#1 Food, Wine & Hospitality Event (up from #10)
In 2012, Los Angeles Food and Wine festival, presented by Food & Wine magazine, returned for the second year to L.A. Live and other locations around town. After resigning from the Puck-Lazaroff Charitable Foundation last year (and splitting with the foundation’s 30-year-old American Wine & Food Festival), Wolfgang Puck was a part of the buzzy festival along with organizer Coastal Luxury Management, AEG, and Dick Clark Productions. Last year’s inaugural event brought close to $5 million for the city’s economy, and $400,000 for charity beneficiary St. Vincent’s Meals on Wheels. New executive director Caryl Chinn led the event this year. Next: August 2013
In 2012, Los Angeles Food and Wine festival, presented by Food & Wine magazine, returned for the second year to L.A. Live and other locations around town. After resigning from the Puck-Lazaroff Charitable Foundation last year (and splitting with the foundation’s 30-year-old American Wine & Food Festival), Wolfgang Puck was a part of the buzzy festival along with organizer Coastal Luxury Management, AEG, and Dick Clark Productions. Last year’s inaugural event brought close to $5 million for the city’s economy, and $400,000 for charity beneficiary St. Vincent’s Meals on Wheels. New executive director Caryl Chinn led the event this year. Next: August 2013
Photo: Barnaby Draper
The splashy, televised events that earn Los Angeles the reputation as the entertainment capital—like the Oscars, Grammys, and Golden Globes—are just a fraction of the huge-scale, high-profile events around Southern California each year. From sporting events and parades like the Tournament of Roses to conferences and trade shows like TED, here are our picks for the events that annually draw the biggest buzz, crowds, media and donor attention, and important players in their respective fields.
To choose and rank the annual events on this list, we look at several factors, including economic impact, buzz, innovation, and an event's prominence within the communities it intends to serve.
