Don’t leave L.A.—whether you’re a resident or a tourist—without visiting these truly essential museums
Edited by Michael JulianoContributor Rhys Thomas
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Skim through the must-visitattractions in Los Angelesand you’ll notice a trend: It’s a lot of outdoorsy fun. So committing to a day inside of a museum might pose a tough undertaking. In fact, choosinganything over a 75-and-sunny day at the beachis a hard ask—especially if you’re visiting fromsomewhere with a colder climate.
But here’s the thing: No matter how good the weather, visiting L.A.’s museums is a must. In fact, not only are they among the city’sbest things to do, but we think Los Angeles museums rival those in Chicago, Washington D.C. and New York.And, lucky you,a handful of them havestunning outdoor campuses with hilltop views, sculpture gardens and sunny courtyards.
To get you started (or to continue your education) we’ve narrowed down L.A.’s long roster of museums to the essentials. Locals, consider this your must-see list (and if you’ve already visited them all, check out these greatoff-the-beaten-path museums). No short-on-cash excuses either: Many of these are free museums and all of them offer free admission on select days.And sure,these spots might be spread out but that’s nothing a Metro trip or ridesharing service can’t solve.
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21 essential museums to visit in L.A.
- Museums
- Art and design
- Westside
Free reservationsrequired.
What’s now called the Getty Villa(a coastal mansion filled with antiquities that’s absolutely worth a visit, too) served as the decades-long home for the J. Paul Getty Trust’s extensive art collection. But in 1997, the Getty Center opened. The end result is a remarkable complex of travertine and white metal-clad pavilions that houses ornate French furniture, recognizable Impressionist pieces and rotating exhibitions. Its relative inaccessibility is more than compensated for by free admission and panoramic views, from the hills and the ocean in the west all the way around to Downtown in the east.
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- Museums
- Art and design
- Miracle Mile
price 1 of 4
Timed tickets recommended. Free for L.A. County residents weekdays after 3pm. No tickets are required to see outdoor sculpturesUrban Light and Levitated Mass.
Chris Burden’s Urban Light, a piece made up of 202 cast-iron street lamps gathered from around L.A. and restored to working order, has quickly become one of the city’s indelible landmarks. But you’d be selling yourself short if you don’t venture beyond the photo-friendly installation; LACMA’s collections boast modernist masterpieces, large-scale contemporary works (including Richard Serra’s massive swirling sculptureand Burden’s buzzing, hypnotic Metropolis II), traditional Japanese screens and by far L.A.’s most consistently terrific special exhibitions.
Just a heads up, though: The eastern half of LACMA’scampus is mostly closed as itwraps up a massive redesign dubbed the David Geffen Galleries, due to be completedby late 2024. But you’ll still find about a half-dozen special exhibitions and a bright presentation of the modern collection located in the existing Resnick Pavilion and BCAM.
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- Things to do
- Event spaces
- San Marino
price 2 of 4
Timed reservations required on weekends, recommended on weekdays.
The bequest of entrepreneur Henry E. Huntington is now one of the most enjoyable attractions in the Los Angeles region. It’s also a destination thatdemands an entire day shouldyouattempt to explore it in full: Between the art, the library holdings and the spreadeagled outdoor spaces, there’s plenty to see, and most of it is best enjoyed at lingering leisure (including a break for afternoon tea) rather than as part of a mad day-long dash. From a Gutenberg Bible to The Blue Boy toan exquisitelydesigned Chinesegarden, nearly every inch of the estate’s grounds and collection is essential.
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- Museums
- Movies and TV
- Miracle Mile
price 2 of 4
Timed tickets required.
The history of moviemaking finally has a permanent home in L.A., and it’s filled with the sortsof cinematic treasures you’d expect from the people who put on the Oscars (and yes, you can hold one): C-3PO, the desk from The Godfatherand the sole surviving shark from Jaws, among many others. But its slick, soap-bubble–like theater and three floors of exhibition space alsotell an unflinching, nonlinearhistory of cinema that makes room for a mixture of stories. Find out more in our complete guide to the Academy Museum.
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- Museums
- Art and design
- Downtown
Free timed tickets required, including forYayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Room—The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away.
