Los Angeles officially belongs to K-pop this weekend with KCON LA 2026, but the city has been deep in K-pop all week. This year’s KCON festival officially opened Friday (Aug. 14) at the Los Angeles Convention Center and Crypto.com Arena. Under the theme “Walk in SOUL CITY,” a play on the South Korean capital, festival producer CJ ENM is stretching 2026’s convention across K-pop, K-beauty, K-food and K-story programming, including the first-ever Olive Young Festa K-Beauty Playground, which boasts 55 different Korean brands. But by the time doors opened on day one, the city had already been running on K-pop culture for days. HYBE America started things Wednesday with an industry party under the theme of “K-Pop’s Biggest Weekend.” The U.S. branch of the Korean-entertainment giant had a red carpet, photo booths, cotton candy machines and members of its global roster — boy bands &TEAM and Santos Bravos, as well a...
