los angeles travel guide

Home  

Dave's Articles  

Photography  

Message Boards  

Journals  

Resources  

Classifieds  

About Us  


 
Los Angeles Museums, Ronald Reagan Museum, Skirball Center, LA Museum, La Brea Tar Pits
 

Travel to Los Angeles Los Angeles Vacations
Los Angeles Hotels

Comments or questions about this article? Feel free to post them on Dave's 
NA Message Board

 
So Cal Photos

 

Seeing the World One Step at a Time  
   









 
LOS ANGELES, CA Previous Page Next Page
   Museums Los Angeles
The following museums have been visited by Dave. This section will be updated as time permits and as we visit additional museums.

The Armand Hammer Museum of Art & Cultural Center is operated by UCLA and is located at 10899 Wilshire Blvd. This museum's main showcase is "art of the present time", however they do have permanent galleries of van Gogh, Monet, Rembrandt & more. Armand Hammer was a contemporary of Norton Simon (see Norton Simon Museum below) and often found himself bidding against Norton Simon for high-priced art. Pricing is very reasonable. Museum admission is free every Thursday - they are closed Mondays. They open at 11am. Be sure to have the museum validate your parking pass - parking is located under the museum itself. We will include more information here after an upcoming visit. More info: www.hammer.ucla.edu or Phone (310) 443-7000

Autry Museum of Western Heritage is located at 4700 Western Heritage Way in Los Angeles. This museum contains several museums including the Southwest Museum of the American Indian and the Museum of the American West. Note that these two museums are located in entirely different sections of Los Angeles (American Indian Museum 234 Museum Drive in Griffith Park - exit Zoo Drive off of the 5, and the American West Museum is at 4700 Western Heritage Way just off the 110 - Exit Ave 43). Rotating exhibits also come through this museum. More info: www.autrynationalcenter.org 

The famous
Huntington Gardens & Art Collection in San Marino (1151 Oxford Road) is a must visit during your trip to Los Angeles. Its located in San Marino/Pasadena - from downtown take the 110 (Harbor Freeway) north which turns into Arroyo Seco Blvd - then turn right on California and follow the signs to the entrance. This is a real gem - the botanical gardens are huge, they have one of the best if not the best cactus garden we have seen (12 acres in size) as well as nine other distinct gardens. Over 14,000 species are represented in these gardens spread out over 120 acres. You can easily spend several hours in the gardens alone. A conservatory is also on the grounds and contains a cloud forest which "rains" quite often - don't worry its mostly mist and you won't get very wet!

If this museum only contained the Botanical Gardens it would be a real treasure but there are three very well organized art galleries and the main library building. Over 6 million books are contained within its walls - including first edition Shakespeare's, a Gutenberg Bible and
a manuscript of Chaucer's, The Canterbury Tales. Some of their books date from the 1400's and are in incredibly good condition. Gainsborough's Blue Boy is housed in one of the galleries along with many other works by Gainsborough.

The main Huntington house is currently undergoing renovation in late 2006 and won't be open for a year or two. Thankfully photography is allowed in any of the galleries (no flashes). For more information browse some of our photos below and or visit their website at:  www.huntington.org Total recommended visiting time including the gardens and galleries is 3-5 hours.

Huntington Library Photographs
       
Main Entrance   Tall white Cactus   Art Gallery   Round Cactus   Sculpture room
 
       
Blue Boy   Art Gallery   Cactus Garden   Main Library   Lemon Cactus

The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Garden’s newest addition, The Garden of Flowing Fragrance, will be the largest Chinese Garden outside of China and boasts a 4.5-acre garden allowing visitors to stroll around a 1.5-acre lake bordered by Tai Hu rocks and a landscape that includes five hand-carved stone bridges, a stream, and a canyon waterfall connection to the Japanese Garden. The first phase of The Huntington’s Chinese Garden opened on February 23, 2008.

