Part of the Gay Los Angeles Guide — bars, events & things to do.
Thursday, July 23, 2026
The Village at Ed Gould Plaza
1125 N McCadden Pl, Los Angeles, CA 90038, United StatesLet people know you're going, see who else is attending, and share the event with friends.
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Your complete guide to LGBTQ+ Los Angeles — from WeHo's legendary strip to Silver Lake's indie scene, Pride festivals, and the best queer nightlife in Southern California.
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Robbie S.For more than four decades, Outfest has been the anchor of queer film in Los Angeles — the festival that premiered careers, filled the Directors Guild theater every July, and turned a screening into a citywide gathering. In 2026 it looks a little different: the flagship summer festival is paused, and in its place Outfest is running OutfestNEXT, a focused four-day screening series from July 23–26 built around new features, shorts, filmmaker conversations, and anniversary classics.
If you're planning a trip around it, that shift actually makes the weekend easier to navigate — everything happens under one roof at the LA LGBT Center in Hollywood, a short drive from West Hollywood's bars and the hotels most visitors book. This guide covers what OutfestNEXT 2026 is, when and where it happens, what to expect from a queer film weekend in LA, and — because a film festival is only half the trip — the best bars, nightlife, and places to stay in WeHo to build the rest of your days around.
OutfestNEXT 2026 runs Thursday, July 23 through Sunday, July 26, in Los Angeles. This is the organization's 2026 flagship event — the traditional summer Outfest LA festival (the multi-week program that ran across theaters like the Directors Guild) is paused for the year, and OutfestNEXT is the four-day showcase taking its place.
That compression is good news for a travel plan. Instead of chasing screenings across town for two weeks, you get a single long weekend anchored in one venue, which leaves your evenings free for dinner and the bars. If you're building flights around it, arrive Thursday for opening night and stay through Sunday — a classic Thursday-to-Sunday LA weekend. Always confirm the current schedule and showtimes on the official Outfest site before you book, since a screening series can shift films and times right up to the week of.
If you've only ever done circuit weekends or Pride, a film festival runs on a different rhythm — and that's the appeal. Days are built around screening blocks rather than one big party, with panels, Q&As, and receptions filling the gaps. Here's the shape of it:
The whole thing is intimate by design. You're not lost in a 10,000-person crowd — you're in a room with the people who made the films and the people who came to see them.
A few nights carry the weekend. Confirm exact films, times, and any awards on the official OutfestNEXT program — a screening series finalizes these late.
Everything happens at one address in 2026, which is the single biggest thing to know for planning. All OutfestNEXT screenings and panels are hosted at the LA LGBT Center's Village at Ed Gould Plaza in Hollywood — home to the two rooms the festival uses:
The Village sits in the heart of Hollywood, a straightforward 15-to-20-minute drive (or rideshare) from West Hollywood, where most visitors stay and drink. Because the festival isn't spread across multiple theaters this year, you can plan a whole day around Renberg-and-Micro-Cinema screening blocks and still be back on the Santa Monica Boulevard strip for dinner. For the full room-by-room schedule, ticketing, and any venue notes, always go to the official Outfest source — the screening theaters are festival-run rooms, not standing nightlife venues.
If you want to build more queer arts into the trip, LA's scene runs deep beyond the festival: the Los Angeles LGBT Center programs cultural events year-round, Celebration Theatre is one of the country's oldest LGBTQ+ theaters, and the ONE Archives at the USC Libraries holds the largest collection of LGBTQ+ materials in the world.
Outfest started in 1982 as a student film festival at UCLA and grew into one of the most important LGBTQ+ film organizations in the world — a nonprofit that has spent more than four decades premiering queer films, developing filmmakers, and preserving queer cinema history. For years its summer festival was a fixture of the LA calendar, filling theaters like the Directors Guild and drawing casts, directors, and thousands of moviegoers into the same rooms every July.
Like a lot of arts nonprofits, Outfest has weathered organizational and financial turbulence in recent years, and 2026 reflects that: rather than mount the full multi-week summer festival, the organization is running a focused, sustainable four-day series — OutfestNEXT — alongside year-round screenings and its filmmaker-education programs. It's a leaner format, but the mission is the same one it's carried since 1982: putting queer stories on the big screen and the people who make them in the room. If you've loved Outfest over the years, this is a good year to show up and support what comes next.
A film weekend needs somewhere to land after the last screening, and West Hollywood's Boystown — the stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard between La Cienega and Robertson — is the densest gay nightlife strip on the West Coast. It's a short ride from the theater and walkable end to end once you're there. These are the rooms worth building your evenings around.
The Abbey is the most recognizable gay bar in West Hollywood — the one that started as a Robertson Boulevard coffeehouse in 1991 and grew into a sprawling indoor-outdoor institution. It's the natural first stop of any WeHo night: a big, welcoming, see-and-be-seen space that draws locals, visitors, and the occasional celebrity in equal measure. Come for a post-screening cocktail on the patio and let the night build from there.
A two-story nightclub on the strip, Micky's has stayed gay-owned and operated since 1989 — a rarity in a scene that turns over fast. It's the dance-floor anchor of Boystown, with go-go dancers, drag, and a balcony over Santa Monica Boulevard that's perfect for watching the parade of the strip below.
