SoCal Sights | Est. 2022

4 Night Markets Open Now in Los Angeles: Tickets, Transit, After Dark

Crowded Los Angeles night market after dark

Right now, four night markets keep LA’s food scene buzzing after dark: 626 Night Market for festival-scale eating, DS Night Market for a reliable weekly Chinatown fix, Hollywood Night Market for hillside views with your street food, and atSiam Night Market for the deepest Thai menu in the city. If you’re picking just one for tonight, go with whichever matches your mood. Then double-check the official site for this week’s exact schedule before you drive anywhere.

TL;DR:

  • The 626 Night Market runs in bursts, often requiring advance tickets for peak weekends, unlike the dependable weekly DS Night Market.
  • Hollywood Night Market and atSiam Night Market are seasonal and may not operate every month, making check-in on their websites essential.
  • Festival-style markets like 626 feature longer lines and less seating, whereas smaller markets like DS move faster with lower wait times.
  • Visiting early in the evening reduces wait times and helps avoid peak crowds, especially for the most popular stalls.
  • Always confirm current hours and ticketing options directly on each market’s site, as schedules and prices change seasonally.

Table of Contents

Which Night Markets in Los Angeles Are Actually Running Right Now?

I get asked this constantly, and the honest answer is that LA’s night market scene isn’t one steady thing. It’s a mix of big annual festivals, a weekly neighborhood staple, and a seasonal hillside event that pops up and disappears depending on the time of year. Here’s what’s active and worth your evening.

  • 626 Night Market: The original San Gabriel Valley night market and still the benchmark for scale, with hundreds of vendors packed into festival-style weekends. It’s not weekly. Check the 626 Night Market site for the next scheduled dates, since it runs in bursts rather than every Friday.
  • DS Night Market: Your most dependable option, running Friday through Sunday at Chinatown Central Plaza with a rotating lineup of Thai and international street food. This is the closest thing LA has to a true weekly night market events fixture, and it’s an easy walk from Chinatown’s shops and murals.
  • Hollywood Night Market: A seasonal event historically held at the Yamashiro hillside property above Hollywood Boulevard, pairing food stalls with a skyline view. Because it’s seasonal, treat every date as tentative until the Hollywood Night Market site confirms it.
  • atSiam Night Market: Billed as one of the larger Thai-focused night markets in the city, with a heavier concentration of Thai street food than the pan-Asian mix you’ll find elsewhere. Hours and address are listed on the atSiam Night Market page, and it’s worth bookmarking if you’re chasing specific dishes.

All four skew toward families early in the evening and a livelier, date-night crowd later on.

What to Expect at an LA Night Market

Walk into any of these and the food is the main event, but the vibe shifts depending on scale. A neighborhood market like DS feels like a block party. A festival-scale event like 626 feels more like a state fair with better food.

  • Food: Expect a heavy lean toward pan-Asian street food (skewers, bao, boba, Thai iced tea), plus Latin American stalls, loaded fries, and novelty desserts like rolled ice cream or mochi donuts.
  • Entertainment: Live music, dance performances, and the occasional vendor demo (think hibachi flames or bubble tea shaking shows) are common at the bigger events.
  • Layout and wait times: Bigger festivals mean longer lines for the popular stalls and less seating overall, while smaller weekly markets like DS tend to move faster since the vendor count is lower.
  • Amenities: Portable restrooms, some shaded seating, and designated family areas are typical, but don’t expect much beyond the basics. Bring your own patience for the popcorn chicken line.

