On Saturdays this fall, the Getty Center stays open until 9 p.m., and parking costs nothing after 6 p.m. Every Friday this month from 6 to 8 p.m., the Brentwood Country Mart shows a movie outdoors. That gives the neighborhood two short evening windows, one at the top of Getty Center Drive and one at the bottom of 26th Street. This year they share a theme. The Getty's fall season is built around Mexico and Los Angeles, and the Mart ends its movie series on October 30 with Coco.
The calendar runs out with the month. One of the Getty's key shows closes October 18, the Mart's pumpkin patch closes October 31, and the movie series ends the night before Halloween.
Six O'Clock on the Hill
The Getty is free on any day it's open, but you need a timed-entry reservation. The real cost of a visit is parking, and the price drops through the day:
- Before 3 p.m.: $25 per car or motorcycle
- After 3 p.m.: $15
- After 6 p.m.: $10
- Saturdays after 6 p.m.: free
Weekday hours are 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday through Friday and on Sunday. The Getty is closed Mondays. On a Wednesday, the $10 evening rate buys about half an hour before closing. On a Saturday, free parking comes with three full hours. Saturday is the only day the museum works as an evening plan. Parking is cashless now, so bring a card.
Getting up the hill can take longer this season. The Getty's parking page warns that the Caltrans I-405 Lane Rehabilitation Project may bring lane reductions or closures on the 405 and the Sepulveda Pass. It points visitors to Caltrans QuickMap for current conditions.
What the Hill Is Showing Right Now
Three exhibitions make up the core of the season, and the clock is shortest on the first.
Stendahl's World: Marketing Ancient Mexico and Modern Art in Los Angeles closes Sunday, October 18. It's on view at the Getty Research Institute. The show follows the dealer Earl Stendahl, who sold California and European modern art alongside pre-Hispanic objects. According to Getty's announcement, it also covers the commercial networks and the looting that came with that trade. The exhibition grew out of Getty's Pre-Hispanic Art Provenance Initiative, which traces the histories of objects.
Two photography shows opened September 1 and run through January 3, 2027. Getty presents them together.
- Instante/revelación: Moments in Mexican Photography brings together work by 13 photographers, plus related publications, covering a century of Mexican photographic culture. The works were donated to the Getty Museum by Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser.
- Every Minute Is History: Five Views of Los Angeles features Laura Aguilar, Reynaldo Rivera, George Rodriguez, Patssi Valdez, and Ricardo Valverde. In the second half of the 20th century, their work widened how Chicano/a communities and Los Angeles itself were pictured.
On the same Sunday Stendahl's World closes, Patssi Valdez joins Christina Fernandez for an On Photography talk, at the Getty Center and online. If you go that day, you can see the closing show and hear one of the Every Minute Is History artists talk about her own pictures.
The theme reaches past the galleries. The Holy Family at Home opened September 22 and runs to January 10. Joshua Reynolds's Portrait of Mai and 18th-Century Portraiture is up through March 14, 2027. Neither has a deadline this month, which leaves them for a later Saturday.
The Festival That Fills a Saturday
The Getty's big October day is the Family Festival: LA and Mexico in Focus on Saturday, October 17, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Like all Getty family programs, it's free with no separate event ticket. You still need the timed-entry reservation and paid parking. Workshops run all day: rótulo sign painting, Lotería hats, and printmaking. Strolling musicians and DJ sets fill the time between scheduled performances:
| Time | Program |
|---|---|
| 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. | Ballet folklórico |
| Noon and 4:15 p.m. | El Santo Golpe |
| 12:45 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. | Bilingual storytelling |
| 1:30 p.m. | Mariachi Reyna de Los Ángeles |
The festival ends at 5 p.m., but the museum stays open until 9. If you arrive after 6, parking is free, though the performances are over by then. If you come for the 4:15 p.m. set and stay into the evening, you pay the $15 afternoon rate and get more than four hours of museum time.
