Skirball Cultural Center

This museum is really informative and very hands on, especially great for kids. There is so much information on the Jewish, but also the Noah’s Ark exhibit is a fun jungle gym type play area for kids and an inspiring art exhibit simultaneously, the art area allows everyone to make cool arts and crafts projects, the rotating exhibits are very interesting. The last time we were there we saw an exhibit on magic and Houdini, this time it was about a photographer that did a photo essay on the Japanese Americans forced into camp in the US and a wonderful outreach/​non-​profit organization. It’s a really great museum, although maybe not as big or elaborate as a Science Museum, still really great and a lot to do and learn.

Lisa emailed me after my complain not be able to enter the Noah’s ark. She gave me free tickets for my family of four, reserved the date and spot. It was a very sweet gesture. Sorry for the late update. We went there and our names were there And we were able to enjoy the exhibit. My kids really love them and my husband thought the exhibit was creative and well detailed. Thank you for great customer service

no es religioso
y yo soy religioso

Beautiful place! My toddler niece loved the Noah’s Ark exhibit, definitely recommend for parents with children for hands on animals, and ark play house. Skirball cultural center has several exhibition of artists and they are all very well kept and clean. Thursdays are the best time to come for free entrance to the museum and Noah’s ark exhibition. Otherwise, best to get the admission ticket on their website. Parking is free, & easy to find the center but you gotta get through 405 freeway, so make sure to adjust your time from your location with your navigator.

Grandparents was in town over the summer and decided to take a family visit to Skirball Cultural Center to check out the exhibitions and Noah’s Art exhibit on July 23^rd. It was a trip worth driving up to LA! This place is so rich with 4,000 years of Jewish heritage.
Free parking. $ 10 general. Kids under 2 FREE. $ 5 kids age 2 — 12. It’s FREE on Thursdays! (First come first serve of course)
They showcase various «special» exhibitions throughout the year. During our visit, we had the wonderful opportunity to visit the Bill Graham & the Rock ‘n Roll Revolution Exhibit. I was quite impressed with the various collections and music that was being showcased. Good educational and learning experience for me personally, since I’m not too familiar with his work and accomplishment. :)
The Noah’s Art Exhibit was another hit. It’s perfect to bring family and kids to check out and explore! You get a brief introduction from the staff before you enter to the exhibit. There’s a large Ark with animals. Very hands-​on for the kids to explore and play. Items you see are made out of recycled/​repurposed stuff. You get two hours for this exhibit. Be sure to buy the ticket for this specific exhibit and the specific time slot!
The café isn’t too bad either. They serve gourmet sandwiches, pizza, pasta, salads. Decent price and the food is pretty good.
We were also fortunate enough to enjoy the first summer outdoor concert that was held on that day! La Chiva Cantiva was the band. It was really a treat for my family.
I also like the fact that they have programs gear toward family and kids, with a learning purpose.
Come check out this place if you get a chance.

Came here to bring my 2yo to the Noah’s Ark exhibit, and it really blew our minds and exceeded my expectations. I purchased a timed reservation for 12noon on a Tuesday in November, and we pretty much had the whole place to ourselves plus a few other kids — would totally recommend going on a weekday if you can manage it. You get two hours with your timed reservation to explore everything in the exhibit, which is the perfect amount of time. I bought tickets online, $ 10 /​adults, $ 5/​2−12yo, then showed my ID at the ticket kiosk for entry. Super easy!
At the Noah’s Ark exhibit, you get a cute little introduction and stop by a small entry room where you encounter large animals. All the creatures are made out of repurposed materials and are fascinating to study, even from the eyes of an adult. You descend down a staircase and make your way through 4 large rooms, all simulating different parts of the flood/​boat.
There really is no shortage of things to wind up, play with, build, and explore. The exhibit also comes with activities like sing-​along time and arts & crafts. The folks who work at the Skirball, from the info desk to the attendants, are so friendly and welcoming. The center is really easy to get to, just north of the Getty Center, and Parking is plentiful and FREE. I cannot wait to bring my family back here.

