1. Photograph: Courtesy La Brea Tar Pits and Museum
    Photograph: Courtesy La Brea Tar Pits and Museum
  2. Photograph: Michael Juliano
    Photograph: Michael Juliano |

    Lake Pit at the La Brea Tar Pits.

  3. Photograph: Michael Juliano
    Photograph: Michael Juliano | Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits.
  4. Photograph: Michael Juliano
    Photograph: Michael Juliano | Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits.
  5. Photograph: Michael Juliano
    Photograph: Michael Juliano | Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits.
  6. Photograph: Michael Juliano
    Photograph: Michael Juliano | Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits.
  7. Photograph: Michael Juliano
    Photograph: Michael Juliano | Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits.
  8. Photograph: Michael Juliano
    Photograph: Michael Juliano | Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits.
  9. Photograph: Michael Juliano
    Photograph: Michael Juliano | Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits.
  10. Photograph: Michael Juliano
    Photograph: Michael Juliano |

    Pit 91 at the La Brea Tar Pits.

  11. Photograph: Michael Juliano
    Photograph: Michael Juliano |

    Pit 91 at the La Brea Tar Pits.

  12. Photograph: Michael Juliano
    Photograph: Michael Juliano |

    Pit 91 at the La Brea Tar Pits.

  13. Photograph: Michael Juliano
    Photograph: Michael Juliano |

    Pit 91 at the La Brea Tar Pits.

  14. Photograph: Michael Juliano
    Photograph: Michael Juliano |

    Pit 91 at the La Brea Tar Pits.

  15. Photograph: Michael Juliano
    Photograph: Michael Juliano |

    Observation Pit at the La Brea Tar Pits.

  16. Photograph: Michael Juliano
    Photograph: Michael Juliano |

    Observation Pit at the La Brea Tar Pits.

  17. Photograph: Michael Juliano
    Photograph: Michael Juliano |

    Observation Pit at the La Brea Tar Pits.

  18. Photograph: Michael Juliano
    Photograph: Michael Juliano |

    Observation Pit at the La Brea Tar Pits.

La Brea Tar Pits & Museum

The outdoor pits are free to visit. Advance tickets for the indoor museum recommended; free for county residents weekdays from 3–5pm.
  • Museums | Natural history
  • Miracle Mile
  • price 1 of 4
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Time Out says

Back in 1875, a group of amateur paleontologists discovered animal remains in the pits at Rancho La Brea, which bubbled with asphalt from a petroleum lake under what is now Hancock Park. Some 150 years later, the pros are still at work here, having dragged more than 3.5 million fossils from the mire. Many of these specimens are now on display in this delightfully old-fashioned museum, which can’t have changed much since it opened in 1977. Reserve a spot on the Excavator Tour (free with museum admission), which includes stops at the Fossil Lab and Project 23, where you can see archaeologists at work. Inside, check out the multimedia experience Ice Age Encounters and the simple, instructive displays of items found in the pits. Most are bones—of jackrabbits, gophers, a 160-pound bison, skunks and a 15,000-pound Columbian mammoth, plus an extraordinary wall of 400 wolf skulls—though there are also early cave drawings and human accoutrements such as bowls and hair pins.

Details

Address
5801 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles
90036
Price:
$18 adults; $14 seniors/students with ID; $7 children 3–17; children under 2, active military with ID, CA teachers with ID, and members free. L.A. County residents free Mon–Fri 3–5pm.
Opening hours:
Daily 9:30am–5pm; closed first Tue of the month
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What’s on

KCRW Summer Nights

Everyone’s favorite NPR member station has a hand in a slew of summer concert slates at public plazas and beloved museums, and this summer’s schedule is reliably packed. Familiar KCRW DJs will be providing free, open-air tunes on select nights from June through September at Maydan Market, Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, La Brea Tar Pits, CAAM, ASU FIDM Museum, the Kidspace Children’s Museum, Hauser & Wirth, MOLAA, California Plaza, LACMA, Wende Museum, Union Station, downtown Long Beach, LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, Bowers Museum, the Autry and the NoHo Arts District. (Missing from the lineup this year and last are the party-till-midnight bashes at Chinatown Central Plaza.) The details slightly differ at each spot, but you can typically expect a bunch of food trucks, beer gardens and after-hours museum admission. Regardless of the location, you really can’t go wrong with any evening spent at Summer Nights. (Note: The kickoff June 1 event at Maydan Market and Aug. 8’s LACMA event are only for KCRW members.)
  • Late openings
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