DAY TRIP La Brea Tar Pits

More than 3 million fossils reside at the Page Museum, also known as the La Brea Tar Pits. Fossils of saber-toothed tigers, ground sloths and mammoths have been excavated from the asphalt, which has oozed out of the ground for around 40,000 years. Millions of years ago, the area now known as Rancho La Brea was under the Pacific Ocean. When the water receded around 100,000 years ago, the Rancho La Brea area became land. New layers of earth settled on older layers rich in oil. The surfacing of oil through cracks in the earth’s surface has created the tar pits, which have worked to preserve fossils that provide a window to history. Visitors to the La Brea Tar Pits, one of the most famous fossil sites in the world, can explore artifacts from the last Ice Age.

Getting there

Take the 55 Freeway north for about six miles until you reach the I-5. Merge onto the I-5 north and continue for around 30 miles. Take the 134A exit to the I-10 west toward Santa Monica. Continue on the I-10 west toward Santa Monica for eight miles. Exit La Brea Avenue and keep right at the fork. Follow the signs to La Brea Avenue north. Turn right at La Brea Avenue south. Continue on La Brea Avenue south for two miles. Turn left at Wilshire Boulevard until you reach the Page Museum. If you choose street parking, make sure you follow all signs because there are heavy fines for parking violations.

Hours

The Page Museum is open from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. On Saturdays and Sundays, it is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Admission

Adults visiting the Page Museum are required to pay a $7 admission fee. Students, youths 13 to 17 and seniors 62 or older can enter for a discounted price of $4.50. Children between the ages of 5 and 12 are admitted for a $2 fee. Members and children younger than 5 can enter for free. Admission is free on the first Tuesday of every month.

Museum Parking

An $8 parking fee applies to all vehicles without Page Museum validation. If you bring your parking ticket to the museum, employees will validate it for you and the parking lot fee will cost only $6. The validation is for Page Museum parking only.

Self-Guided Visits and Guided Tours

The museum offers a self-guided visiting program which allows groups to tour the museum at their own pace. Groups of 10 or more qualifying individuals are admitted for a discounted fee, but must notify the museum 72 hours in advance of their visit. Qualifying individuals include people who would not ordinarily be admitted for free. Guided tours are offered for groups of 10 to 25 people. Guests have the option of choosing a park tour, museum tour or both. Each tour lasts about one hour. For more information about guided tours, contact the Group Sales Office at (323) 857-6300, Ext. 107 or [email protected].

Exhibits

The Page Museum features more than 30 exhibits. Visitors will see animal skeletons, a glass-walled working laboratory, photo murals on history, films, robotic sculptures, and paintings that illustrate past environments. It is common to see lab workers cleaning and repairing bones through the windows of the laboratory. The pits are also of great interest to guests at the museum.

Formed by petroleum deposits, the pits are pools of asphalt that are located throughout the park. Many fossils have been found in the pits because animals have sunk and gotten trapped in the sticky asphalt when trying to pass through what is now the Los Angeles Basin area.

Exhibits give insight into the paleontologist world and are educational to kids and adults.

— Jacquelyn Rumfola