Attendees eat herring, a popular Dutch food tradition, during a Holland Festival, which will be happening Sunday, April 30 at Gemmrig Park. Photo courtesy organizers.

The following is a curated roundup of weekend events in Long Beach published every Wednesday on the Hi-lo/Long Beach Post. Have an event to share? Email [email protected] with “Things to Do” in the subject line.

Whether you’re feeling a food, drink or film festival, this weekend in Long Beach, your options abound. There’s a film festival celebrating women, a craft beer festival that believes Halloween can be celebrated any time of the year, as well as a Dutch festival celebrating the Netherlands’ annual Dutch King’s Day with traditional food and beer.

Make sure to check out a new theater production by International City Theatre as well as a special weekend-long celebration at The Bamboo Club, commemorating four years in Long Beach.

Get to scrollin’!

“UNDER THE SKIN” AT INTERNATIONAL CITY THEATRE (Friday – Sunday)

Tanya Alexander (left) and Tony Abatemarco star in “Under the Skin,” International City Theatre’s newest production debuting Friday, April 28. Photo by Kayte Deioma.

International City Theatre’s newest production features the work of Pennsylvania-based playwright Michael Hollinger in the West Coast premiere of “Under the Skin,” a comedy-drama about a dysfunctional absentee father, Lou, suddenly in need of a life-saving kidney transplant.

Lou’s ideal donor would be his daughter, Raina, and in her decision to aid her estranged father, the dynamics of family and the question of how much we owe blood relationships unfolds.

Tickets for the opening night on Friday, April 28, are $55 and include an after-show reception. “Under the Skin” will also show Saturday and Sunday this weekend for $49. Not able to make it to this weekend’s showing? You can catch the show through May 14. Click here for more information and to purchase tickets.

International City Theatre is located in the Beverly O’Neill Theatre at 330 E. Seaside Way.

BAMBOO CLUB CELEBRATES FOUR YEARS (Friday – Sunday)

The Bamboo Club, a Tiki bar, is located in the Zaferia District in Long Beach. Photo courtesy of The Bamboo Club.

It’s been four years since concept tiki lounge and bar, The Bamboo Club, opened, and to commemorate its success, the lounge is celebrating with a unique cocktail menu and special music performances all weekend long.

Friday, April, 28 will have music by electronic dance music groups Clown Sounds and Fartbarf. Saturday’s shows feature French pop and 1960s euro-beats by the band Plastered in Paris alongside Long Beach’s own turntable masters, DJ Dennis Owens, DJ Lilibird and DJ Pierrot. And on Sunday, El Haru Kuroi band will be performing a set blending the sounds of Mexican, South American, African and jazz music.

Those interested will also be able to purchase limited edition T-shirts designed by tiki artist Ken Ruzic for the anniversary, as well as screen-printed posters designed by Long Beach’s Jeff McMillan.

For Friday’s tickets, click here. For Saturday, here and Sunday, here.

The Bamboo Clubs is at 3522 E. Anaheim St.

LUNAFEST FILM FESTIVAL (Saturday)

Courtesy flyer to the Lunafest Film Festival at the Art Theatre Saturday, April 29.

The Junior League of Long Beach has teamed up with traveling film festival, Lunafest, to present a daylong celebration of women in film.

The festival, which will be screening seven films at the Art Theatre, showcases movies made by women and largely feature women subjects. Some of the films are documentaries about women accomplishing incredible feats, others are animations, and some also celebrate the queer experience. Click here to learn more about the films.

Proceeds for the event will benefit the Junior League, a nonprofit led by women created to empower female leadership and positively impact Long Beach communities. Click here for more information and to purchase tickets.

The Art Theatre of Long Beach is at 2025 E. Fourth St.

HALFWAY TO HALLOWEEN HOOTENANNY (Saturday)

Festival-goers to the 2022 Halfway to Halloween Hootenanny at the Museum of Latin American Art pose for a photo. Photo courtesy Obscura LB.

A craft beer festival that gives locals the chance to experience the fun of Halloween in the middle of the year returns for a second year on Saturday, April 29.

Over 25 independent breweries, cideries, wineries and hard kombucha makers will be taking over the historic Rancho Los Cerritos during the “Halfway to Halloween Hootenanny” festival. Guests can also expect a horror-themed marketplace, spooky live music and food vendors. Costumes are, of course, encouraged.

A $50 general admission ticket buys you a commemorative glass for unlimited sample pours. A $70 ticket awards early entry into the festival. Click here for more information including participating breweries and vendors and to purchase tickets.

