the BEAT of the week: L.A. Weekly's Pancake Breakfast.

L.A. Weekly may have recently lost its foodie guru, Jonathan Gold, but that doesn't mean it's giving up on the parties. Take note: it's 2nd Annual Pancake Breakfast. Does it get any better than a good excuse to indulge in the best meal of the day with some of L.A.'s best chefs? (Answer: No.)

The big soiree won't be happening until August 5, but you'll be smart to get your tickets once they go on sale today. And you should probably just start dieting now, because the event's lined up more than 25 different restaurants to offer their own tasty versions of the old breakfast standby, including: Salt's Cure, Langer's, The Nickel Diner, LA MILL, BLD, Tiara Café, Fred 62, Auntie Em's, The Hungry Cat and Square One.

What a great way to start off your morning.

The L.A. Weekly Pancake Breakfast takes place August 5 from 11am-2pm at Vibiana, located at 214 S. Main St. in downtown. Tickets are $30 each.

-- Chau Tu

Photo credit: Anne Fishburn / L.A. Weekly

Click It. BEAT picks of the week.

A lightweight version of my favorite sweatpants - Victoria's Secret PINK Campus Crop. Perfect knock around wear for summer.

TOMS canvas strappy wedges are their chicest shoes yet. 

Emma Stone is Vogue's July cover girl, photographed by Mario Testino.

The Little Black Jacket: Chanel's Classic Revisited (available for pre-order now).

Penny's (Keira Knightley) pale blue manicure in Seeking a Friend for the End of the World is nail inspiration to crack open Sky by Hard Candy.

Alora Albiance's "isola" smells like summer.

-- Leslie Anne Wiggins

Photo credit: victoriassecret.com

the BEAT of the week: Cinespia at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

It's back! You know summer's just about in full swing when Cinespia, the extremely popular and quintessentially L.A. film series, returns, giving Angelenos the perfect excuse to day-drink and parade in what's become our excuse for a park. As always, the line-up of movies offers something for everyone -- having already screened Lolita, Nightmare on Elm Street and Cheech and Chong. On the slate for this weekend: the classic Jack Nicholson flick Chinatown.

Cinespia's now offering presale tickets for $10 in case you're worried about sold out screenings, but most should still be able to get in by buying tickets at the door. Nevertheless, remember to show up early, bring lots of snacks, and a blanket for when the sun finally goes down. Happy almost-summer!

Cinespia screenings take place on Saturdays this summer at 9pm at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, located at 6000 Santa Monica Blvd. in Hollywood. Check out the list of films here.

-- Chau Tu

the BEAT of the week: Make Music Pasadena.

Pasadena isn't usually known for being on the cutting edge of music and culture, what with its cleanly manicured neighborhoods and chain store shopping avenues, but Make Music Pasadena may change a lot of minds. For this one weekend in the summer, the city lets its hair loose to offer a totally rocking music fest featuring a number of exciting and up-and-coming bands and musicians -- and it's all for free. This year, you can check out the likes of artists like Grimes, Cults, Dam Funk, Dengue Fever, Grouplove and Milo Greene, among a slew of others. You're bound to discover someone new along the stages, and did I mention that it's all free?

Make Music Pasadena takes place this Saturday, June 16 from 11am-11pm all over downtown Pasadena. Check out the lineup here, which has specific addresses for the various stages.

-- Chau Tu

the BEAT of the week: L.A. Film Fest.

It's really no surprise that Los Angeles -- Hollywood, in and of itself -- boasts an excellent film festival every year, but this year in particular is rounding up to be a great one. The L.A. Film Fest returns to L.A. Live this year from June 14-24, and is offering a great selection of both major titles -- like Woody Allen's latest, To Rome with Love and the Channing Tatum stripper [bio-]comedy Magic Mike -- and promising indie films like the critic and audience fave Beasts of the the Southern Wild and documentaries The House I Live In and Queen of Versailles. These are the films everyone's going to be talking about this summer, and this is your chance to see them now.

You can make sure you're on top of the conversation by grabbing a festival pass starting at $200, or catch individual screenings for about $13 each. If you want to do the latter though, you'll have to act quickly -- some screenings are already sold out (there are standby lists, but don't count on it!). Check out the schedule of films here, and get started on your summer movie season now.

The L.A. Film Fest takes place from June 14-24 at L.A. Live, located at 800. W. Olympic Blvd. in downtown.

-- Chau Tu

Click It. BEAT picks of the week.

