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La Brea Tar Pits, Los Angeles
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La Brea Tar Pits, Los Angeles

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La Brea Tar Pits tips and photos posted by real travelers and Los Angeles locals.

5801 Wilshire Blvd.
• 32 Photos
• 22 Reviews

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La Brea Tar Pits: The La Brea Tar Pits
  • Tip Rating:
  • The La Brea Tar Pits are a unique L.A. sight that's worth checking out while you're in town. Situated right next to the L.A. County Musuem of Art, in the heart of the Miracle Mile area, the Tar Pits are made up of the actual tar pits themselves and wonderful museum (Page Museum) which highlights the history of the site.

    During the last Ice Age, huge mammoths, sabertoothed lions and giant ground sloths became trapped and entombed in the tar that has been seeping out of the ground in this area for the past 40,000 years. You can see their fossilized remains at the site, as well as the bubbling pit of tar that is still located here.

    In the park next to the tar pits, life-size replicas of several extinct mammals are featured. The tar does smell, although it's not terrible. A funny fact about the area... the tar is not just in the tar pit next to the museum. From time to time it bubbles up in the front yards of the lovely homes that surround Miracle Mile area. Some good friends of mine have a mini-tar pit in their flower garden that they're not too happy about...

    Hours:
    Monday - Friday, 9:30 am to 5:00 pm
    Saturday, Sunday & Holidays, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm

    Admission is free on the first Tuesday of each month.

    Cost:
    Adults: $7.00
    Seniors 62 and older and Students with I.D.: $4.50
    Children 5-12 years old: $2.00

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  • Phone: (323) 934-PAGE (7243)
  • Directions: Just east of the intersection of Wilshire Bl. and Fairfax.
  • Website: http://www.tarpits.org/
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    La Brea Tar Pits: La Brea Tar Pits
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  • Statue of Trapped Mammoth in a Tar Pit - Los Angeles
    Statue of Trapped Mammoth in a
    Tar Pit
    by cheap_tourist
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    For ages, the La Brea Tar Pits have entombed many animals that were not able to escape its sticky grasp. A statue of a stricken mammoth calling out to its helpless family (see picture) illustrates the tar pits' role in natural selection.

    Scientists were able to recover the bones of many animals that died in the tar pits. Many, like mammoths, mastodons, ground sloths, and sabertoothed cats, are already extinct. Skeletons of these ancient animals are on display at the nearby Page Museum.

    You can see the tar pits for free. Adult admission price at the Page Museum is $7, however. If you go there on the first Tuesday of the month, you get to enter the museum for free.

    The Los Angeles County Museum of Arts (LACMA) is adjacent to the tar pits. You may want to check it out, too.

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  • Phone: 323-934-PAGE
  • Directions: It's in Hancock Park, at Wilshire and Curson.
  • Website: http://www.tarpits.org/
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    La Brea Tar Pits: La Brea Tar Pits - prehistoric animals pits
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  • Postcard showing a giant prehistoric sloth - Los Angeles
    Postcard showing a giant
    prehistoric sloth
    by SLLiew
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    Located right in downtown LA, it is amazing to view the open black tar pits that preserved extinct ancient animals that once walked the earth in Los Angeles area.Included woolly mammoths, mastadoons, sabre toothed cats and giant sloths and other prehistoric mammals.

    The nearby museum tells what this place was like millions of years ago and worth the admission fees. As it is a research and working museum, we could see recovered fossils, the cleaning and preservation process.

    There is the LA County Museum of Art across the street. So if one prefer art and the other prefer lost animals, this is where you can temporarily split out with your travel group and meet again.

    Museum hours: Mon-Fri 9:30am-5pm, Sat, Sun & Holidays: 10am-5pm
    Closed on: July 4, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year Day.

    Admission: Free on first Tue.
    Adults: $7.00
    Seniors 62 and older & Students ith I.D.: $4.50
    Youths 13-17: $4.50
    Children 5-12: $2.00

  • Phone: 213-934-7243
  • Website: http://www.tarpits.org/
  • Other Contact: George Page Museum of La Brea Di
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    La Brea Tar Pits: La Brea Tar Pits
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  • Tar, not just for roadways anymore! - Los Angeles
    Tar, not just for
    roadways anymore!
    by kdoc13
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    Slowly oozing its way beneath Los Angeles, the city that itself oozes (that may just be Hollywood though), are the La Brea Tar Pits. The pits, no relation to Brad Pitt, are the home to literally thousands of fossils waiting to be found.

