1996 in California

The 68th Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 1995 in the United States and took place on March 25, 1996, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles beginning at 6:00 p.m. PST / 9:00 p.m. EST. During the ceremony, AMPAS presented Academy Awards (commonly referred to as Oscars) in 24 categories. The ceremony, televised in the United States by ABC, was produced by David Salzman and Quincy Jones and directed by Jeff Margolis. Actress Whoopi Goldberg hosted the show for the second time, having previously presided over the 66th ceremony in 1994. Three weeks earlier, in a ceremony held at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, on March 2, the Academy Awards for Technical Achievement were presented by host Richard Dreyfuss.

The 1996 MTV Movie Awards was held at Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California. It was hosted by Ben Stiller and Janeane Garofalo. Whitney Houston, Garbage and Adam Sandler were among the featured live performers.

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Kristin Denise Smart (born February 20, 1977, legally presumed dead May 25, 2002) is an American missing person. She disappeared on May 25, 1996 while attending California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Three fellow-students had escorted her back to her hall of residence after a party. One of them, Paul Flores, was the last person known to have seen her alive, and he claims that he left her to return to her dorm alone. When a police-dog located evidence of human remains close to the Flores family home, the Sheriff’s office refused to issue a search warrant, and a local newspaper raised suspicions of a cover-up. Smart is still on file as a high priority missing person.

The 16th Golden Raspberry Awards were held on March 24, 1996 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel to recognize the worst the movie industry had to offer in 1995. The list of nominees follows, with recipients denoted in bold. For the first time in Razzie history, an actual "winner" showed up to the ceremony and accepted his award: Showgirls director Paul Verhoeven.

3rd SAG Awards

The 38th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 28, 1996, at Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles. The awards recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. Alanis Morissette was the main recipient, being awarded four trophies, including Album of the Year. Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men opened the show with their Record of the Year nominated "One Sweet Day".

WrestleMania XII was the 12th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It took place on March 31, 1996, at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim in Anaheim, California in the United States. Eight matches were held at the event, including two on the Free for All pre-show.

The World Wrestling Peace Festival was a professional wrestling supercard produced by Japanese professional wrestler Antonio Inoki, which took place on June 1, 1996 at the Los Angeles Sports Arena in Los Angeles, California. The event was organized by Inoki to promote world peace with an interpromotional event involving major promotions from around the world. Forty wrestlers from six countries ended up taking part in the event.