The
Japanese American National Museum is located at 369 East First Street in Los Angeles. We will provide a review after a visit during one of our upcoming trips. Exhibition rotate and change on a continuing basis. In the meantime visit: www.janm.org

The
La Brea Tar Pits are located at the Page Museum in the "Miracle Mile" section of Wilshire Blvd. The address is 5801 Wilshire Blvd; the grounds take up several acres on the north side of Wilshire right next to the LA County Museum of Art (www.lacma.org). Visiting this museum followed by a walk around the grounds is a unique and interesting experience. These tar pits sit right in the middle of a very urban area - with tall buildings, next to a busy boulevard (Wilshire). How things have changed over the years here!

Start your visit with a quick stop next to the main tar pit/pool where the your can see grazing concrete "wooly mammoths". Next climb above the main museum up the stairs so that you can get an overlook of the grounds and see the atrium.

The La Brea Tarpits are a series of tar pits in the ground. Over the years animals and plants became entangled in these - often becoming "prey" for predators who then found themselves stuck in the ground. These tarpits are a great history of what types of animals and plants were found in the area over thousands of years. There is one pit (simply named "Pit 91" that is still being excavated even today - (its typically only open in the summer months). It is open for viewing for free to the public on the grounds of the museum during the excavation season.

Upon entering the museum - you should get your tickets first - the bathrooms are located on the right side of the entrance and you actually have to enter through a small swinging gate. Typically you start your tour at in a clockwise direction entering the museum to the left of the entrance, however you can always run the tour in a counter clockwise direction. Highlights of this museum include a wall with several hundred skulls from a specie of wolf that was found in the pits. Additionally you can feel small standing next to a 13 foot huge wooly mammoth skeleton. Did you know North America had Lions at one point? There are several nice skeletons of the North American lion - to an untrained eye, they closely resemble the African Lion, except the North American Lions are quite a bit bigger. Other skeletons you don't want to miss are the Saber Tooth Tiger, and the giant ground sloth. A center "office" in the museum has been windowed off, and sometimes you can see paleontologists working - among all of the fossils. The paleontologists call this room the "fish bowl" laboratory!
 
There is film about the museum and the tar pit finds shown at 30 minute intervals all day. It contains with excellent cinematography and is overall very well done. Do not miss watching this.

After you visit the museum be sure to walk the grounds. If you've never seen or touched natural tar this is your chance! The major pits are sectioned off and you cannot enter them. There are however some small seeps coming right up through the grass and into the small stream that runs here.
 

One nearby tree has been the unfortunate recipient of "tar pit graffiti". Beware if you touch the tar, it will eventually come off but its very sticky and isn't easily removed.

More information and pricing, visit www.tarpits.org

The
Long Beach Museum of Art is located at 2300 East Ocean Blvd in Long Beach. Fridays are free. For more info visit: www.lbma.org

The
Museum of Latin American Art is located at 628 Alamitos Ave in Long Beach. This is the only museum in the Western USA that exclusively features contemporary Latin American Art. Permanent and rotating exhibitions. Visit: www.molaa.org

The
Museum of Television and Radio is located in Beverly Hills and has another location in New York. Admission is free but donations are suggested. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays. We will visit this museum during an upcoming trip. Stay posted. Visit: www.mtr.org

The
Museum of Tolerance is located at 9786 West Pico Blvd is associated with the famous Simon Wiesenthal Center (which is actually located across the street). Parking is in a multi-story underground garage and is free with admission to the museum. There is a security checkpoint before you enter the garage and another security checkpoint before you actually enter the museum exhibits. Note that no cameras or filming devices are allowed in the museum including cell phone cameras. You will not be allowed into this museum unless you have a photo id. This museum's purpose is two-fold; to raise awareness about the dynamics of racism & prejudice in America and to explore what happened during the terrible Holocaust of WWII.

This museum is a semi self guided tour (explained below). Allow at least two hours here. You start out in a small group with a guide who leads you downstairs and stops your group in front of two doors. A volunteer is chosen and then the guide asks her to enter the museum by choosing the door on the left if she considers herself racist in any regard, and to choose the door on the right if she considers herself not racist at all. Hint, if you choose the door for being "not racist" you will be fighting against a locked door!

