Live music, community and culture are what theLevitt Pavilion Los Angeles(Levitt LA) concert series hopes to bring to L.A. and its residents.
For almost two decades, the mission of Levitt LA has been to make live music accessible to all. Every summer, the venue, along with other city and county partners, puts together a series of free concerts made up of acclaimed, award-winning performers, bands and musicians, many of whom are Latino.
This year, numerous bands and singers of genres such as cumbia, ska, reggae, hip-hop, Latin alternative, funk, soul and Mexican regional will be headlining and celebrating Levitts LA’s 17th annual concert series. According to Levitt LA, approximately 60,000 people of all ages and backgrounds gather each summer on the lawn in historic MacArthur Park, where the concerts occur.
The name Levitt LA stems from theMortimer and Mimi Levitt Foundation,founded in 1966 by Mortimer and Mimi Levitt. The couple believed that all people, regardless of their economic background, should have access to free, live music. The private family foundation was founded by Mortimer Levitt, a writer, businessman, and anthropologist who died in 2005. In 1997, he sold the Custom Shop, his men’s clothing company and transferred the proceeds to the Levitt Foundation.
Today, the foundation supports the activation of numerous underused public spaces, such as neglected parks, vacant downtown lots and former brownfields, into free, live music venues. Levitt LA is just one of the seven Levitt venues in operation in other states, including Texas, Ohio, Colorado, South Dakota, Pennsylvania and Connecticut.
Levitt venues, like the one in MacArthur Park, are often owned and operated by their respective cities. The Levitt Foundation provides catalytic seed funding and multi-year annual operating grants to make the concerts a reality. Other funding for the summer concerts also comes from city leaders, county budgets, retailers, businesses, private partnerships and community organizations.
One of the most anticipated bands to perform this year isInspector, which formed in 1995 in Monterrey, Mexico and rapidly became one of the most important bands within the “skatalítica” movement in the country. After 28 years, nine albums and touring every corner of Mexico and the United States, the band will be performing this upcoming Saturday, June 29th, at Levitt LA, along with local bandsLa Pobreska and Chencha Berrinches.
All ten summer concerts will begin between 6 and 7 p.m. on Saturdays through August 31. Concertgoers are encouraged to bring their picnic blankets and lawn chairs to best enjoy the live music. For those who are not able to attend in person, all concerts will be live-streamed onLevitt LA’s YouTubechannel and Facebook Live.
L.A.’s own Levitt venue was created in 2007 when Levitt LA entered into a partnership with theCity of Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Departmentto reactivate the park’s dormant band stage, which was initially built in 1959.
MacArthur Park, which is located in Westlake, consists of a majority Mexican, Central American and Indigenous Latin American population. According to Levitt LA, it is important for them to bring concerts to the majority of the Spanish-speaking community, which in many cases does not have access to seeing live bands who perform in many of the resident's native languages.
For this year's summer concerts, it is highly encouraged to use ride-sharing, carpooling or public transportation due to the limited amount of parking around the area. The Los Angeles Metro Red Line, Wilshire/Alvarado-MacArthur Park stop, is just a five-minute walk from the venue. Bus lines 18, 20, 51, 351, 603 and 720 are also in close proximity.
“The impact of a Levitt venue is far-reaching and elevates the overall well-being of a community: reclaiming green space; building social capital; sparking additional investments in surrounding areas; deepening community attachment; and amplifying local pride, “as stated in the foundation'swebsite.
Although the Levitt venues, including the one in MacArthur Park, represent significant investments for the foundation, Levitt venues also receive the majority of theirannual funding from the community, donors and sponsors, as well as grants from other foundations. This year, apart from the Levitt Foundation, other funders for the concert series includeL.A.’s Department of Cultural Affairs, theL.A. County Department of Arts and Culture, and councilmemberHugo Soto-Martinez, representing District 13 of the L.A. City Council, among others.
On November 30, 2023, the Levitt Foundationannounced they would close in 2041but not before spending a total of $150 million in funding over the next two decades to support thousands of free outdoor concerts in communities across the U.S.
According to the foundation, their grantmaking will expand and they will also accelerate and continue their investment in research and field-building initiatives that show the impact of music on community development and place attachment. When it comes to the Levitt venues, the foundation will provide the venues and partners with additional support, including capacity building and robust resources to ensure the sustainability of the venues after the foundation closes.
“My hope is that beyond the foundation’s sunset, the Levitt model is embraced for years to come as a proven way to bring people together, create possibility and strengthen the social fabric of communities,” Liz Levitt Hirsch, Levitt Foundation board president, said. “Part of our legacy will be in the shared learnings we make available to all [as] a step-by-step guide for doing this work that will be used by local governments, nonprofits, chamber of commerce, educational institutions, etc.—those who want to elevate the overall well-being of their community.”
The full list of upcoming concerts is listed below and can also be found atwww.levittlosangeles.org. CALÒ News will be providing live coverage of the June 29th concert.
Saturday, June 29
Inspector, La Pobreska and Chencha Berrinches
Saturday, July 13
Pearl and the Oysters, St. Panther and Los Eclipses
Saturday, July 20
No Easy Props presents The B-Boy Summit, featuring Special Ed and The Egyptian Lover
Saturday, July 27
Saturday, August 3
Saturday, August 10
The Wailing Souls, DJ Boss Harmony and the Dub Club MCs, presented by the Dub Club
Saturday, August 17
Red Store Bums, Flaco El Jandro and Eastside Agents, presented by Evoekore Media
Saturday, August 24
Saturday, August 31
Mexican Regional Showcase, Walter Mosely Group and AJUDISGUA