When to Go and What It’ll Cost You

Timing and budget depend entirely on which market you’re hitting, so plan around this:

  1. Weekly markets like DS Night Market run Friday through Sunday most of the year, which makes them your easiest default plan for a spontaneous evening.
  2. Festival weekends like 626 Night Market cluster around specific dates, often requiring advance tickets for peak Saturday and Sunday slots since capacity is limited.
  3. Ticketing varies by market: neighborhood markets tend to offer free admission with pay-as-you-go food, while festival-style events often charge a modest entry fee, especially for prime weekend windows.
  4. Seasonality matters: expect the heaviest concentration of events in summer, plus occasional holiday pop-ups. Hollywood Night Market in particular has run only seasonally, so its calendar looks nothing like DS Night Market’s steady weekly rhythm.
  5. Budget your time: Visitors typically spend a variable amount of time on-site depending on food lines, browsing, and parking.

Always confirm current pricing and dates directly on each market’s site. Festival organizers adjust ticket tiers periodically.

Planning Your Visit: Transit, Parking, and Crowd Timing

Getting there is half the battle, especially for the hillside and festival-scale markets where parking fills up fast.

  • Transit: DS Night Market’s Chinatown location is walkable from the Metro Gold Line’s Chinatown station, making it one of the easiest markets to reach without a car.
  • Parking and shuttles: Hollywood Night Market’s hillside setting means limited on-site parking, and the market has historically leaned on shuttle and ride-share guidance to manage the crunch. Plan to use drop-off options rather than spend time hunting for parking.
  • Crowd timing: Arrive within the first hour of opening if you want shorter lines at the standout food stalls. Evenings later in the weekend tend to be more crowded.
  • What to bring: Cash or small bills speed up transactions at cash-only stalls, a valid ID if you’re eyeing any alcohol vendors, and a reusable water bottle since summer nights in LA stay warm well past sunset.

Pro Tip: Split your group up when you arrive. Send one person straight to the stall with the longest line while everyone else scouts the rest of the market. You’ll double your food coverage before the real crowds hit.

Picks: Where to Go Before or After

Part of what makes a night market outing feel complete is what you do around it, not just the market itself; consider exploring Bernal Heights nightlife and dining to round out your evening.

  • Chinatown (DS Night Market): Cap the night with a short walk to a dessert spot for something sweet, since the plaza sits within easy reach of several late-night dessert spots in LA.
  • Hollywood Hills (Hollywood Night Market): The skyline views up there practically beg for a camera. Pair your visit with a stop at one of the city’s better photo spots on the way down.
  • Broader LA nightlife: If you’re extending the evening, LA’s after-dark scene includes a strong lineup of speakeasy-style bars tucked behind unmarked doors, a nice contrast to the open-air chaos of a night market.

I always tell people planning a night market trip to build in one extra stop. It turns a quick food run into an actual night out.

Where to Check Current Hours and Tickets

Bookmark the source, not a screenshot from last year. Each market’s own site is the most reliable place to confirm hours and pricing: 626 Night Market, DS Night Market, Hollywood Night Market, and atSiam Night Market. For one-off or promoter-run events not listed above, Eventbrite’s LA night market listings catch a lot of the smaller pop-ups. Hours and vendor lineups shift seasonally, so confirm before you head out.

Looking to build a full evening around your market visit? Our local guide to fun activities near you rounds out the night with nearby stops worth adding to your route, and if you’re mapping out a bigger weekend, our Southern California road trip guide shows you where to go next.

The Real Story Behind LA’s Night Market Boom

Most guides to this topic treat every night market the same way, listing them like they’re interchangeable stops on a checklist. They’re not. A festival-scale event like 626 Night Market operates on a completely different model than a weekly neighborhood market like DS. One requires advance planning and often a ticket. The other rewards spontaneity.

Festival-scale versus weekly night markets

The conventional advice, “just show up,” works fine for DS Night Market and fails you badly for 626 Night Market’s peak weekends, where the good tickets sell out ahead of time. That distinction gets lost in most roundups, and it’s the single biggest reason people show up disappointed.

My honest read: prioritize checking the official schedule before you prioritize which market sounds the coolest. A gorgeous hillside setting means nothing if Hollywood Night Market isn’t running that month. Treat these sites as living calendars, not static listings, and you’ll avoid the most common mistake I see people make with LA’s night market scene.

— Joshua

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