What we’re about
Unplug. Unwind. Connect.
Rediscover the joy of real connection through shared experiences and authentic friendships.
So Cal Explorers Meetup is the antidote to a hyper-digital, disconnected world. We gather for fun, relaxed outings to explore the most iconic, historic, quirky, and lesser-known corners of Southern California—together. Whether it's a walking tour, hike, museum visit, or movie night, our adventures are all about learning, exploring, and enjoying each other's company.
We're not a dating group. We're not a networking group. We're simply a welcoming space for adults to connect, laugh, and build friendships—without pressure, expectations, or hidden agendas.
Our crew is mostly progressive, slightly irreverent 40- to 60-somethings with a love for counter-culture and curiosity. But all open-minded adults (18+) are welcome!
Join us for hiking, historic tours, movies, museum visits, kayaking, presentations, live music, good food, great conversation, and spontaneous fun.
So Cal Explorers is where awkward small talk turns into epic friendships. Come along—we’re saving you a seat.
Upcoming events
6
FREE: WENDE MUSEUM EXHIBIT OPENINGS TOUR & ARTIST TALKS
Wende Museum, 10808 Culver Blvd., Culver City, CA, USCROSS-POSTED WITH LA & OC WEIRDO MUSIC & ART FORUM
Curator guided tour of 2 new exhibits, followed by artist talks. Free event. We've been to several of their events, and they are always very good. The Wende focuses on art related to the Cold War and the post-WWII period, including de-colonization.
Date: Saturday, November 8, 11:00 AM to 3:30 PM
Venue: Wende Museum
10808 Culver Boulevard,. Culver City, CA 90230
info@wendemuseum.org 310-216-1600Free but you must RSVP here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wende-museum-fall-2025-exhibitions-opening-day-tickets-1805540503249Let's attend the opening of two new exhibits, with a guided tour and artist talks.
11:30 am meet in front of the museum, then explore the exhibits and permanent collection (on the sides).
12:00 pm curator-led tour of the new exhibits
2:00 pm artist talks in the Gazebo
Exhibits:
Enrique Martínez Celaya: The Sextant
Intersections: The Architecture of Victor Adegbite and Charles Polónyi in Ghana
The Wende is an art museum, cultural center, and archive that preserves history and brings it to life through exhibitions, scholarship, education, and community engagement.
Wende is a German word meaning “turning point” or “change” that has come to describe the transformative period around the fall of the Berlin Wall. Founded in 2002, the Wende Museum holds an unparalleled collection of art and artifacts from the Cold War era, which serves as a foundation for programs that illuminate the political and cultural changes of the past, offer opportunities to make sense of a changing present, and inspire active participation in the personal and social changes that will shape the future.
Visitor information: https://wendemuseum.org/visit-the-wende/
About the exhibits:
Enrique Martínez Celaya: The Sextant
Between 1957 and 1963, the artist’s father built a modernist house in a small coastal village in Cuba. The time period spanned the Cuban Revolution, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the United States embargo against Cuba, a political context that in various ways reflected the story of the house. This house, in which Martínez Celaya’s family waited for exile, now serves as an official wedding venue, carrying with it the contradictions and the scars of the Communist Revolution and its aftermath.The installation The Sextant is a smaller-scale recreation of the house, which will serve as an embodiment of the cultural, architectural, and emotional responses to the Cold War in the Caribbean. The aspect of recreation, re-staging, and artifice of the installation is critically meaningful. The model of the house shines a light on the question of authenticity as well as the gap between what is reality and what is a dream, and reveals tensions that are present in all our lives but have a particularly profound relevance to the experience of those who lived in communist countries during the Cold War.
Moreover, the installation explores concepts such as the interiority of memory, the self refracted through the experience of home, and the mysterious, painful, and radiant world of childhood. It also investigates the relationship between lived experience and memory, the way a work of art negotiates the distance between witness and participant, and selfhood that is, at least in part, otherness.
Finally, the work explores the intersection of Utopia with everyday concerns, as well as the question how individuals and societies negotiate or absorb the failure of dreams. The installation is both a primary experience and an allegory for the evolution of our hopes and illusions.
Enrique Martínez Celaya is an artist, author, and former physicist whose work has been exhibited and collected by major institutions worldwide. He is Provost Professor of Humanities and Arts at the University of Southern California, and a Montgomery Fellow at Dartmouth College. His work is held in 58 public collections internationally. Martínez Celaya is the author of nine books, including two volumes of his Collected Writings and Interviews, 2010-2017 and 1990-2010. His work has been the subject of 14 monographic publications. He is the founder of Whale & Star, an evolving idea of social interaction and responsibility, whose imprint is internationally recognized for its books in art, poetry, art practice, and critical theory.
Intersections: The Architecture of Victor Adegbite and Charles Polónyi in Ghana
During the 1960s, Accra stood at the center of the anticolonial world. As the capital of Ghana— the first independent country in sub-Saharan Africa following European colonization—the city drew revolutionaries, intellectuals, and artists from across the continent and the Cold War divides. Ghana’s first leader, Kwame Nkrumah, envisioned Accra as a showcase of African statehood and invited architects to help shape its future.
Intersections traces the collaboration of two architects who responded to that call: Ghanaian Victor Adegbite (1925–2014) and Hungarian Charles Polónyi (1928–2002). Polónyi arrived in Accra as part of Eastern European technical assistance programs supporting Ghana’s transition to socialism. He worked for the Ghana National Construction Corporation, where Adegbite—a Howard University graduate—served as chief architect. In their work at the GNCC, they mobilized architectural resources from the socialist, capitalist, and non-aligned countries and designed buildings that responded to Ghana’s needs, means, and aspirations.
