Out and About: Natural History Museum of Los Angeles

At the end of January, LA had a free museum day, in which many of the city's museums participated. Since we'd never been, and it was high on my personal list, my husband and I decided to take advantage of the free day to visit the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. Some friends went with us.

Located at 900 Exposition Boulevard in Los Angeles, NHM typically costs $12 per adult. There is parking on-site for $10-$12, depending on which lot you use. However, we (along with one of our friends) drove to the nearest train stop in Culver City (the train line is being extended to Santa Monica and should be finished in a few months), where there is free parking, and took the train straight there for only a few dollars & approximately zero stress.

We arrived about fifteen minutes before the museum opened, so I took some time to explore the grounds outside the back entrance.

There are further, more extensive grounds, that I didn't end up exploring. I also neglected to take a picture of the front of the building, which is unfortunate, because it's quite lovely. In fact, it's one of my favorite buildings in LA. I intend to go back and take a picture some day.

Once we got inside, we made a trip to the NHM Grill for some food and coffee (prices were reasonable) and then visited the Nature Lab (I took no pics there). Afterward, we made our way to the Dinosaur Hall, where I took some pictures of some bones.

Out in the Rotunda, I snapped a pic of this beautiful statue and the ceiling:

Then we moved on to the Age of Mammals, where there were more bones:

These are bear skulls.

On our way to the African Mammal Hall, we had to walk through a section called Becoming Los Angeles. Initially, I had no interest in this section, and yet it quickly turned into one of my favorites. Funny how things work out like that sometimes, isn't it? Becoming Los Angeles is, essentially, about how the city went from just a few thousand people in the late 1800s to a booming metropolis by the 1940s. It was so cool! Everyone else wanted to move on, though, so I didn't get to spend much time in there.

A model of old LA.

Scarlett O'Hara's dress from "Gone with
the Wind."

We visited the African Mammal Hall, where I took no pics because it was very crowded, before heading into the Gem and Mineral Hall. I've always loved gem rooms, but the one at NHM left me in awe. It's enormous! There was so much to see. I didn't even make it all the way through. Here are a few of my favorite shots:

All total, we spent about 4 hours there. There was still much we didn't get to see, but it was time for us to go. We had an excellent time, though, so much so that we've been considering a membership. On your next trip to LA, I highly recommend that you visit!