The Washington Post just published a roundup of some great summer cookbooks, including the Meat Free Monday Cookbook. We're not vegetarians here at the BEAT, but are always interested to try delicious meat-free meal options.

Häagen-Dazs pistachio ice cream for dessert!

See it: Bernie -- a fascinating and very funny movie starring Jack Black and Shirley MacLaine, based on a shocking true story.

A great striped dress for the office or the weekends.

I got a mini version of this Fresh Sugar Rosé Tinted lip balm from Sephora for my birthday, and it looks and tastes so good! Coral is the latest shade from the collection.

Summer sandals.

-- Leslie Anne Wiggins

Photo credit: Kyle Books

the BEAT of the week: Hester Street Fair in Hollywood.

The Hester Street Fair is a huge outdoors market that's become a prime attraction on the weekends, offering lots of vintage and contemporary jewelry, clothing, art among food and entertainment. Sounds fun, right? The only problem? It's in New York City, on the Lower East Side.

Until now. Hester's finally headed west, and will be taking over Hollywood this summer. On four separate Saturdays -- beginning this weekend -- Angelenos will finally get a peek at what the hype's all about. First up is this Saturday's Bite Size Food and Craft Festival, with booths from L.A. restaurants and food trucks showing off their stuff in bite-sized goods. Then in July, there's the Hollywood Night Market, which will, appropriately, take place a little later at night and focus on a more intimate shopping experience among the booths. In August, there'll be the Indie Design Market, where independent goods will get a spotlight. And the last weekend in August will be the closing event, the Good Night Hollywood Blvd. Music & Indie Crafts Festival, the big soiree to end it all. Look out for a craft beer festival and music at all the weekends, too.

New York? Fuggedaboutit. Time to show that L.A. is where it's at -- and convince the Hester Fair it should stay! Check out all the info for the events here.

The Hester Street Fair kicks off this Saturday, June 2nd from 11am to 7pm at the parking lot at Argyle Ave. and Hollywood Blvd., located at 6200 Hollywood Blvd.

-- Chau Tu

the BEAT of the week: The Jubilee.

I can't even believe it's already Memorial Day weekend. If it snuck up on you too, you still have a chance of making the most of it with tickets to this weekend's Jubilee -- formerly known as the Silver Lake Jubilee. Probably looking to expand beyond being a simple neighborhood fest, the event this year continues to boast a musical lineup of both big and local names (Aloe Blacc, Kinky, The Soft Pack, Autolux, Abe Vigoda, and so on) plus the usual L.A. fanfare of food trucks and an all-out block party. A two-day pass ($35) gets you a free tote bag or T-shirt (until supplies last, of course), and a one-day pass is only $20!

Time to kick off the summer.

The Jubilee is taking place this Saturday and Sunday at the Sunset Junction, located at 4000 Santa Monica Blvd. in Silver Lake. Get more info on the event here.

-- Chau Tu

Click It. BEAT picks of the week.

Ryan Adams (my favorite) covering Danzig's 1988 hit, "Mother".

A Los Angeles summer scarf from Madewell.

Discovery: Walmart sells Hard Candy nail polish. You better believe I have a brand new bottle of Sky.

Twelve Uncomplicated Summer Cocktails, by Mark Bittman.

-- Leslie Anne Wiggins

the BEAT of the week: Hero Complex Film Festival.

Despite the recent woes at the Los Angeles Times, there has been one bright spot of its content that's continued to grow and flourish. Writer Geoff Boucher's Hero Complex began as just another blog on the latimes.com website, but has since grown into a full-on online force, dependable for all things comics, superheroes and everything in between.

The latest proof of the blog's influence is the Hero Complex Film Festival, now its in its second year. This time, the four-day fest welcomes the likes of Malcolm McDowell to talk about A Clockwork Orange; Stan Lee to chat before a screening of X-Men; Nathan Fillion to discuss cult fave Serenity; and filmmaker Andrew Stanton to talk about Wall-E -- among others.

Hero Complex found its niche by feeding into the fandom that comes with the genre, giving it a home and making everyone feel welcome -- and you can bet these panels will be geared toward pleasing fans. And if you are a fan, move now to get your tickets -- festival passes are already sold out, but you can still get tickets for individual events for $20 each here.

Hero Complex Film Festival takes place May 18-21 at the Regal Cinemas at L.A. Live, located at 1000 West Olympic Blvd. in downtown. Check out the full schedule of events here.

-- Chau Tu