Three words: Infinity Mirror Rooms. Downtown’s persistently popular contemporary art museum has two of Yayoi Kusama’s immersive, mirror-laden rooms (one that you can step into, one that you only pop your head into). Elsewhere in the free museum, Eli and Edythe Broad’s collection of 2,000 post-war works includes artists like Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Ed Ruscha, Cindy Sherman,Jean-Michel Basquiat, Barbara Kruger and Jeff Koons. Outside, the museum’s plaza features a lovely olive tree grove that sits in from of Otium, the museum’s signature restaurant from French Laundry alum Timothy Hollingsworth. Find out more in our complete guide to the Broad.
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- Museums
- Art and design
- Westwood
Industrialist Armand Hammer founded this museum in 1990, primarily to house his own collection, and it opened just three weeks before he died. Now—with its decades-in-the-making master plan fully realized—the free, UCLA partner institution stages fascinating shows ofcontemporary art, photography and design, often with an epmhasis on local artists (most notably with its “Made in L.A.” biennial). The shows are supplemented by a smallpermanent collection and the Hammer’s public events calendar (arguably one of the best in the city), chock full of free lectures and screenings.
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- Museums
- Natural history
- USC/Exposition Park
price 1 of 4
Advancetickets recommended; free for county residents from 3–5pm.
The NHM’s original Beaux Arts structure was the first museum building in L.A., opening in 1913 with Exposition Park itself. The more recent Otis Booth Pavilion welcomes visitors into the museum with a six-story glass entrance featuring a stunning, 63-foot-long fin whale skeleton. Highlights include the gem and mineral hall, spectacularly presented dinosaur and mammal fossils, the 3.5-acre urban nature gardens and “Becoming L.A.,” which examines the Los Angeles region’s history from itsindigenous inhabitants to the present day.
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- Museums
- Art and design
- Downtown
Free timed tickets required.
Themain branch of L.A.’s Museum of Contemporary Art housesthousands of artworks crafted from 1940 to today, and it’s an efficient primer onpost-war art. Spend half an hour or an entire afternoon absorbing contemporary pieces from lesser known artists, punctuated by sightings of Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock works. Some of the museum’s most exciting exhibitions take place at the nearbyGeffen Contemporary;both locations notablyswitched to free admission in2020 (aside from some special exhibitions), which makes a visit that much easier.
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- Museums
- History
- Pacific Palisades
Free timed tickets required.
In 1974, oil magnate J. Paul Getty opened a museum of his holdings in a faux villa. Eventually the decorative arts and paintings were moved to the Getty Center, but the villa remains as the home of Getty’s collection of Mediterranean antiquities. Today, there are roughly 1,200 artifacts on display at any one time, dated between 6,500 BC and 500 AD. Even if you’re not interested in the art, the palatial courtyards and manicured gardens are worth the visit.
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- Museums
- Art and design
- Pasadena
price 1 of 4
Advance tickets recommended.
The Norton Simon’s Frank Gehry-helmed makeover in the late 1990s raised the museum’s profile, but it also helped to expand the range of the museum’s collection, giving it more space and creating a calm, simple environment. The museum is still best known for its impressive collection of Old Masters, notably pieces by 17th-century Dutch painters such as Rembrandt, Brueghel and Frans Hals. The French impressionists are represented by, among others, Monet, Manet and Renoir. After you’ve checked out the temporary shows, head into the excellent sculpture garden.
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- Museums
- Science and technology
- Griffith Park
price 1 of 4
The vista from this hilltop landmark is stunning, particularly at night when Los Angeles twinkles below. Inside you’ll find a bevy of exhibits, including a Foucault pendulum (directly under Hugo Ballin’s famed mural on the central rotunda), Tesla coil and planetarium show. Give yourself plenty of time before the 10pm closing to gaze through the 12-inch refracting telescope on the roof, otherwise you can look through the far less crowded modern, reflecting telescope on the front lawn. Just a heads up: The museum is closed on Mondays, though you’re still welcome to explore the grounds around it.
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- Things to do
- Walks and tours
- Los Feliz
Advance tickets required.
This 1921, Mayan-inflected Frank Lloyd Wright house was originally built as a “progressive theatrical community” space by activist and oil heiress Aline Barnsdall—today it’s the centerpiece of Barnsdall Park and is open for interior and exterior tours onselect days(Thu–Sat, 11am–4pm). Though the home’sprivileged hilltop perch is admirable from the outside, it’s best experienced from within: The exquisite wood detailing, long concrete hallways and geometric furniture are well worth the $7 tour.
