Natural History Museum

For $ 12 I’d say a visit to this museum is worth it. I prefer a hands on experience, and I’d say the nature lab was my favorite exhibit. If you’re looking for live animals which I was expecting more of, the zoo would be a better option. But there’s a lot of information about animals mostly dinosaurs.

Nice place to go and learn about some history. felt like the museum was very small for some reason. building look very simple. maybe some more decorations around the entrance of building would be fine. There was a room, I think it was the bird room in the second floor. A/​C must have been down for something but it was extremely hot ! I skimmed through that room lol but it was worth the trip (:

I’ve been there in February and it really amazes me.
Reaaly interesting exhibitions. Especiaaly abou history of LA itself.
Dinosaurs are so huge! Facinating! And I really enjoyed Mummy display. But I think it is not there anymore.
Anyway, its worth to go.

NHM stands for Natural History Museum. I’ve been here before but only realized today that this place is humagious! There were so many things to see, it felt endless. Make sure to wear comfortable shoes, bring a camera, and prepare to walk.
:Experience:
During our visit they had the 30^th Annual Bug Fair going on. They had a huge display of different bugs and some vendors were even selling them. There were so many exhibits! My favorites are the Dinosaur Hall which has real fossils and complete dinosaurs. Second is the North American Mammal Halls. Then it’s the Gems and Minerals. There were many beautiful, rare, and sparkly gems/​minerals. The birds exhibit was cool too. I had no idea there were so many birds in the world.
:Food:
We ate at the NHM Grill. The food was surprisely not dissapointting. We ordered, Bacon Cheddar Angus Burger, California Shredded Beef Sandwich, and Chilli Cheese Fries. Our meals came with fries. The food was good but the Chili Cheese Fries needed more chili.
:Customer Service:
Friendly and knowledgeable.
:Highlight:
We purchased a caterpillar which will turn into a cacoon and we get to see it transition to a butterfly.
:“MeH” Moment”:
~Due to the Bug Fair Event it was so crowded! It was hard to walk around.
~The line to purchase the tickets was long so that’s why I suggest to buy the tickets online.
:Tips:
~Avoid the long line by purchasing tickets online.
~Wear comfortable shoes and bring cash.
:M’s Notes:
~Street and Lot Parking ($ 12)

It’s been a few years since we last had a membership here but decided to add this small list of local museums to our selection this year after going to the Page Museum.
First thing, parking is now $ 12!!! Sends a bit excessive, especially when other places have more accessible street or free parking. After a few laps around the area, I did find 4 hour street metered parking, which was free for me being disabled and was only a block away. But it just seems like disabled should have free closer parking available.
Regardless, We walked through the small park with our granddaughter to pass the time. Saw the dinosaurs out front, which is my granddaughters latest obsession! The cashier was friendly and got us our passes in a timely manner.
The new entry way on the Exposition side is welcoming and beautiful. As this was the first time for our little one, I wanted to get to most the rooms and floors fairly quickly to give her a sense of what was there, then plan to focus on the rooms that excited her the most in future visits.
As I said, she loves dinosaurs right now, so we focused a lot on those rooms. She also enjoyed the birds and the basement with the bugs. There were multiple school groups which made it unbearably loud in most of the halls. Spent most out our time avoiding the crowds as I couldn’t hear well at all with the loud echoes blasting through the exhibits. I understand kids will be kids, but I seen to remember inside voices being spoken as a child and wish the staff and school staff took a little more mind to that. :/​
The outdoor gardens have been completed and are beautiful. We enjoyed walking about and spying butterflies and birds throughout the area.
The butterfly exhibit had not started yet, but we look forward to its arrival in a few months.
All in all, we had a very good time and even got to catch a close-​up glimpse of the a Space Shuttle Endeavour external tank that was delivered this weekend through the streets of L.A. in route for the California Science Center, while strolling through the ROSE GARDENS.
Good things are coming to L.A. and we’re so excited.

This review is for the 2016 Bug Fair. We’ve been to many activities, exhibits and events at the museum. This one was terribly disappointing. We browsed through approximately 50 vendors, many selling exactly the same wares (butterflies in shadow boxes, scorpion candy, and witty postcards). One vendor permitted pictures with a tarantula. Other than that short lived excitement, the event was a bust for us. There was very little, if anything, the exhibit offered that the museum does not.
I recommend arriving early. After 10am, the crowd near the bug fair was too thick to walk through. Parking was a disaster when we left at 11am. The streets around the museum were lined at least 30 deep with vehicles. Overall, the museum is great and the bug fair entry includes access to most of the museum. However, I recommend visiting the museum on a day that does not align with a special event or promotion.

