LA Arts Scene Goes Wild This Fall; Melbourne, Australia Sports Mania and Maui-Molokai-Lanai Ferry Talk

Los Angeles Tourism invites visitors to experience the cultural explosion of events, exhibits and future openings that are redefining the city’s art scene.

 

Los Angeles, and the surrounding region, will come together for Southern California’s landmark arts event, PST ART: Art & Science Collide, kicking off on September 15th with 70+ gallery and museum exhibitions opening concurrently across the city. The Destination Crenshaw project continues to take shape in South LA, while the surrounding neighborhood offers a cultural hub of arts organizations, galleries and dining to visit in the area. Lastly, the city’s major cultural institutions are debuting significant expansions– including The Natural History Museum, LACMA, The Broad, and the Lucas Museum.  

  

 “Los Angeles is renowned for our museums and cultural institutions, but this year brings a level of collaboration and innovation that can’t be missed,” shared Adam Burke LA Tourism President and CEO. “PST ART, one of the nation’s premier cultural events, the highly anticipated debut of Destination Crenshaw, the world’s most vibrant street art scene, and all the groundbreaking developments happening within our museum community are just a few ways LA continues to cement its position as a global cultural destination.” 

  

Getty’s PST ART: Art & Science Collide Throughout L.A. Neighborhoods and beyond September 2024 through February 2025 

  

Presented by Getty, PST ART returns to Los Angeles and the wider Southern California area this September for the first time in 7 years with the theme Art & Science Collide. The program will explore past and present connections between art and science and topics from climate change and environmental justice to the future of artificial intelligence and alternative medicine. Over 70+ exhibitions and over 800 artists are participating, providing ample opportunities to explore art across the city. PST ART: Art & Science Collide will begin on September 15  with a newly commissioned, arena-scale daytime fireworks event by Cai Guo-Qiang, the contemporary artist known for larger-than-life outdoor “explosion events.”   

 

  

Exhibitions, shows, installations and more will be on view September 15, 2024, through February 16, 2025. Abstracted Light: Experimental Photography, opening at the Getty Museum, spotlights photographic works by international artists utilizing experimental light exposures. The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on Wilshire’s Museum Row will explore science fiction and cinema with Cyberpunk: Envisioning Possible Futures Through Cinema. The UCLA Department of Media Arts will collaborate with Human Resources gallery in Chinatown to share Art and the Internet in L.A., exploring the historical impact of the internet through contemporary art. In Downtown L.A., the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) will dedicate gallery space to the interactive works of Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson, including a new, large-scale installation to anchor the exhibition. Explore all exhibitions and programs by neighborhood or theme here and map out your gallery crawl with a full list of galleries included in the PST ART Participating Gallery Program here.  

 

 

 

Australia has always been a top choice for sports tourism, attracting Canadian travellers with its world-class events and luxury experiences. Known as the Sporting Capital of the World, in 2025, Melbourne will continue to claim this title with two of the world’s biggest sports events: the Australia Open and the Australian Grand Prix. These events offer an unmatched blend of excitement and sophistication in one of Australia’s most dynamic cities. 

 

• Grand Hyatt Melbourne: Centrally located on prestigious Collins Street, the hotel boasts rooms with stunning floor-to-ceiling Melbourne skyline or Yarra River views. Amid Italian marble bathrooms, generous workspaces, custom king beds and Egyptian cotton linens, you’ll indulge in the ultimate luxury. The Grand Hyatt Melbourne is where many of the players and media stay for the Australian Open. 
• Crowne Plaza Hotel: Melbourne’s best hotel location with absolute river frontage, free tram stop and within walking distance to Melbourne’s exciting array of restaurants, galleries and attractions. Take a dip in the heated outdoor pool and keep your wellness routine in check at our 24-hour fitness centre. This hotel is one of the most popular choices among F1 drivers. 
• Ritz-Carlton Melbourne: Rising 80 stories above the city, The Ritz Carlton Melbourne offers panoramic views of the Dandenong Ranges, Victoria Harbour and Port Phillip Bay. Celebrating Australia’s ancient stories and vibrant cultures, Melbourne’s newest leading luxury hotel features the awarded Atria restaurant, The Ritz Carlton Club and immersive spa and wellness facilities.  

MAUI FERRY SYSTEM: ADDING MOLOKAI AND BOOSTING LANA’I SERVICE UP FOR DISCUSSION

Hawaii is looking into ferry service that would connect Maui to Molokai, and expand ferry service between Maui and Lana’i. There are also reports that Maui County, which includes all three islands, might take over the ferry.

There is currently ferry service between Maui and Lana’i, but it’s on a reduced schedule since the ferry company had to move its Maui dock from Lahaina Harbor to Ma’alaea Harbor after the Lahaina fire last August.

The Maui-Molokai ferry stopped running several years ago, which leaves private boats or Mokulele Airlines as the only options for reaching Molokai, or for Molokai residents to get to Maui to visit friends or family.

Mokulele is highly unreliable, at best. We had several flights cancelled at the last-minute last year when we were trying to fly from Oahu to Molokai and then from Molokai to Oahu and on to Lana’i. They also cancelled a Lana’i to Maui flight, forcing some of my family to make a mad dash (with me driving) from the Lana’i airport to the Lana’i ferry dock.

Restoring the ferry would make life easier for Molokai residents, and also for visitors who want to take a trip to Molokai. But therein lies the problem. As I outlined in this story a couple years ago, Lana’i and Molokai have a vastly different approach to tourism. They’re only a few miles apart, but so very different.

(Here’s a story I wrote a few years ago about the differences between Lana’i and Molokai.)

Roughly 99% of Lana’i is owned by Oracle’s Larry Ellison. He also owns the only three hotels on the island, so tourism is in his best interest. He presumably would welcome more ferry service to Maui.

But many (not all) Molokai residents like things the way they are on an island with only one small, casual (and fun) hotel, Hotel Molokai, and just a couple of condo options. They are few and far between, but if you drive around Molokai you will see the odd sign suggesting tourists should stay home, or at least not stay and drive up land prices by buying homes on the island.

I don’t blame anyone on Molokai for wanting to avoid the fate that has befallen Waikiki, which is an enjoyable place to visit but is surrounded by thick stands of high-rise hotels. They don’t want that for their pretty, isolated, super-chill island, and I don’t either.

But it might be nice for island residents if there were a few more nice restaurants on the island, or if someone invested in the old Kaluako’i resort on arid west Molokai (where you can rent scattered units today) and repaired the once beautiful but now almost invisible golf course.

Molokai Land Trust project coordinator Josiah Ching told me in 2019 that he’d be happy if someone renovated the Kaluako’i resort.

“I mean, it’s already there, and it’s not attractive the way it is. Someone a few years ago dame in and said they wanted to build a resort and golf course on the southwest tip of the island. That’s sacred land and people are very much opposed to that. But to re-do the resort? I don’t see a problem.”

“We need to prioritize our local essential travel,” Zhan Lindo, a Molokai resident, recently told TravelPulse. “This will serve no good to us if it’s filled with nonessential travelers.”