Rancho Los Cerritos is at 4600 Virginia Road.

LONG BEACH VEGAN SOCIAL (Saturday)

Here to save you the trouble of scouting for some vegan eats is the Long Beach Vegan Social, where from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 29, seven plant-based businesses are bringing their vegan food and drink straight to you in Long Beach.

This week’s lineup includes vendors selling vegan lumpia, elotes, crepes, tamales and more.

Long Beach Vegan Social at The Hawk Bar is both indoors and outdoors and is free to all ages to attend, but if you want to be inside the bar you must be at 21 years or older. Click here for more info.

The Hawk is at 468 W. Anaheim St.

BINGO NIGHT AT FICKLEWOOD CIDERWORKS (Sunday)

Courtesy flyer to the Bingo Night event at Ficklewood Ciderworks Sunday, April 30.

It’s not a coincidence that bingo game events are cropping up more around the city—the game has hit a streak of popularity in recent years. Some point to social media, while others theorize it’s because the game has been repackaged to younger audiences thanks to niche events like drag bingo. Regardless, it’s fun, especially with a pint of something in hand.

Sunday, April 30, Downtown cidery Ficklewood Ciderworks is hosting a bingo night including normal rounds, speed rounds, and full card rounds. Yes, there are prizes. Click here to learn more and to RSVP.

Ficklewood Ciderworks is at 720 E. Broadway.

HOLLAND FESTIVAL (Sunday)

Attendees eat herring, a popular Dutch food tradition, during a Holland Festival. Photo courtesy organizers.

Southern California’s largest gathering for Dutch-Americans is celebrating Dutch King’s Day in Long Beach Sunday, April 30, with daylong activities, entertainment and Dutch cuisine.

The Amsterdam-style outdoor event will have a host of traditional Dutch foods, such as kroketten, bitterballen, raw herring, stroopwafles and more. Guests can also check out a flea market, beer garden and enjoy other family-friendly games.

The festival, which is from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Gemmrig Park, costs $10 to attend. Children under 12 may enter for free. Click here for more information and to purchase tickets.

POA Gemmrig Park is at 7390 Carson Blvd.

SPONSORED BY THE AQUARIUM OF THE PACIFIC

FIRST WEDNESDAYS EXPERT DISCUSSES THE WONDERS OF NATURE’S INTELLIGENCE (Wednesday, May 3)

Photo by Studio Petrichor.Calling upon the genius of nature’s intelligence, this event features guest speakers Leigh Adams and Shawn Maestretti from Studio Petrichor.

Studio Petrichor is a group of compassionate individuals on a journey to manifest meaningful change in the world through transformational and environmentally aligned landscaping practices. This presentation will highlight ways to adjust our mindset to honor the water and our land, support biodiversity, and to empower people to cultivate stronger, richer relationships with their environment and become caretakers of the land.

On Wednesday, May 3, the presentation and Q&A takes place from 7 to 8 p.m. in the Honda Pacific Visions Theater. The talk will be capped off with a cash bar cocktail hour, music and a craft activity in the Pacific Visions Art Gallery.

Tickets are $5 in advance or $10 at the door. RSVP online here, or call 562-590-3100.

The Aquarium of the Pacific is at 100 Aquarium Way.

 

SPONSORED BY LANDMARK THEATRE

LANDMARK RETURNS WITH A BOLDLY-IMAGINED “ASSASSINS” BY STEPHEN SONDHEIM (April 28 – May 14)

Long Beach Landmark Theatre presents a boldly-imagined and strikingly-current production of Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins. This darkly comedic musical illuminates the stories of a number of historical figures who attempted (successfully or not) to assassinate American Presidents.

Inside the frame of an all-American, yet sinister, carnival, Assassins is a scathing indictment of the “American Dream”, and the alienation that comes from its impossible pursuit. In a world where discontent simmers in the American psyche, this production examines nine hauntingly complicated protagonists as they attempt to convince us that all you have to do is “shoot to win”.

Stephen Sondheim, one of the most important figures in 20th-century musical theater, passed away in November of 2021 – but his presence is looming large throughout Southern California this Spring with major productions throughout the area, punctuated here in Long Beach by Landmark’s production of Assassins.

As always, this Landmark production features a top-notch cast and professional live orchestra—hallmarks of a company that has emerged as an important cultural landmark in the heart of Long Beach, known for consistently high-quality musical theatre productions in a unique setting – the magnificent sanctuary of the First Congregational Church of Long Beach.

Long Beach Post readers get 10% off any seat with code LBPOST here.

First Congregational Church is at 241 Cedar Ave.