I have been here a few times lately for a few reasons. One thing to remember is the great garden on the outside. Of course the dinosaurs rock but there is a kids area to draw and see some live animals as well. Well worth the visit and to bring the kids for some education.

We love this museum. Some amazing exhibits, including the hall of mammals, the dinosaur hall, the butterfly pavilion, bug fair, spider pavilion. The gardens are beautiful too — so much for kids to see and do.

The «Nat» needs a makeover! This museum is solid for first time visitors, but it has barely changed since the 1980s. With all the technology developments in the past 30+ years, you’d think the museum would have incorporated touchscreens, items you can maneuver, and CGI videos showing how various species of dinosaurs and other mammals used to (or still) live, forage, and fight. Think: the interactive buildings in Jurassic World, without the faux-​dinosaurs. I think kids are the primary focus of this type of museum, but this museum is not designed for kids at all.
When you cross the bridge to enter the museum, I think you should walk into the mouth of a giant dinosaur. That would be very cool!
The bottom floor (of three) is a giant area with really cool looking gems/​jewels that was designed 30 – 50 years ago (or more) and hasn’t changed since. In fact, they still have a video playing for the CHiPs era, either late 70s or early 80s. This area needs big changes, probably more than I can think of right now, but first alter the dull lighting.
The one spectacular thing about the Museum is that it’s Metro accessible (not the Museum’s design). The Expo line drops off a block away from the Museum!
Oh, and first the Museum is free on the first Tuesday of the month.

This is a great museum if you’re into dinosaurs.
They have a 3 levels w/​various rooms dedicated to various themes. The largest attraction has to be the dinosaur exhibits. They have an actual T-​Rex bone behind a case! Really cool. They also have a dinosaur lab where staff are doing actual testing and such where you can watch. There’s a bird hall, North American and African mammals, insects and taxidermy along w/​a nature lab on level G.
They sell a ticket combo for the Tar Pits on top of the GA for the museum entry. Be aware that the Tar Pits are not located on the premise. It’s actually next to LACMA in downtown LA.

The Natural History Museum is FREE on the First Tuesday of every month. Of course, this was the deciding factor for me. LOL. Parking, however is $ 12 for the whole day. So instead of me spending $ 12 for admission, I spent it on parking which is OK by me.
I haven’t been to the NHM for the longest time and it looks like they expanded. You can tell because the old building looks old and the new building is so modern. I would so LOVE to see Night at the Museum film here!
I was really amazed on the North American and African Mammals exhibits. They’re are all life like and the diorama are just amazing! If I didn’t know I was in a museum, I would think I was taken to a far away land and at the actual place where I would find these animals.
Everything on the second floor kind of creeped me out. There was a whole room with birds and I’m really terrified of them. I might have a phobia that started in Australia. My family and I were eating at Sydney Harbor and there was a lot of seagulls. My cousin was eating something and this seagull swooped down to take it off his fork. He wasn’t looking at the time and when he was about to take a bite, it was gone! It was funny because I saw the whole thing! But THEN… I think my mom tried to feed them and it felt like there were hundreds of them. They were all trying to get the food and that kind of freaked me out! Imagine just having these birds swoop down with their large beaks!!!
Anyways, back to NHM. The other parts such as the Nature Gardens, Dinosaur Halls, and the Age of Mammals are really amazing too. These are the newest of the exhibits and looking these things are quite a sight. I mean these animals actually were alive thousands … no … millions of years ago!?!

The Natural History Museum is amazing! We love it! Of course for my young son the draw is dinosaurs, but then there is so much to learn about animals and plants, and especially those that are local and native! Hours of time can be easily spent, another place that is excellent on a rare rainy day. The cafeteria isn’t bad and the gardens are fantastic to let the kids run and play!
Membership is also very reasonable so you don’t feel compelled to take it all in at once. Membership also gets you in at the La Brea Tar Pits and Page Museum, which is also excellent. Come and spend some quality learning time!

This museum is so much fun! If you are a student, take you ID for a discount, if you are a USC student, it is FREEE! I love the dinosaur hall with all the bones and explanations of each dinosaur. All the exhibits have questions, facts and some have large tvs with interactive videos and touch screens! It’s a great place for a kid and adult! Also all the interactive science exhibits in the basement are so much fun! The butterfly stages, all the different type of insects and the rat tunnels! It’s a great museum!

The last time I was here was probably in elementary school — I think. :P In any case, a visit to this excellent museum was far overdue!
I visited the museum yesterday with my boyfriend, and we had SUCH a great time. There’s something about seeing dinosaur skeletons and taxidermies that brings out the kid in any full-​grown adult :) It’s a big museum, too — we walked around the first floor, left for lunch (you receive a hand stamp upon entry, so you can come back as long as it’s the same day), and came back for the second floor.
There are interactive exhibits for children (of which there were many), and also quieter, more reflective halls. The museum itself is very well-​maintained, with beautiful architecture and a conscientious staff. The larger grounds are connected to the California African American Museum, the California Science Center, and the LA Memorial Coliseum.
However, I’d strongly recommend dedicating the day to just one museum at a time. We took our time checking out the exhibits, and it was well worth it.