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- Museums
- History
- USC/Exposition Park
One of three institutions clustered near each other in Exposition Park, this handsome museum documents the historical achievements of African Americans. Though its collection includes some pieces from the African diaspora, its primary focus—particularly its temporary exhibitions—is on Black artists from California and the American West.
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- Museums
- History
- Griffith Park
price 1 of 4
Based on the name, you might expect this Griffith Park museum to be a kitschy exploration of the life and works of famous singing cowboy Gene Autry. Instead, it’s actually a very engaging exploration of all of the peoples of the West (with a sizable collection of Native American art), outlining its history and detailing the myths that came to surround it (though, yes, there’s often some sort of Autry memorabilia on display in the foyer).
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- Museums
- Natural history
- Miracle Mile
price 1 of 4
The outdoor pits are free to visit.Advance tickets for theindoor museum recommended.
Back in 1875, a group of amateur paleontologists discovered animal remains in the pits at Rancho La Brea, which bubbled with asphalt from a petroleum lake under what is now Hanco*ck Park. Some 140-plus years later, the pros are still at work here, having dragged millions of fossils from the mire in the intervening years. Many of these specimens are now on display in this delightfully old-fashioned museum. Outside, the pits still bubble with black goo—you can watch paleontologists at work in the excavation of Pit 91 and toil away at the fossils waiting to be found as part of Project 23.
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- Museums
- Science and technology
- USC/Exposition Park
Permanent exhibit galleries at this kid-friendly Exposition Park museum explore life sciences, human innovation and powered flight (all with a decidedly ‘90s design flair). However, its main attraction, Space Shuttle Endeavour, is temporarily off display for the next few years as it’s moved into an upright position inside of the museum’s under-construction expansion. With that in mind, you may want to instead plan a visit around theticketed exhibitions calendar, which typically feature a mix of finds from the ancient world and colorful, kid-focused displays.
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- Museums
- Transportation
- Miracle Mile
price 2 of 4
Miracle Mile was the first commercial development in L.A. designed expressly for the benefit of drivers, and so a former department store makes an apt home for this museum of car culture. A 2015 redesign has since turned the automotive history museum into a high-tech gallery with about 150 cars on display. There’s a glimpse into the rise of car culture in Southern California, but that mostly takes a backseat to a focus on the progress, dominance and dazzling good looks of the automobile. You’ll find a mix of famous Hollywood cars, sumptuously swooping vintage vehicles and high-performance supercars.
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- Museums
- Art and design
- Long Beach
price 1 of 4
Timed tickets recommended. Free Sundays.
Located on land that once housed a productive silent film studio, everything about this museum is a forward-thinking enterprise, from its modern and contemporary-driven collection to its building. The core of the permanent collection is in the Long Gallery, with work by one artist from every Latin American country. Swing by on Sundays for free admission.
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- Things to do
- Cultural centers
- Westside
price 1 of 4
Advance tickets recommended.
This hillside campus off the 405aims to look at connections between 4,000 years of Jewish heritage and communitieswithin L.A. The permanent displays of Judaica are both beautiful and enriching, while the temporary exhibitions often veer more into pop culture territory (think: Star Trek, the Muppets). Little ones will love Noah’s Ark, a wonderful kid-oriented, playground-like exhibit that explores cultural differences through a retelling of the old animals-two-by-two tale.
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- Things to do
- Little Tokyo
price 1 of 4
Advance tickets recommended.
This museum tells the story of Japanese immigration to the U.S., from early restrictions on property ownership to the brutal internment camps during World War II. Aside from the permanent exhibition, the museum stages an engaging roster of documentary and art exhibitions, including a wrenching yet beautiful display of images and artifacts from the aforementioned internment camps. Exhibitions have ranged from an awe-inspiring showcase of Japanese tattoo traditions to a Hello Kitty retrospective.
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- Art
- Galleries
- Downtown Arts District
Though technically a gallery, Hauser & Wirth basically feels like a museum. Much of that is owed to the international gallerist’s massive footprint, a 116,000-square-foot former flour mill. The restored complex houses up to three exhibitions at a time, with a mix of post-war contemporary icons and of-the-moment working artists. If you’re hungry, dine on the edge of the courtyard at Manuela (and if you’re on the opposite side of town, check out the newer but smaller West Hollywood gallery).
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