STAR Eco Station

Wow wow wow! Eco Station was an amazing experience.
I went on a Saturday at noon and it was not crowded at all. The group was maybe 10 people total. Parking was easy because they had a few designated spots in the parking lot that their entrance faces. Their website does mention the limited parking spots so I was prepared to find street parking. Please keep that in mind and bring change. I would hate for an amazing experience like this to be disappointing because of something like parking.
The public tours are 45 – 60 minutes long but ours ran a little over. I’m not complaining! We had Louis as our tour guide and I’m really glad we did. He did a great job talking about each and every animal and engaging the whole audience which ranged from toddlers to grandparents.
The animals there were true beauty. It was obvious that some of these animals were abused or neglected but Eco Station does a great job enhancing their beauty. I would highly recommend visiting this (very affordable) gem!

Did not enjoy this place with my 3 year old; kind of dirty and dingy space, and just kind of run down. The whole thing feels creepy.

I absolutely love the Star Eco Station! My daughter has been in the Star after school program for 3 years now and they bring in animals from the Star Eco Station to help the children learn about the beautiful animals. They have a beautiful Earth Day celebration every year and my daughter performs with the Star group so we come to the Eco Station. Last time we went (in April) we went on the guided tour which was amazing. There are lizards, birds, wild cats, fish, you name it.
I love that these are rescued animals. They take such good care of them. The tour guides are so knowledgeable and make the experience so much fun. My daughter had a great time exploring. She even got to pet a wolf!
Highly recommended for children of all ages.

Ok, it looks like I’m the bad guy here to post a negative review — but I have to.
The parking is awful. There is no parking– we had to park down the street at a meter that only takes change, no credit cards. Then the Eco center reminded me of an elementary school boys room. It had snakes, lizards, turtles, fish, iguanas, and birds. The animals all come from abused houses– where they were not taken care of properly– so needless to say– they were disgusting. They were sick animals, or disfigured ones. The birds were so gross to see– all their feathers plucked, looked like a rotisserie chicken and the other animals equally gross, etc… I will never come here again because my kids were disappointed it was not a zoo, and the animals were so gross. The staff (a guy that had been there for 2 months) was a dick. OBVIOUSLY he has no kids and is not used to kids– because NO kid is going to sit still and listen to his little speech quietly. He was trying to be in control and it was annoying– the kids are here to have a good time and see animals, not sit still quietly and listen to him tell his lame jokes. That guy needs to be fired. He was not knowledgable at all and couldn’t answer any questions the adults were asking (I went on a school field trip — Beverly Vista) The girls that worked there were nice– they seemed to enjoy the kids company and were patient and kind. The only one I had a problem with was the guy who obviously should find another job that does not involve small children or people. Would not recommend to my friends or anyone, except people I don’t like.

Such a cool educational experience. We went here for a Bday party and the kids loved it! Our guide and the other staff members were as sweet as can be. You can tell that they really care for the wildlife (which a lot of them have been rescues). Loved

I took my son here last week to get away from the extreme heat and we LOVED it! The animals are great, the facility is clean and the tour guides are friendly and informative and wonderful with the kids.
My son is 6 years old but younger and older would all enjoy!

My 100 review challenge for 2015
Add 1 part of «this is awesome», 2 parts of tarantulas, and 3 parts of «I get to sleep while my kid is having a great time»!!
Please sign up, take your kids, they take good care of all the kids and the animals too :)
My son hasn’t stopped talking about this yet and it was done a week ago!

Guided tour lasted about an hour. Staff was friendly and very knowledgeable about the animals here.
It’s a perfect place to visit on a hot day because it’s indoors.

Nice cute place to take the kids on a weekend. They give private tours that last 45minutes-​1 hour. They show mostly exotic animals that have been confiscated at the border for illegal smuggling. Its 8 dollars for adults and 6 dollars for children. They are a non-​profit, so the money is going for a good cause.

It was a nice little experience. The length of the tour was enough to keep pre-​schoolers, and elementary school age children, focused. We were in a group of 5 families total, a good amount of people to not feel overwhelmed in the small areas. (Not sure if there is a limit of people)
¹⁄₃ of the animals were not seen due to the «animals’ own schedule», they had their smugshots above their station, though. Strict rules to follow during the visit were great, which helped to keep everyone, children and parents, alert.
Inside, the place is very warm, and a bit smelly, but they want to make the animals feel at home.
Kudos to the rescue center for their efforts towards the animals.