Hi Tops is the gay sports bar on the Santa Monica Boulevard strip between San Vicente and Robertson — the place where game day and gay day are the same day. It's loud, fun, and unpretentious, with big screens, strong drinks, and a crowd that skews friendly. A good early-evening spot before the clubs pick up.
Beaches WeHo is the Cuban restaurant-and-nightlife hybrid on Santa Monica Boulevard, built around the Carta family's recipes — a place where dinner slides straight into dancing without you having to change venues. It's a strong choice for a festival night when you want to eat well and stay out.
Revolver is one of the strip's longest-running names, a video bar revived in 2011 in the space it had long called home. Music videos on the screens, a relaxed crowd, and a WeHo pedigree that goes back decades — it's the classic strip video bar, and an easy conversational alternative to the dance floors.
For something a little east of the WeHo strip, Akbar in Silver Lake is the unpretentious neighborhood favorite that's been running since the last night of 1996. It's the antidote to Boystown's polish — a beloved, come-as-you-are bar near Sunset Junction that pulls a mixed, artsy crowd. Since the OutfestNEXT theater sits between WeHo and Silver Lake, Akbar makes an easy detour on a film night.
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Los Angeles, California
If leather and the eastside scene are more your speed, Eagle LA is the city's long-running leather bar on Santa Monica Boulevard in Silver Lake, and Precinct is a self-described rock-and-roll gay bar on South Broadway downtown — both well worth a night if you're extending the trip.
Plan Your Outfest Weekend
Browse LA's gay bars, this week's events, and where to stay — and save your favorites — on the Out x Out app.
For an Outfest weekend, West Hollywood is the obvious base — it puts you in the middle of the nightlife and keeps the drive to the Hollywood screening venue short. Beverly Hills is the upscale alternative a few minutes south. Book early for a July weekend; the good WeHo hotels fill fast in summer.
Staying in WeHo means you can walk to the bars and grab a rideshare to the theater in minutes. These are the Gay Friendly hotels right in the neighborhood:
If you want a quieter, more polished base a few minutes south — with an easy ride to both WeHo and the theater — Beverly Hills delivers:
If the hotels are booked out, WeHo, Hollywood, and Silver Lake all have deep Airbnb and vacation-rental inventory — a rental in Silver Lake or Los Feliz puts you closest to the OutfestNEXT theater, while a WeHo rental keeps you in the nightlife. For a group weekend, a shared house often beats separate hotel rooms on value. Book early; July is peak season.
Los Angeles is a driving city, and an Outfest weekend touches a few different neighborhoods — the Hollywood theater, the WeHo bars, your Beverly Hills or WeHo hotel. Here's how to move between them:
Pro Tip
Line up your screening blocks and your bar plans in the same neighborhood window. Catch an afternoon or early-evening block at the Renberg Theatre, then rideshare straight to West Hollywood for dinner and the strip — trying to bounce between Hollywood and WeHo more than once a night just burns the evening in traffic.
In 2026 the flagship summer Outfest LA festival is paused. In its place, OutfestNEXT — the organization's four-day queer-cinema screening series — runs Thursday, July 23 through Sunday, July 26, at the LA LGBT Center in Hollywood. Always confirm current dates and showtimes on the official Outfest site before booking.
OutfestNEXT is Outfest's four-day screening series of independent queer cinema — new narrative and documentary features, shorts programs, anniversary classics, and filmmaker conversations. In 2026 it serves as the organization's flagship event while the traditional summer festival is paused, running July 23–26 at the LA LGBT Center's Village at Ed Gould Plaza.
All 2026 screenings and panels take place at the LA LGBT Center's Village at Ed Gould Plaza in Hollywood — specifically the Renberg Theatre (the main house for premieres and centerpiece films) and the Outfest Micro Cinema (shorts, discovery titles, and filmmaker workshops). It's a single venue, roughly 15–20 minutes from West Hollywood.
Tickets are sold through Outfest's official channels, with member pre-sales opening ahead of general public sales (public tickets opened July 1, 2026). Individual screenings — especially the opening-night premiere — sell out, so buy early and check the official Outfest program for the current lineup and showtimes.
West Hollywood is the best base — it puts you in the middle of the gay nightlife and keeps the ride to the Hollywood screening venue short. Beverly Hills is the upscale alternative a few minutes south. Book early for a July weekend, when WeHo hotels fill up fast.
The OutfestNEXT theater sits between West Hollywood and Silver Lake, so both scenes are close. In WeHo's Boystown, the strip runs on the Abbey, Micky's, Hi Tops, Beaches, and Revolver. Eastward toward the theater, Akbar in Silver Lake and Eagle LA (leather) are easy detours on a film night.
OutfestNEXT is a film screening series, so it's as family-friendly as its individual films — many titles are all-ages while others carry mature content (the 2026 opener, I Want Your Sex, is an adult comedy-thriller). Check each screening's description and rating on the official program, and note that the surrounding West Hollywood nightlife is a 21+ bar scene.
Planning the rest of your trip? Check out our [complete Los Angeles city guide](/blog/lgbtq-guide-los-angeles), the [best gay bars in Los Angeles](/blog/best-gay-bars-los-angeles), and our [guide to Gay Friendly hotels in Los Angeles](/blog/lgbtq-friendly-hotels-los-angeles) — or browse [upcoming Los Angeles events](/events/los-angeles-ca) and [venues](/venues/los-angeles-ca) on Out x Out.
