Santa Monica
Sunday
Coast ‘26
Over a mile of open streets with live music, art, soccer, food trucks, and play zones, bringing thousands together for Santa Monica’s biggest summer send-off.
Venice
Friday
Annual Global Midnight Run
A late-night community run through Venice with Midnight Runners Los Angeles. Arrive in lights and your brightest neon colors for their most vibrant Midnight Run yet.
Saturday
Sample Sale + Vintage Pop-Up
Shop discounted Frankies Bikinis and Emi Jay pieces alongside a hand-picked vintage collection.
Sunday
5K, Matcha & Makeup
Luft Los Angeles and Forta are hosting a 5K run or walk followed by pastries, matcha, and beauty charms.
Marina del Rey
Sunday
LikeMinded Run Club
A relaxed four-mile run along the coast where guests can meet new people, enjoy the ocean breeze, and stick around afterward for a recovery session at LikeMinded.
Fairfax
Saturday
World Cup Watch Party
Watch the third-place playoff and the World Cup Final on the big screen at Brain Dead Studios.
Hollywood
Friday-Sunday
Tankair Pop-Up
Tankair is hosting its first pop-up ever.
Griffith Park
Saturday
Year of Ours x Tower 28 Hike Club
A morning hike focused on movement, community, and fresh air.
Silver Lake
Sunday
Happy Hour Pool Practice
A free pool practice with vinyl music, merch, and the World Cup Final playing at the bar.
Historic Filipinotown
Friday
Los Caramelos at 1642
Los Caramelos are performing a free late-night set featuring bolero, bossa nova, ranchera, and more at 1642 Bar.
Downtown Los Angeles
Saturday
Performance of Self
A free, one-night immersive exhibition exploring identity through fashion, photography, and image while celebrating LA’s local creative community.
Sunday
Dulce Nostalgia
La Cita Bar is hosting a late-night dance party with throwback music, food, glamour portraits, and a World Cup jersey theme.
Sunday
World Cup Final Watch Party
Copa del Rave is hosting a World Cup Final watch party at LA State Historic Park with DJs and a festival-style crowd.
Northridge
Friday
Patio Music at Yonder Coffee
Yonder Coffee is hosting an evening with DJ Kyle Junn, food vendors, coffee, and live patio vibes.
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Boyle Heights
Friday
Supernova Nights
Supernova Thrift is bringing back Supernova Nights for an evening featuring local artists, unique vendors, live music, and community vibes.
Eagle Rock
Saturday
Baryo Marketplace
A community market with food, local shopping, music, café drinks, and a special Baryoke hour.
Pasadena
Saturday
Dry July Tasting Market
Burden of Proof is hosting a free tasting market featuring five California non-alcoholic beverage brands and more than 10 pours. Guests can meet the makers, learn how the drinks are crafted, and enter to win prizes.
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Sunday
Yamanaka Kakigori Shave Ice Pop-Up
Woon welcomes Yamanaka Kakigori for a shave ice pop-up during brunch.
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Sponsored by BeingHuman™
I recently read a piece from our Friends at The Everygirl titled “We’ve Health and Wellness’d Too Close to the Sun.” It explored how things that were once widely recognized as unhealthy like nicotine are being rebranded through the language of wellness and biohacking. Yes, nicotine. For health. In 2026. Apparently, “clean” nicotine enhances focus, curbs cravings and boosts energy.
I’m not a doctor. I don’t even play one on TV. But I have a feeling even clean nicotine wouldn’t make it past Erewhon’s ingredient standards. And this got me thinking...that maybe we’ve lost our minds a little trying to save ourselves finding solutions to every problem.
Think about this with me. We can’t just be tired anymore. We have to determine whether it’s our cortisol, hormones, blood sugar, magnesium, circadian rhythm or our “adrenal support window” (whoever he is).
We can’t just be grumpy once a month. Now there’s a period drink (which I’m trying btw, not an ad but will report back).Water? Not enough if you’re drinking it the way our ancestors once did. Now it’s Erewhon’s $12 cup of “sacred water” with recipes flooding social media. Yep, recipes for water…
We can’t even find a simple moisturizer anymore without reading words like “skin barrier” or “snail mucin” (what a time to be alive...).
Basically, we can’t just breathe. We have to breathe through one nostril while facing east after cold plunging for exactly 2.5 minutes or it doesn’t count.
And I’m sure somewhere, gracing a 90210 shelf is a Tuesday Afternoon Fatigue Tonic that’s been bottled beautifully for $25.
It’s no wonder the health and wellness industry is now worth $6.8 trillion. Every single part about being human has become its own product category.
