Exposition Park (South Lawn)

Exposition Park is the 160-acre state-run park just south of downtown Los Angeles and west of the 110, the campus that holds the Memorial Coliseum, BMO Stadium, the California Science Center, the Natural History Museum, the California African American Museum and the Rose Garden. It started as an agricultural fairground in 1872 and took its current name and layout in 1910. The South Lawn is the open grass inside those grounds where promoters pitch a stage and fence a field for one-off outdoor shows, so a bass tour or a festival day lands in a park instead of a club. Listings write the place as "Exposition Park" or "Exposition Park (South Lawn)", and both mean this patch of turf.

The park has no house rules of its own for concerts. Age limits, bag rules, set times and gates are set per show by the promoter and published on the ticket page, so read that before you leave. The grounds normally open from 8am to 10pm, and the park warns that hours shift on event days.

Getting there is simple on the train. The Metro E Line stops at Expo Park/USC, just north of the Rose Garden, and a second station at Expo/Vermont sits on the park's west edge. If you drive, the park's lots and structures switch to a flat special-event rate after 5pm, starting at $24, with no in-and-out and no refunds; entrances are at 39th and Figueroa and at Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd and Hoover. On event days rideshare pickups have to be hailed from outside the park, so plan the walk out.