Between Los Angeles prices and transportation costs to get across the city, affordable activities aren’t always easy to come by. 

The L.A. Public Library offers a solution: Its branches regularly hold a variety of events, from community fairs to lectures and workshops. Here are some events happening next week at LAPL branches nearest to USC’s campus.

These events are free, open to the public and do not require an LAPL card to attend.

Vision board night

Take the Metro E Line toward Santa Monica. Get off at Expo Park and Western to get to LAPL’s Exposition Park branch. 

On Wednesday night, the branch is hosting a craft night to make vision boards. The library will provide magazines, art supplies and moral support, all it asks is that participants bring their personal goals and dreams. 

Craft night will take place from 6 to 7 p.m. in the branch’s community room. 

Lecture with a culinary historian

Switch up the scenery, and travel to LAPL’s main branch in downtown L.A. The Central Library is less than 30 minutes away by public transportation. Ride the Metro E Line eastbound to the 7th Street and Metro Center station and exit onto 7th Street, and the Central Library will be a short walk down Hope Street. 

On Saturday, from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., a culinary historian will give a lecture in the library about new hyperlocal cuisine along the Pacific Rim — the region surrounding the Pacific Ocean that includes parts of the Americas, East Asia and Oceania. 

Samuel H. Yamashita, an emeritus professor at Pomona College, is delivering the lecture and is currently finishing a book on the topic. His lecture will cover the newest cuisines that popped up in fine dining in the Pacific Rim this century and how these dishes drew inspiration from Indigenous communities and Asian culinary traditions.

The event will take place in the library’s Taper Auditorium.

Repair fair

Not interested in another lecture? Come to the Central Library on Sunday instead for its repair fair. The library has teamed up with the Echo Park Repair Fair organizers to bring the fair downtown. 

As part of the repair fair, Central Library is offering free repairs to clothing, leather products, jewelry, bikes and carpentry. The fair will also have a community clothing swap, plant swap and a skillshare for community members to exchange their own items and expertise.

Visit the repair fair from 1:15 to 4 p.m. in the Central Library’s Thornton Courtyard. Visitors will be limited to three repairs, and may only have one repair per category. The fair is first come, first served.

Meditation

If the Central Library’s endless events are overwhelming, wind down and relax at their weekly meditation session on Thursday. Join leaders from UCLA Mindful, UCLA Health’s mindfulness education center, for Mindful Meditation Thursdays.

Every Thursday from 12:30 to 1 p.m. until Dec. 24, community members are welcome to attend the free session in Meeting Room B at the Central Library.

Learn to 3D print

Bored of the Central Library? Take a trip to Koreatown to explore another branch. 

Hop on the Metro E Line traveling toward Santa Monica to 7th Street and Metro Center, then take the D Line toward Wilshire and Western Station. Get off at Wilshire and Western Station, and take a walk down the street to the Pio Pico-Koreatown LAPL branch. 

Next Friday, Pio Pico is holding a 3D printing workshop taught by the Koreatown Media Lab staff. Participants will learn how to make a 3D model using Tinkercad, a free 3D-design app. Final designs will be printed and available for pickup at the media lab following the workshop. 

To register for the free workshop, Pio Pico asks participants to email [email protected] with the subject “3D Printing Basics.”