This is a very interactive museum - videos & demo's all invite your participation. Exhibits on the war in Bosnia & Rwanda are in the first section of the museum before the Holocaust section. This is a semi-guided tour in that you are not given the freedom to wander through all the exhibits at your leisure. You are given a time limit in certain sections of the museum, and then you have to move to the next section. The Holocaust exhibits are timed so that the doors leading into the next sections open only after you have seen all the exhibits in the section you are in. Each display in a particular area lights up a description is read and then fades into darkness. Once you leave the Holocaust section you are free to explore the rest of the museum. One nice feature of the Holocaust exhibit is you are given a "biographical card" of a person that was in the Holocaust. As you make your way through this exhibit there are several "bio" machines; you put the card into one of these machines and it tells you all about the person listed on your card and you can even print out the information.

Occasionally this museum will have well-known guest speakers. The museum is closed Saturdays and for Public & Jewish holidays.

For more information visit:
www.museumoftolerance.com

The
Natural History Museum of LA County is located in Exposition Park - this is the 3rd largest Natural History Museum in the USA. For more info visit: www.nhm.org

The
Norton Simon Museum located at 411 W. Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena is home to over 2000 works of art from Western and Asian cultures. This is one of our favorite museums in the LA Area. Norton Simon was a prolific collector of rare art - he made his money initially from Hunt Food's Company and then branched off into a variety of other well known businesses. Norton Simon along with Armand Hammer (who he often bid against for rare works of Art) were two of LA's serious art collectors in the 1950's through the 1980's. This museum has four main galleries - 14th-16th century, 17th & 18th century, 19th century and a South Asian collection. They have one of the best collections of Degas we have seen including his paintings and sculptures. Also Raphael, El Greco, Rembrandt, Rubens, van Gogh, Monet, Manet, and Picasso among others, are displayed. Rodin and other sculptures line the front entrance and interior courtyard. One room is devoted to the life and times of Norton Simon - be sure to pick up the free "art of negotiation" book which describes how Simon acquired select pieces. Also one gallery displays rotating photo exhibits.

Norton Simon has a vast collection of South Asian artworks/sculptures, mainly from India. This is housed on the lower floor while the other western arts are housed on the first floor. Typically there are less people in the South Asian exhibit so you can really take your time at each piece. Need something to eat while visiting the galleries? The Garden Cafe sits in the courtyard at the edge of the pond. Museum is closed on Tuesdays and note their opening time is a rather late 12pm the rest of the week. Visit: www.nortonsimon.org or Phone: (626)
44906840

Norton Simon Museum Photographs
       

The Petersen Automotive Museum is located at 6060 Wilshire Blvd at Fairfax Blvd. They display rare and unique collectible antique cars. More than 150 vehicles are exhibited. Closed on Mondays. We have plans to visit this for the first time. Stay posted for a review coming in late winter 2009. For more information visit: www.petersen.org

The
Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum is located at 18001 Yorba Linda Boulevard in Yorba Linda. You can even see Nixon's restored childhood home on site. We plan on visiting this museum very soon and will provide an extensive write-up. Check back by late 2008 for our review. In the meantime, visit: www.nixonfoundation.org

The
Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum is located in a gorgeous hillside location overlooking Simi Valley (40 Presidential Drive - reached either from the 23 or 118 freeways) which on a clear warm day is very impressive. Get here early on any good weather weekend - the crowds start arriving late morning and the museum opens at 10am. There are several parking lots available by their own entrances and during busy days parking often backs up well down the hillside road leading to the actual library. We've noticed that later in the day new arrivals see the long line of parked cars leading down the road and choose the first open space they see. However, we have left the upper main parking lots and have noticed a few empty spots by mid afternoon; in other words if you arrive mid to late afternoon its worth at least driving up the main lots in case there are some empty spots.