I love the Noah’s Ark exhibit. My toddler loves it so much that we ended up getting a membership & go every couple weeks.
The exhibit is amazing– I love how it’s all made from recycled/​repurposed stuff. There’s so much to see & do, but the best part is how hands on everything is. My son loves that he can touch & play with everything in the exhibit.
The staff there is wonderful, too. Highly recommend taking your kids there!

I love love love coming here with my family. Noah’s ark is one of the most creative play spaces for kids and the staff are wonderful. The entrances are timed so it is never crowded. You should buy tickets in advance, though, because sometimes it is busy and you will have to wait a couple of hours before entering if you buy tickets there. There is also an art studio on the weekends where you can do art projects with kids. The best part is that you don’t have to clean up your messy house after!
The skirball center also has wonderful exhibits for adults too. Sometimes there are concerts so I would check the website for details.
Museum shops are also great with beautiful, if pricey, judaica and kids books and toys.
We are members and will most likely renew when the time comes. Highly recommend!

I’m really writing this review for Noah’s Ark and the restaurant at Skirball, as I haven’t gotten a chance to go through the actual museum yet.
Can’t say enough great things… free parking, clean facilities, hours of fun for my toddler. And the food at the restaurant was really surprisingly good! I grew up in a Jewish household where the food was… not so great lol. They have such a good tuna melt, I have to get it every time we go now!
Admission for kids under 2 is free, adults cost $ 10 (it’s around $ 11 if you book your ticket online). Thursdays they have free admission, but it’s limited and tickets are on a first come, first serve basis.
Noah’s Ark is absolutely awesome; everything is interactive and there are about 4 sections of fun (1 outside the Ark, 2 inside, and the back of the ark which contains puzzles, blocks, hula hoops, jump ropes etc — seems like they change this up daily or weekly).. Prior to entering, your group will sit down and hear the story of the Ark — kids are welcome to interact with the storyteller. Inside the Ark, there’s a second level kids — and agile adults — can climb up too. It’s really very pretty and well thought out. Great place to take your kid to kill several hours and get out of the heat!

I really enjoyed our visit today. Easy and free parking in their garage. $ 10 per person and free on Thursdays!
There were lots of children for the Noah’s Arc part.
AC was perfect and the staff were friendly.

As a wedding coordinator, this venue is a gorgeous backdrop. Had a very helpful banquet captain and service staff.
PRICING — comparable
LOCATION — traffic is beyond the usual LA congestion. For a coordinator, it’s a nightmare. Expect everyone to be late for everything. No joke. Expect delays
SERVICE — this is where we dropped a star. Pre-​wedding services were… subpar.
I’d rather not bicker the list, it’s a bit long.
We definitely know how to avoid the inconsistencies in the future. Live and learn… right!
TECHY STUFF — disappointed that the pin spots were ordered but broken. In-​house up lighting is minimal, upgrade or add more. Ahmanson window shades had trouble rolling up &down.
Cell Signal — really REALLY bad reception, perhaps all the concrete. Made communication w crew, wedding entourage & vendors tough.
PROCEDURES– Was pushing for a diff Grand Entrance than their protocol, but no luck. Really wished we pushed more. Location and sound issues made it hard to organize entourage line and hear names. But since, we’ve added a protocol to our service so that situation never happens again at any of our future events.
OVERALL, considering all the different venues we’ve worked, we would recommend this venue. Considering all the different wedding services we offer… As a florist, delivery was easy, staff was helpful. As a Wedding Coordinating, great venue, just make sure you hire an outside coordinator. As an Event Designer, the possibilities are endless. Excited to transform the venue again w a new inspiration board.

A place to stimulate the mind!
This place is architecturally pretty! I haven’t seen it all yet but I’ve walked around most of it. They have a cold outdoor amphitheater style seating which would be cool for an outdoor concert.
Noah’s ark is so cool! It definitely brings out the child in me. This place requires a ticket. Some parents grab the pass. I believe Thursdays are free. There are lots of interactive displays for the kids. There’s also a fun play structure themes as Noah’s ark. It’s a nice wooden play structure with ropes to climb, toy animals, and an arts and crafts section. This place is great for toddlers.
Its stimulating environment and opportunity to target play and social skills make this place great for children with autism.
It being right next to the 405 is a bit of a problem if you plan to leave around the same time rush hour is happening.