Six O'Clock at the Mart
Down the hill, the Brentwood Country Mart keeps its own evening hours. The Mart's mailing address is 225 26th Street in Santa Monica. The Mart billed this month's Friday Movie Nights as an October encore. Lilo & Stitch on the 2nd and Ratatouille on the 9th have already screened. The three left are Finding Nemo on the 16th, Finding Dory on the 23rd, and Coco on the 30th, each from 6 to 8 p.m. The Mart's listing calls Coco the final Movie Night of the season and suggests coming early for dinner and treats from Mart shops. Coco is a story about family memory and Día de los Muertos traditions, so the Mart's series closes on the same theme the Getty has run since September.
The month's other Mart events are set by date:
- October 1 to 31: an honor-system pumpkin patch of heirloom pumpkins. You pick one and pay for it yourself.
- Friday, October 16, morning: Poppy and Sugar Paper host a holiday styling event with light bites and 20 percent off Sugar Paper letterpress holiday cards.
- October 20 to 21: Capitol Brentwood holds a two-day FFORME trunk show of the label's latest womenswear collection.
- Saturday, October 31: the Halloween Spectacular runs 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., with a costume contest and prizes at the pumpkin patch at 11 and trick-or-treating around the Mart.
There's a new name on the courtyard this fall. In August, Los Angeles Magazine reported that Sézane's permanent boutique is open at the Mart. The Mart's own listing places it in Suite 52B. Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.
The Weekend the Two Calendars Collide
The two calendars overlap most heavily from October 16 to 18. That's also the weekend before Stendahl's World closes.
Friday the 16th starts with the Poppy x Sugar Paper morning at the Mart and ends with Finding Nemo from 6 to 8 p.m. In the same two hours, the Brentwood Science Magnet haunted house opens. Brentwood News lists it for Friday from 6 to 8 p.m. and Saturday from 1 to 3 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday the 17th pairs the Getty festival with the haunted house's afternoon and evening sessions. On Sunday the 18th, the Brentwood Farmers Market is open on Gretna Green Way from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Then come the Valdez and Fernandez talk and the last day of Stendahl's World up the hill.
San Vicente picked up a late option that fits the movie-night schedule. Beverly Press reported on October 1 that Burger She Wrote expected to open its Brentwood location on October 3. The restaurant's location page now lists 11686 San Vicente Boulevard as open for dine-in and takeout. Hours are 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. The menu centers on American wagyu smash burgers on King's Hawaiian buns, with Oklahoma burgers with grilled onions, Impossible versions, grilled cheese, and fries. It's still serving when the Getty closes at 9 on a Saturday.
The Rest of October, by Date
- Tuesday, October 13: Lost, Found, and Beyond: Provenance at America's Museums with Victoria Reed, Getty Center.
- Friday, October 16: Poppy x Sugar Paper at the Mart in the morning. Finding Nemo and the Science Magnet haunted house, both 6 to 8 p.m.
- Saturday, October 17: Family Festival at the Getty, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Haunted house, 1 to 3 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. Free Getty parking after 6.
- Sunday, October 18: Farmers market on Gretna Green Way. On Photography with Patssi Valdez and Christina Fernandez. Last day of Stendahl's World.
- Tuesday and Wednesday, October 20 to 21: FFORME trunk show at Capitol Brentwood.
- Friday, October 23: Finding Dory at the Mart. Ever Present: NOVA '78 with Julia Heyward and Aaron Brookner at the Getty Center.
- Sunday, October 25: Roam the Bouquet!: Introducing Jan Davidsz. de Heem, Getty Center and online.
- Tuesday, October 27: A Painterly Pursuit with Reggie Burrows Hodges, Getty Center and online.
- Friday, October 30: Coco, the season's final Movie Night at the Mart.
- Saturday, October 31: Halloween Spectacular at the Mart, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Last day of the pumpkin patch. The Getty is open until 9, with free parking after 6.
After that, the next Getty program on the calendar is When the Holy Family Went Viral on Saturday, November 7. It's a talk tied to The Holy Family at Home, at the Getty Center and online.
A house within easy reach of both the Getty and the Mart means a free Saturday evening up the hill and a Friday movie down the street. If you're thinking about what that means for your own Brentwood home, Antonio Bruno can walk you through it in a private consultation, or you can request a confidential valuation before the calendar turns to November.