My favorite part is the gems section… Why? Because it had the least amount of kids in it.
As much as I enjoyed the dinosaurs and history section, it’s like the parents gave their kids a bunch of sugar then set them loose inside the museum and said ‘Go wild!’

Wow I was soo impressed with this museum! First of all, it’s massive, after two hours we thought had seen it all and kept stumbling upon new rooms!
Once you see everything INSIDE there’s still stuff OUTSIDE to see! They have gardens and a small waterfall, an edible garden, a fountain for kids to play in, and the butterfly pavilion out front.
This is a great place for people of all ages to learn and have fun and the museum takes such great care with their exhibits.
We went right when they opened on a Saturday morning so it was too crowded!

Came here specifically for the Mummies exhibit that ran for a couple months at this museum. Since my company offered free GA tickets, I timed it so that we could explore the museum while catching the special exhibit at the same time.
Parking is at the lot across the street from the museum as there really isn’t an actual museum parking structure for $ 10! We then walked up and right at the front, are several counters you can pay for your GA fee & the special exhibit fees as well. Depending on what time you come, you could’ve just missed the showing of the recent tour or be too early for the next one. We came in time and was able to make it to the tour that started in 5 minutes!
The exhibit was pretty interesting and I found all the artifacts and information pretty informative. I enjoyed reading more about the mummification process, and seeing active live mummies that they had on display at the downstairs basement of the museum. The entire guided tour/​self-​tour took a good 2 hours to complete since I wanted to walk and read through all the plaques.
Afterwards, explore the rest of the museum at your leisure walking through the various rooms. There is a dinosaur room which is pretty cool as well for those who like this era and I saw kids running around as they try to be interactive as well as informative. There is also a bug room which I also found interesting which talked local insects, rodents and animals that can be found in Cali to all over the world.
A nice way to spend a Sunday with family for sure!

Muy bonito a los ninos les encanta se divierten se entretienen y aprenden muchas cosas sobre los animales

~ First Friday Review ~ I’ve been wanting to check out First Fridays at the Natural History Museum for a few months, mostly for the novelty of being in a museum after hours, in an adult friendly social setting.
When we got to the museum, we learned that the main tickets had all been sold out and we would have to wait about 45 minutes when they would start selling the tickets of NHM members who did not show up (as they get free tickets for each First Friday). So that was annoying and it made me really concerned that we wouldn’t get in, so definitely buy online in advance. That said, if you’re a USC student or alumn with your student ID you get a substantial discount, you pay only $ 6 for an $ 18 ticket.
Once we were in, we noticed the towering fossils with the ambient lighting and the loud music that poured through the halls. There are several bars set up around the place and a few booths of sponsors giving free goodies. We ended up purchasing a $ 20 gift certificate for only $ 10 at the Amoeba Music stand, and got free t-​shirts. We also got drinks; beers cost $ 7, wine costs $ 8, and cocktails cost $ 11. Although the cocktail is small and is basically gone in 27 seconds, the drink was strong and added to the novelty of drinking in a museum.
After that, we wandered around the museum, enjoying the normal exhibits that they always have, but it felt a bit more like a social and leisurely event than one filled with learning, after all it’s hard to learn once you’ve had a cocktail. That being said, it feels a bit surreal to be surrounded by such history when you feel like you’re in an adult wonderland. There were a few couples that brought their babies, and I would definitely not recommend it. The live music can get booming, and most of the people at the event are drinking.
Parking is expensive, at $ 12. And there is no food inside of the museum but there were about four or five food trucks outside to quench your appetite between explorations. I would like to go back and do the tour or listen to the lecture next time. Because they were sold out of tickets initially, we didn’t make it to any of those, and I would definitely like to see what else First Fridays has to offer.

I love returning to this museum, and discovering something new.
I recently visited for the mummies exhibit on it’s last day.
Being able to read about ancient Egypt, and Peru are one thing.
Being in the presence of actual artifacts, and reading about their history is at the very least chilling.
I didn’t know about skull shaping practices prior to this exhibit, and yet there were three different skulls showcasing different regions and their style.
The Gilded Lady on display, and her forensic reconstruction was absolutely fascinating.
Visiting the museum in general is a treat.
The gems, asteroids, bones, fossils, and living animals are all worth seeing.
A favorite of mine is the sweet Opossum who sometimes is talked about during a discovery lab (I think her name is Avocado, although it may be something else from the produce aisle).
The edible garden is another thing to enjoy, just outside any of the back doors.