My 3 year old daughter and I attended a private tour here with her preschool today. We both had a wonderful time. She was able to pet a snake, a baby alligator, and a tortoise… how cool is that? Our tour guide was informative and friendly, and had many interesting anecdotes on how they acquire animals (humans suck). They seem to have done their best to create homey accommodations for their charges, and I really support the work that they do and the educational opportunity they provide. I do think that it’s probably best for kids over 2.5 or 3, depending on their attention span and how well they follow rules. The preschoolers we were with did just fine for the most part (some had trouble resisting the urge to wander off– so much to see:). We will definitely be back!

I love this place. They have a great message and really try to get everyone involved. Great camps, too.

I love Star Eco station. Not only it is very educational but they also have the great purpose of rescuing animals. they also regularly throw awesome events like Earth Day… Highly recommended, even if you don’t have kids, this place is for animal lovers!

While I definitely see this as a destination for kids, I paid a visit to STAR Eco Station courtesy of my bf thinking it would be a fun day-​date idea. I would definitely recommend this to any other guy that may have an animal-​loving lady. I had a blast and loved seeing all the animals.
I had no idea this place even existed and learning that they rescued animals and helped rehabilitate them was so amazing.
Most of the mammals did not make an appearance during our visit, but we did get to see a lot of fish, reptiles, exotic birds, and an adorable hedgehog named Broccoli.
A great Culver City find!

I took my son to the creepy crawlers event. He had a BLAST! As the adult I would have liked to see a little more thought put into executing the games. It didn’t really seem worth the $ 1 – 2 to play. And there wasn’t a great variety. But that’s just my $ 0.02.
The little guy had a blast! I did enjoy the Eco station tour it was informative.
All and all it was a fun way to spend a few hours on a Saturday. I am a STAR supporter so I happily count the money as a donation to a GREAT program! Keep it up you guys!

This is a great place to take your kids. They take you on a tour through the place and explain in detail about all the animals and your’e able to pet them too. You can tell that the people who work there really love what they do.
The place is small but worth it. They have tours are every hour on the hour. The price is right too: Adults– $ 8 Children– $ 6

I have been here with my children to explore ourselves as well as birthday parties. The staff is always great and full of cool information. I have also been here for the Halloween event they have every year where you can eat bugs and play games. I feel awful for the poor animals and there predicament but it could be a lot worse.

Why wear a dead Chinchilla around your neck when you can see a rescued LIVE warm & fuzzy one being all cute?
Eco Station is an effective operation that bring awareness and educates people of all ages about endangered species in our planet. It also sheds light on how some of the rescued animals ended up there. Many because some dimwits thought a python or alligator would stay a manageable size. Or that a parrot that was smuggled in to this country would be low maintenance. smh.
Anyhow I highly recommend Eco Station. Do stop by with your family and check out this one of a kind place. Heck your charitable donation is tax deductible and you’ll leave with a greater sense of awareness. You’ll be aware that alligators, crocs and pythons ARE NOT sensible pets for most suburban humans.

My son and I had the BEST time at the Eco Station this morning! My son has been here several times before on field trips and has had the opportunity to meet and learn about several animals from here during weekly Eco classes to his STAR after school program but I had not yet been to the actual station for a tour.
Not all families seek out reptiles and venomous spiders on Sunday mornings but I wanted to hold a tarantula and a snake and figured this would be a great place to do both. I called earlier in the week to ask a few questions — the person on the phone wasn’t super friendly but I didn’t let him sway my decision to come down.
Adult tours are $ 8 and children tours are $ 6. They have tours on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Check out their website for more info.

Our tour guide, James was the absolute best. I had told another employee in the gift shop that our sole purpose for this visit was to hold a tarantula and a snake and James made it happen :) He is the best tour guide and we really learned a lot about the animals there today.
This is a wonderful place to bring the kids for a fun and informative trip. We met many fresh water fish and turtles, salt water fish, birds, reptiles, creepy crawlers and even the cutest bob cat.
We had SO much fun and thank James so much for such a wonderful experience.
We will surely return again soon.

I loved this place… where could you be so close up to huge cats! Nowhere! :)
You would never notice this place by just driving by. it just looks like a regular building on Jefferson Blvd.
The tour is fairly short… but the tour group is typically pretty small… so you get to spend a lot of time with the animals. The girl who was our tour guide was also pretty knowledgeable about the animals… so yay! :)
Oh and check out «Sam» or «Samantha» the Toucan. :)