tried to solve her mysterious death at the notorious hotel here in Downtown L.A.

Some critics noted that the series meanders and even at a four hour series length, leaves many questions unanswered.

That’s where two of the voices that were featured in the documentary come in, who produced an extensive webinar to reveal the stories behind the deeper context of the local neighborhood & the building’s future.

You might remember Kim Cooper & Richard Schave — The SoCal Scene covered their popular bus tours on the Black Dahlia and the L.A. Times Bombing years ago. Because of COVID, their bus has been temporarily grounded, but their insightful tours carry on via weekly webinars.

You can watch In the shadow of Hotel Cecil - A Main Street Time Travel on demand and also watch future webinars every Saturday including one on storybook architecture around L.A. this Saturday by going to their Esotouric website.

And if you missed any of this, visit our website for all the links inside the SoCalendar!