The exhibition centers on the housing projects designed by Adegbite and Polónyi, which embodied the many dimensions of independence—from representing a new elite to the state’s provision of housing for all social groups. By juxtaposing family archives from the United States and Hungary—preserved by the architects’ daughters—the exhibition both reconstructs and reenacts an encounter from sixty years ago. By recording how the buildings designed by Adegbite and Polónyi have been appropriated by their inhabitants, it shows how the architects’ work continues to impact Accra’s urban landscapes.
Curators: Michael Dziwornu and Łukasz Stanek, in collaboration with Dana Salama.
22 attendees
MUSIC IN THE ORCHARD - THE DREAM SYNDICATE
The Orchard, 2016 Tustin Ave., Newport Beach, CA, USDate: Date: Sunday, November 9, 2025 2-4 pm
Venue: The Orchard
2016 Tustin Ave., Newport Beach 92660They will pass the hat for the musicians - Cash donations $20 suggested
The Orchard in Newport Beach featuring The Dream Syndicate. The Dream Syndicate is an American alternative rock band from Los Angeles, California, originally active from 1981 to 1989, and reunited since 2012. Music Promoter Dave Lumian opens his beatiful shaded backyard to the public and brings in top-shelf musical talent. The concert is free, but a $20 donation to the band is recommended.
Beautiful outdoor park-like setting in a private residence in Newport Beach. Bring your own folding chair, picnic lunch, and beverages for a relaxing afternoon listening to this amazing band. It's best to get there 10 minutes early to get a space in the shade. FREE, but please bring cash. They will be passing the hat for donations for the band. It's a chill vibe and you are expected to bring a chill vibe with you.
22 attendees
FREE MOVIE: 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE
McCormick Screening Room, Humanities Gateway Bldg #1070, UCI, West Peltason Drive & Mesa Rd, Irvine, CA, USFree event by UCI International Film Club. Very limited seating, so don't dilly-dally!
Date: Wednesday, November 12, 7:00
Possible dinner before TBD
Venue: McCormick Screening Room, UCI
1070 Humanities Gateway
611 Humanities Ct, Irvine, CA 92617
https://share.google/MCLkEgk6chGXBF3otFree, but please RSVP here ( very limited seating, so don't wait!): https://zotspot.uci.edu/illuminations/rsvp_boot?id=1942250
Parking information and contact:
https://www.humanities.uci.edu/filmandmediastudies/mccormick-screening-roomTrailer: https://youtu.be/HFiyEegpKUM?si=dhsUE9oEpz3XTeAI
About:
24 Hour Party People is a mockumentary biopic starring Steve Coogan (The Trip) and Paddy Considine (Game of Thrones) following the punk and post-punk club and music scene of a bleak and deindustrializing Manchester. Based loosely on the story of Joy Division and New Order, this tragicomic take on the Manchester sound reflects Winterbottom’s unique ability to draw laughs out of despair.No City Fun, a 12 minute short with a soundtrack by Joy Division shows Manchester in its gritty beauty will also be screened.
Manchester, 1976. Tony Wilson (Steve Coogan) is an ambitious but frustrated local TV news reporter looking for a way to make his mark. After witnessing a life-changing concert by a band known as the Sex Pistols, he persuades his station to televise one of their performances, and soon Manchester's punk groups are clamoring for him to manage them. Riding the wave of a musical revolution, Wilson and his friends create the legendary Factory Records label and The Hacienda club.
7 attendees
CLASSIC SCI-FI: "FORBIDDEN PLANET" (1956)
The Frida Cinema, 305 E 4th St, Santa Ana, CA, USCross-posted with LA & OC Weirdo Music & Art Forum
Date: Saturday, November 15, 7:00
Venue: Frida Cinema
305 E 4th St #100, Santa Ana, CA 92701
Phone: (714) 285-9422Dinner 5:45 TBD
Tickets: $17.00 https://thefridacinema.org/movies/forbidden-planet/
Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 92% positive rating
Trailer here
Director: Fred M. Wilcox Run Time: 98 min. Release Year: 1956
Starring: Anne Francis, Jack Kelly, Leslie Nielsen, Walter Pidgeon, Warren Stevens
Just added: There will be a bonus special short with an on-screen appearance with Robby the Robot and B9 Lost in Space Robot that will play before the film!
Prepare to journey beyond the stars to Altair IV with the groundbreaking classic Forbidden Planet—newly restored in dazzling Cinemascope! A landmark of visual effects, sound, and imagination, this 1956 classic helped ignite the future of the genre setting a new standard for sci-fi influencing Star Wars, Star Trek and beyond!
Experience the stunning visuals and unforgettable special effects that transformed science fiction and fantasy motion pictures from then on. Whether you’re a sci-fi enthusiast or a newcomer, don’t miss your chance to see this timeless adventure on the big screen–including the legendary screen debut of the iconic Robby the Robot!
"Forbidden Planet" had the first entirely electronic soundtrack by electronic music pioneers Louis and Bebe Barron, who worked with John Cage, Morton Feldman, Pauline Oliveros and others. In 2006 I attended a 50th Anniversary concert, and Bebe Barron was in attendance. Liaten here.
As an added bonus, enjoy a rare screening of 2 George Pal Academy Award-nominated stop-motion animated Puppetoon Classics before the show: Dr. Seuss The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins and Tubby the Tuba, restored from their original Technicolor negatives by producer/director Arnold Leibovit, who will also be show’s MC for the evening!
This program is a venue rental engagement. The views and opinions expressed in this program do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of The Frida Cinema or its staff.
2 attendees
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