Sleep has gummies, sprays, mouth tape, tracking rings and specialty elixirs. Stress has powders, adaptogens and patches. Digestion has greens, enzymes and probiotics. Hydration has a fucking fuck-ton of electrolyte packets with new brands launching every 2.4 seconds. Focus has fancy mushrooms, nootropics and liposomal packets. Recovery has massage guns, compression boots and cold plunges. Basically, all things keeping the likes of Goop and Erewhon extremely alive and well.With all of these products trying to fix something plaguing the human condition, when does a person get to simply exist?
I fear, my Friends, that we can’t. Because we know too much now. Which has led to our ultimate demise: we’ve become incredibly uncomfortable with being human, or dare I even say it: average.
Normal energy levels.
Normal skin.
Average fitness.
Average productivity.
Average mornings.
Instead, everything has to become “optimal.” Which means, everything has become a product opportunity. We’ve reached a point where every normal human experience now has its own aisle.
Sometimes I imagine someone like Marilyn Monroe and Frank Sinatra magically reappearing in 2026 Los Angeles, wandering into Erewhon and seeing things like cramp elixirs and “Hyper-Oxygenated” Water.” I can’t help but wonder what they would think of all this stuff today. Possibly that we’ve completely lost it, while marveling at all the things they had to go without (and filling their carts out of sheer curiosity). They’d be looking for Lucky Strike cigarettes (because everything during LA’s Golden Age was built on tobacco) and rolling their equally famous blue eyes when they learn the modern equivalent comes in the form of gummy candy called “Lemme Chill.”The funny thing is...I’m not even against most of it. Quite the opposite.
We live in an extraordinary time. (Un-ironically: what a time to be alive!!)
Therapy is more accessible and less stigmatized than ever. Mental health is finally part of everyday conversation.
Women’s health is finally being studied on a deeper level. PCOS, endometriosis and menopause are conversations instead of whispers.
Science-backed supplements can genuinely help people fill nutritional gaps and improve overall health.
We can track everything from our heart rate to our sleep quality from a device on our wrist.
We understand sleep, nutrition and mental health better than any generation before us.
I wouldn’t trade any of that.
But the problem is that we now know too much to ignore wellness, but nowhere near enough to know which topics deserve our attention. And which products are really the right ones for our individual anatomy (vs. the ones with shiny branding). So really, we’ve learned just enough to overwhelm and confuse us.
We aren’t stressed because wellness exists. We’re stressed because everything suddenly exists and it all sounds SO important. Gut testing. Cortisol management. Creatine and protein. Seed cycling. Oil pulling. Red light therapy. Lymphatic drainage. Each one sounds more essential than the last. Every influencer has the routine. Every product promises to change our lives. Every podcast insists we’re one overlooked habit away from becoming our healthiest selves.
The tricky part is that we’ve all become amateur researchers. We have more access to health information than any generation before us (again: what a time to be alive!!). But after too many TikToks explaining that the fatigue you’re experiencing could be anything from low iron to high cortisol to mold exposure, it’s hard to know when you’re learning vs. spiraling.
And while the wellness industry hurdles further into the trillions, it’s harder than ever to separate science from buzzy marketing. If you watch Shark Tank, you know the first thing Mark Cuban and Lori Greiner ask about any wellness-related product is third-party testing and scientific evidence. It’s exactly why companies like Goop landed in legal trouble over the infamous Yoni Egg (the gemstone controversially made for women to put up their you-know-exactly-where). Sometimes the best marketing in the room isn’t the best science.The irony is that an industry built around helping us feel healthier has also become so great at making us feel like we’re constantly doing health...wrong.
Maybe the healthiest thing we can do is be kinder to ourselves and remember that not every ordinary human experience needs to be optimized. When taking care of ourselves starts feeling heavier than the thing it’s trying to fix, it might be time to simplify. This doesn’t mean caring less about our health, just not being as pre-occupied with everyone else’s version of health.
So, for anyone else feeling overwhelmed by wellness....consider this my completely unlicensed medical advice from someone who isn’t a doctor (just a Friend who holds a double PhD in Internet Self-Diagnosis and Optimistic Consumerism):
Trust the basics that genuinely work for you.
Keep listening to your body.
Never stop advocating for your own health.
Stay curious enough to explore new answers—but release the pressure to perfect every part of being human.
And remember that wellness should support your life, not compete with it.
The healthiest habits are usually the ones that quietly make your life easier, not busier. Instead of making us feel like we’re failing at being human, wellness should make life feel bigger. After all, not everyone has to aspire to become a wellness expert. It’s okay if your goal is simply to feel well enough to enjoy being alive.
And what a time to be alive!
—Your Friend