La Brea Tar Pits and Museum

The La Brea Tar Pits and Museum is one of the most legitimately remarkable attractions in Los Angeles — not because it's perfectly curated or has the best gift shop, but because the thing you're looking at is genuinely real. Those bubbling, smelly tar pits in the middle of Wilshire Boulevard have been trapping animals for 40,000 years. The fossils in the museum came from the ground right there.

And scientists are still actively digging, processing, and cataloging bones from the site. That level of authentic discovery is rare.

For kids, the experience begins the moment you pull into the parking area. The life-size mammoth sculptures at the main Lake Pit — one sinking into the tar while others stand on the shore — set the stage immediately. School-age kids who've learned about the Ice Age in class have a near-physical reaction when they realize this is where those animals actually lived and died.

Inside the museum, the Fishbowl Fossil Lab is the element that sets La Brea apart from other natural history museums. You can watch paleontologists and researchers working through glass walls, cleaning and cataloging actual fossils. This is live science — not a recreation or demonstration — and kids intuit that something real and important is happening.

Logistics are manageable. Strollers work fine on the outdoor paths and most indoor areas. Kids under 3 are free. LA County residents get discounts with ID, and there's a free first Tuesday program for county residents. The outdoor tar pit paths are free to walk without museum admission — good for a shorter visit or if you just want the park experience.

Combining La Brea with LACMA next door makes for a full Miracle Mile day, with the shared parking structure at Sixth and Ogden being the practical choice.