California Science Center

Time Out says

A fusion of two longstanding prior facilities, the California Science Center opened in 1998 in a bright, airy building directly in front of the Rose Garden in Exposition Park. Permanent exhibit galleries—World of Life, Creative World and the SKETCH Foundation Gallery featuring air and space exhibits—explore life sciences, human innovation and powered flight. Ecosystems, a new permanent exhibition wing, presents 11 different environments using a combination of hands-on exhibits and live habitats. Adjoining each permanent gallery is a Discovery Room that allow kids and parents to take a closer look at the science found in the gallery through activities.

Exhibit highligts include the Kelp Tank, populated with 1,500 live fish, kelp and other marine life; the ever-popular High-Wire Bicycle, which allows the brave and the trusting to ride a bike along a one-inch wire some 43 feet above the ground in order to demonstrate the power of gravity; Tess, the 50-foot body simulator and star of the Body Works show; and actual space capsules from the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo-Soyuz missions. Further entertainment is provided by a roster of temporary exhibits and an IMAX cinema, screening the usual array of dazzling, quasi-educational, nature-slanted films.

Entrance to the museum's permanent exhibits is free, which might explain why the main attraction on the ground floor is an enormous shop.