    The finding of these fossils are one of the main reasons to check out the pits. Every day there ae workers excavating and cleaning the bones of saber-toothed tigers and Mamoths that got stuck in the tar over 40,000 years ago.

    The museum itself tells the story of the animals that once got trapped in the tar, and there are many exhibit featuring replicas of the now extinct ex-creatures. It is geared very much to the kiddies, but for the adults there are Monty Python fans among the tour guides who are happy to do a take on the Dead Parrot sketch, with the fossils. Ok, I made that last part up. It really is geared towards the kiddies, and adults who think like kids though.

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  • Phone: (323) 934-PAGE
  • Directions: Take I-10 to La Cienega Blvd. Go north. Turn right onto Wilshire Blvd. The pits should be on the left.
  • Website: http://www.tarpits.org/
  • Other Contact: info@tarpits.org
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    La Brea Tar Pits: Extinct Kitties
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  • If you’d like to see a Saber Toothed Cat and Mammoths while in LA, stop by the Tar Pits on Wilshire Blvd. The animals were trapped in the pits and preserved there through the centuries. The accompanying museum explains the fossilization, shows full skeletons and describes the history of the area that lies below the massive city of Los Angeles.

    The Tar Pits are open Monday through Friday, 9:30 am to 5:00 pm and Saturday, Sunday and Holidays, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. Ticket prices are $7 for adults, $4.50 for seniors and kids aged 13-17, $2 for children aged 5-12 years and free for the little ones under 5 years old.

  • Phone: 323-934- 7243
  • Website: http://www.tarpits.org/
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    La Brea Tar Pits: La Brea Tar Pits
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  • After seeing this place in movies I, of course, had to see it for myself! I loved that it's now surrounded by museums since you can only look at a pond of water for a little while :) I did expect something that looked more menacing ... but it looked like a pond that sometimes had bubbles! My brother and I decided to pick up some munchies from a nearby eatery, and sit along the shores and have a picnic. A perfect day for it too!

    I have to say, by sitting and watching the water, we saw so much more than we would have just walking around it. The water bubbled pretty frequently, and every so often a HUGE bubble your errupt ... it was like the pond had gas ... tee-hee. We even saw a big bubble of tar that would come up, inflate a bit more, and slowly deflate - sort of like a giant tic. Maybe you had to be there, but we loved it ;)

    *under construction*

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    La Brea Tar Pits: Watch an excavation at pit 91
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  • excavation site (Pit 91) - Los Angeles
    excavation site (Pit 91)
    by cosmogypsy
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    The La Brea Tar Pits are really worth the trip. Right away, you will see the tar or asphalt. I was told it isn't tar but asphalt. There is a part surrounding the museum and pits that is very nice.

    Walking through the park, you arrive at pit 91 where Wednesday through Sunday 10am-4pm you can watch them excavate bones from animals such as the Saber-toothed tiger.

    I found it exciting and I am sure young children would as well. Inside the Page Museum you can see the bones assembled and learn more about being a Paleontologist. You can also watch paleontologist at work assembling the bones that have been found.

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  • Phone: (323) 934-PAGE (7243)
  • Website: http://www.tarpits.org/
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    La Brea Tar Pits: LaBrea tar pits
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  • The grounds are free,visiting the museum will cost you admittance. And it smells of newly made roads :)

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    La Brea Tar Pits: La Brea Tar Pits or Page Museum
    LA BREA TAR PITS - mammoths, sabre tooth tigers, sloths, and other bones dug up from the same area where the museum stands. Pit 91, in the summer time, is open for digging (by the paleontologists, but we are allowed to watch). There is a laboratory inside the museum, where visitors can see the cleaning of the ice age bones. Monday through Friday, 9:30 am to 5:00 pm
    - Saturday, Sunday & Holidays, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. $7 admission fee, discounts to students and seniors.

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  • Phone: 323-857-6311
  • Website: www.tarpits.org
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    La Brea Tar Pits: It's fun, quick, and cheap.
    My bf and I + friends had a good amount of fun here. If anything, it is amazing how the tar preserves the dinosaur bones. I definitely recommend going for the very impressive skulls and bones of our world's history. Who knew that LA of all places would have something so historically interesting? Hehehe.

    I would say, don't get your hopes up too much, because it is short and a little redundant after a while if you aren't really into dinosaurs. My bf and I had a blast because we found it so fascinating, but our friends seemed ready to go after half-way through. Thank goodness, it's the perfect length.

    Tip: Make sure you park in the correct parking lot (instead of LACMA) so that you don't find yourself in a maze trying to find it.

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  • Phone: (323) 934-PAGE (7243)
  • Website: http://www.tarpits.org
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