Came again last weekend for free museum Saturday. Get there early! At 930am when the museum opened, there was a long ass line. (see my video on YouTube). We had to wait about 15 – 20 min to get in. By lunch time when we left, the line was longer and inching closer to the California Science Center. It’s also best to get there early for parking and because there are 2 other museums nearby they basically share parking too.
We came to see the large animals and dinosaurs. We really did not walk around the outside. There’s a rose garden just behind it and an herb/​veggie garden on site. We also did not go to the gem displays. My fave room was the history of California and in particular, the Hollywood room. They do change out the display so Charlie Chaplin’s Little Tramp costume was no longer there and I was DEVASTATED. They had a Walt Disney hand written note and an old school animation table encased in a large glass display which was also neat. We also got to pet dead coyote, it was floppy but really soft. It was just the skin/​coat, it was not a stuffed taxidermy model, I guess it was the pelt. Is that the right word?
If you’re afraid of elevators, the one near the dinosaurs is SO SILENT and moves SOOO SLOWLY I thought were were stuck the entire ride down. I was about to freak out. So be warned.
They have a gift shop, but no eateries in the museum.

Beautiful museum. Great for all ages. Amazing dinosaur, bird, animal, LA history exhibits.
Tips–
Tip 1– Enjoy the native gardens and pond outside.
Tip 2– Visit on a Thursday, Saturday or Sunday to view one of the dinosaur shows. There is a t– rex and a triceratop show. If you have young children remind them that dinosaur is not real– many kids were frightened by its life life appearance.
Tip 3– Take public transportation. The metro stop is right in front of the museum
Tip 4-​Visit USC (across the street) and/​or the Science Center (next door) on the same day

The Natural History Museum (TNHM) is an ideal place to visit when you want gain insight into different areas of life and physical science. The exhibits and displays within these walls serve as a platform for curious individuals to further explore unanswered questions about the world that we live in as well as the evolution of various life forms.
There are different levels inside of TNMH. You’ll enter on Level 1 and come face to face with a large skeletal system of a dinosaur that is perfectly posed and reassembled. It is impressive and somewhat overpowering. However, you’ll truly understand just how massive these creatures once were.
Level 1 of the museum consists of a variety of halls that have a specific focus. These include a Gem and Mineral Hall, displays devoted to Prehistoric mammals as well as North American and African mammals, a historic look back at the city of Los Angeles, and the ever so popular Dinosaur Hall! While this may seem overwhelming, remember to take your time as you appreciate the painstaking details that went into creating these magnificent exhibits.
The Gem Hall houses minerals in various forms. Many are conglomerates with multiple minerals intertwined in one large specimen. TNMH also possesses rare and expensive diamonds that are carefully guarded by security. They are placed inside of a vault that you are able to walk through.
The other halls have replicas of various mammals in their respective environments. Information about each creature including their diet and a description of their habitat are prominently displayed in front of each exhibit. While all of your questions may not be answered, you can always seek out curators to help you gain a deeper understanding about specific animals.
There is an interesting exhibit on Level 1 that takes you back in time as you explore what helped Los Angeles become the unique city that it is today. Culture, land, entertainment, and the overall environment have changed over the years. It is fitting that TNHM created a platform to help people appreciate the ongoing changes that LA has gone through and still continues to do so this day.
The insanely popular Dinosaur Hall draws kids in like magnets because there’s so much to see. Children like to stretch their arms out and pose for pictures in front of each display. You’ll gain a wealth of knowledge about many dinosaurs that are both well-​known as well as somewhat unfamiliar to others.
Level 2 contains bird replicas from environments around the world. They are life size and perfectly stuffed while their feathers lack imperfections. The bird displays are absolutely gorgeous!
However, just beyond the bird halls lies The Dino Lab! What I found to be most exciting was the opportunity to observe paleontologist working in the lab. They work meticulously to retrieve and expose fossils from various landforms that encase the remains of past life forms. It’s a time-​consuming process and guests can see how much patience and hard work can yield results that can have a positive impact on the lives of others. It’s one thing to study about fossils in school and to watch paleontologists in the fields on National Geographic programming but this helps you develop a respect for the profession that you won’t gain anywhere else.
TNMH is a fixture in the Los Angeles area that has so much to offer. The hands on activities that children can engage in provide a wealth of knowledge for them that they may not get from television programming or through Internet websites. Visitors will enjoy viewing live insects in an enclosed environment that allows them to take a closer look at these mysterious critters. There are opportunities at TNMH that are worth multiple visits because there’s so much that can be missed. When in LA, feel free to visit The Natural History Museum as you’ll leave with an appreciation for the world that we live in as well as respect for wild animals both extinct and still present on this planet.