The museum opened in 1991 and provides an extensive range of exhibits about Reagan's life. There are many galleries, each one focusing on one aspect of Reagan's life. The Gallery of Presidents contains original paintings of all US Presidents which is next to the "welcome theatres" which provide good overviews of Reagan's life. Other highlights include replicas of the Oval Office, the Situation Room & the White House Rose Garden. The video that runs every few minutes describing the assassination attempt is quite popular. The real Presidential Limousine, Marine One Helicopter and Air Force One that Reagan used are on display in a massive windowed building which is perched on the edge of a hill overlooking Simi Valley. Photographs are allowed outside of the plane (no flash) and anywhere below the plane on the lower level as well as in the main galleries. There is a red carpet leading to the actual Air Force One and once you stand on this carpet, no photos are allowed. However, there is a professional photographer who will snap your photo on the steps leading into the plane (a victory V salute is appropriate at this point) and your photo will be available for purchase on the lower level once you disembark the plane. A mandatory short video about the history of AF 1 is played before you head out onto the "tarmac". We made a point to be at the museum right before it opened and were able to make a beeline for "the plane". As a result we were the *only* one inside the plane other than the 2 docents. During some busy weekends the line to get inside is very long. The inside of the plane is spacious, with several sections for press and staff including the "black box".

Every US President since Franklin D. Roosevelt, upon finishing his time in office, have had Presidential libraries built for them.


During one weekend when we visited, "Live history" displays were held in the main courtyard. People were dressed in mid 1700's style and each person played a specific role such as cook, blacksmith, or doctor. Crowds gathered around their "station" and listened to era stories about their specific trades. One person asked one of the cooks who was roasting chicken in a fire pit if they purchased that at Albertson's. Being in the 1740's mindset this person said that was not a word in his vocabulary!

The museum often has prestigious speakers, events and historical documents as well as rotating Reagan related exhibits. Replica's of the White House Rose Garden, and South Lawn are outside as well as Reagan's Memorial Site. In addition look for an 8000 lb part of the Berlin Wall including era graffiti on its walls. A Cafe is on site as well as a well stocked gift shop. We recommend at least 3.5 to 4 hours here. For more information about this library visit: www.reaganfoundation.org and click on our thumbnail photos below:
 
       
Simi Valley View   Air Force 1   Memorial   Dresses   Berlin Wall
                 
       
Library Entrance   Situation Room   Swearing in Suit   The "Gipper"   AF1 Underneath
                 
       
Outside AF1   Bronze Statue   AF1 Wheels   Belt Collection   AF1

The Skirball Cultural Center sits on 15 acres just off of the 405 freeway (you can see it from the freeway) - take the Mulholland Drive Exit. There are several entrances so don't panic if you aren't in the correct lane to enter their main entrance. Parking is in a garage and is free. This museum explores Jewish Culture and in part how it integrates into American life and contains many items of historical interest. The museum is closed on Mondays - every Thursday is free admission. Permanent and rotating exhibits are on display. There are also often rotating presentations, film screenings, workshops, and lectures. One exhibit is very sad. Reflective bullet proof glass contains some of Hitler's personal signatures regarding his directives against the Jewish people during WWII and reflected in this glass are the large photos of those killed in the Holocaust from a nearby exhibit.

An interesting exhibit contains photos of people - use the headphones and touch each person's photo to "hear their story". This contains people's stories from all walks of life. The Noah's Ark exhibit is quite popular with families with children.

When we visited there was a display about Bob Dylan, his musical influences, photography and more. Several of the exhibits are interactive, letting you play the drums or electric guitar along with a number of Dylan's songs. The stage with the electric guitars was a bit intimidating for a non musician so we busted our totally non musical side open by hitting the drums while wearing earphones. No harm, no foul there. No singing. Safe.

Visit: www.skirball.com for more information and view our thumbnail photos below.
 
       

William S. Hart Park & Museum is located just north of Los Angeles at 24151 San Fernando Road in Newhall. William Hart was the first cowboy movie start and made movies in the early part of the 1900's. This museum is his former house and contains lots of relicts from his acting days. Hiking trails and bison wander part of the property. Tours are free and are guided by docents. Open 7-days a week. Visit: www.hartmuseum.org

  Previous Page Next Page
 
  

  Home  

|

  Dave's Articles  

|

  Photography  

|

  Message Boards  

|

  Journals  

|

  Resources  

|

  Classifieds  

|

  About Us  

 Last Updated:  12/22/08 00:09:17

Los Angeles Museums, Ronald Reagan Museum, Skirball Center, LA Museum, La Brea Tar Pits
Copyright © 1996-2009, Los Angeles Travel, Dave's Travel Corner. All rights reserved. E-mail Dave!