PLAYING WITH THE STORY OF L.A.

Meow Wolf, known for its interactive, artful experiences, leans into the city's moviemaking mystique for its newest location in West L.A. and takes us along for the ride

- BY TODD MARTENS

CO-FOUNDER Sean Di Ianni, top left, leads the L.A. project. A tour at Meow Wolf's Santa Fe headquarters features pieces for L.A. such as a costume, top right, and an installation partly inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright's Ennis House.

Meow Wolf is coming to Los Angeles. And with its move to the Southland, the experiential art collective isn’t just taking over a former movie theater, it is, in a sense, placing a skewed spotlight on Hollywood's grandiosity itself.

Born in Santa Fe, N.M., more than a decade ago, Meow Wolf’s fast-tracked rise has taken the company to Denver, Las Vegas, Houston and the Dallas suburbs. Along the way the firm has skirted the line between theme park-like interactive experiences and handmade outsider art, pitching itself as a new form of all-encompassing, maximalist, sensory overloaded Entertainment or, in the words of one of its creative directors, “that classic feeling of good confusion.”

Destined to open in late 2026 at West L.A.’s Howard Hughes entertainment complex, Meow Wolf has kept much of its plan for Los Angeles under wraps. Until now.

It’s been known that the installation would be taking over a large section of what had long been the Cinemark movie theaters. Meow Wolf, however, is using the location to lean into one of L.A's longest standing — and currently troubled — ritualistic experiences. In the same way exhibitions in Santa Fe or Las Vegas begin in an otherworldly house or an extraordinary grocery store before getting truly psychedelic, Meow Wolf Los Angeles will launch via a fantastical movie theater, one complete with concession stand — beware of the animated, sentient candy — and a grand auditorium. Here, describes co-founder and executive vice president Sean Di Ianni, guests may spy transparent seats that appear to be floating.