La Brea Tar Pits and Museum

Animal remains were found in Rancho La Brea pits that bubbled with asphalt from a petroleum lake beneath what is now Hancock Park in 1875 by a group of amateur paleontologists, that is one of the Best Things To Do With Kids In L.A. The experts are still at work here, some 130 years later, having extricated more than 3.5 million fossils from the muck. Many of these species are currently on show in this charmingly antiquated museum, which has probably not changed much since it first opened in 1977.

Reserve a space on the Excavator Tour, which stops at the Fossil Lab, the Lake Pit, the recently reopened Observation Pit, and Project 23, where you can observe archaeologists at work. The Excavator Tour is free with museum entry. Visit the interactive exhibit Ice Age Encounter indoors, as well as the straightforward, educational displays of objects discovered in the pits. The majority are bones, including those of jackrabbits, gophers, a 160-pound bison, skunks, and a 15,000-pound Columbian mammoth. There is also early cave art and human accouterments like bowls and hairpins.

Google Rating: 4.6/5.0

Location: 5801 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles 90036
Contact: tarpits.org

Phone: 323-934-7243
Price: $15 adults; $12 seniors/students with ID & children 13-17; $7 children 3-12; children under 2, active military with ID, CA teachers with ID, and members free.
Opening hours: 9:30 am–5 pm daily