My husband and I came to this venue for a wedding over Labor Day weekend. It’s a nice modern venue and has a grand ballroom. What a great way to enter the ballroom from the upstairs area! :) woohoo, so fun.
While we didn’t get to visit the museum itself, since the wedding was after-​hours, it was nice to experience the cultural center. Nice architecture and right off the 405 freeway. Plenty of parking in the private underground lot.

A fabulous Jewish museum off and visible from the 405 freeway to the north of the Getty museum by the pass into the San Fernando valley (where many of the BIG movie studios are located) and Sherman Oaks and just few blocks northern side of famous Getty Center. Skirball Center was established after the Museum of Tolerance and has various cultural activities going on. Last Saturday (for those my Unilocal friends whom noticed my checked-​in yesterday morning before I was heading to Sawtelle aka Little Osaka for my lunch and ube bread pudding haha). I saw a gorgeous Noah’s Ark there with all the animals hand carved in woods of various kinds. It is definitely worth a visit if you are truly interested in Jewish Art and History.
First, this particular modern facility provides both a permanent museum display on the history of the Jewish peoples, including a poignant memorial to victims of the holocaust. In addition to the permanent exhibits, there are changing exhibitions. There are exhibits that describe the emigration of Jews to America, the Holocaust, and the founding of Israel. The Skirball hosts incredible exhibitions — photography, architecture, history. It has an extensive venue including a café, auditorium, and open plaza. Exhibits are easy to access and the café is great for a break. The theatre does not have a bad seat.
The exhibit contains animals made from all kinds of recycled items. In the small room that you wait before you go in. There are several birds suspended from the ceiling that are made from shoes, purses, mini-​blinds, recurve bows, whisks, and old canes among other things. There are lots of hands on things like a wind maker, a rain maker, moving the heads of giraffes, a puzzle that makes part of the hull of the ark, and then when you get inside of the ark kids can climb all over and put things down chutes, pull things up on ropes, and generally have a great time. There are models of animals created out of recycled materials, models of animals that can be manipulated with wheels and levers, machines that generate storm sounds and lighting, many stuffed animals, and models of Noah’s Ark from many countries. There are 3 rooms total. One with animals made out of recycled materials, one for outside the ark, and one for arts and crafts.
The concept is to interpret Noah’s Ark through art and imagination. Once you enter the exhibit, a document gives a brief explanation of what you will see. After the entry, guests enter a large area filled with stuffed animals and various over-​sized animals represented in various artistic mediums. There lots of manipulative exhibits, showing different prespectives of what you would find on a ship. A hallway filled with various Noah’s Arks leads to the next large room. This area contains cooking centers, climbing options that lead to a rope walkway around the upper level of the room, and other interactive experiences. The final large area has puzzles, materials to build animal habitats for the animals and small tables and chairs.
The best part is that they can actually touch everything in the exhibit from feeding the animals, learning how to create lightning, hearing the sound of a storm, flooding the ark, and loading the animals two by two onto the ark. There is also an area where they cook and clean. 5yrs old boy aka my old cousin’s son was fascinated by the fake animal poop (yes, poop!) that you can clean up. There is a second floor where kids can climb up to using ropes. The last room is for arts and crafts where kids can create their own ark.
Please note that they have two hour time slots every 30 minutes so that there is a limited number of people inside at one time which makes the experience more enjoyable without a major crowd. Although their website states that advance tickets are recommended, we were able to get same day tickets at the admissions desk.
I specifically went for the Noah’s Ark exhibition. This is great for children between 2 – 7. It is all interactive. This is a great experience for children to learn about history by being involved in the process. I was very impressed by all the different aspects of it and he (my old cousin’s 5yrs old son) enjoyed it very much. The ticket prices are very reasonable and also grants you access to the other galleries at the Skirball Center. The gift shop has an outstanding collection of crafts and books and one great thing is that the parking is free…

This is an awesome center: great space, friendly people assisting you, amazing exhibits. It’s free on Thursdays and parking is always free so that’s a bonus.
I love the Noah’s arc exhibit. My toddler had a blast looking at various animals and playing in the kitchen area with other kids. I went on a Saturday and it was full of families with kids. On Thursdays, the tickets are on a first come basis, starting at 11:45.
I I’ll definitely come back again and spend more time looking at all the exhibits here.

The Bill Graham exhibit at the Skirball museum is Life altering. It takes you through music’s best and worst times. With artifacts such as Peter Townsend’s Gibson SG to Mick Jagger’s belt he wore at Altamonte to original Jimi Hendrix art work and concept art. So many concert lineups so many events.
Mr. Bill Graham is definitely immortalized The way he should be at the Skirball center. They have a dark room with 70s visuals and Live music recordings playing at the same time which is really nice to relax in.
My dad had an amazing time and he was very touched by everything he saw. It was really nice to see him relive his childhood his teenage years and adulthood all over again. Thank you Skirball center for an amazing Fathers Day & thanks for liking my photos on Instagram.
Cannot wait to see what else you have in store this Summer.

This review is just for Noah’s Ark. This place is awesome! My daughter loved exploring the place. I wish that they host birthday parties here…
It’s recommended that you purchase tickets in advance since there are different time slots to control traffic. I buy them on their website.

We’ve been coming here for the TV Academy screenings while the North Hollywood location is getting revamped. Easy parking. Free wifi, albeit a bit spotty in certain areas. Easy access from 405 exit.

If you have a kids between 2 – 7, this place is worth the stop. I would make sure you reserve your tickets a day or two in advance as it sells out quickly. They have a free day on Thursday but the Noah’s Ark tickets are first come. I called around 1:30 on Thursday and they were sold out already.
I would plan on about 2 hours of fun for the little ones so 2 – 2:30 would be about the perfect time to come. My 3 year old enjoyed this place and it is a safe place to let them roam free. I ddon’t know about anything else here but the Noah’s ark exhibit, but the parking is free and the scenery is sceninc. There isn’t much around here but it is right off the 405. The staff is very friendly and they make the whole expereince special. They held a drum circle for the kids as well.

The Skirball Cultural Center is a nice location for community classes and to see whimsical exhibits. I’ve visited the Noah’s Ark exhibit (an interesting, hands-​on collection of «junk» that recreates the Biblical story for children) and have attended a discussion on meditation that was held in the auditorium. The grounds are pretty and well-​kept.
The Cultural Center offers very interesting courses in literature, history, cooking, and politics, and it holds comedy, film, and music nights for local and touring performing groups. While there is always something to do, I’m not sure how well-​attended these events are.
If you’re starving, there is a café and a cart, but the food isn’t very good.
I do wish the Skirball Cultural Center were more accessible to most Angelenos. To get there, you essentially have to go «over the hill» (or halfway over it), which can be a trafficky nightmare.

I’ve driven past the Skirball Cultural Center for many years never quite knowing what it was about; is it a school, a museum, a place of worship? It wasn’t until a friend of mine mentioned that they had a fun kid’s section, called Noah’s Ark, that I decided that I finally had to check it out.
I went on a Sunday and parking was free and readily available within their parking structure. Admission was $ 10 for adults and $ 5 for children ages 2 – 12. When you purchase your ticket you are given an entry time. This helps to limit the number of people inside preventing it from getting too crowded.
After a short introduction you enter a room where you’ll encounter a large elephant and some other animals that are all cleverly constructed from repurposed items.
You’ll then walk down a flight of stairs where you will encounter Noah’s Ark. There are stations that allow you to create lightening and simulate a storm, load the animals onto the ship, and make larger ones move. When you enter the ship you can explore the cargo area, open various hatches, and peer through windows.
You will then make your way past a walkway into the bowels of the ship that house the animals. There’s a really fun ropes course that takes kids up into the ark’s rafters. It apparently is made of 30,000 knots which were all tied by hand. Another fun fact is that there are 8 different kinds of animal poop scattered around the ship that you can try and find.
After exploring the Ark we headed upstairs where we participated in a children’s archeology dig. We were assigned a private dig site and my children dug for buried artifacts and learned all about the ancient practice of olive pressing.
Overall my kids and I had a really great time. I would definitely return to view one of the rotating adult exhibits or to attend an event.