It’s spring. The weather is nice and museums are starting to open up. What a great time to visit any of the several museums Santa Clarita and Los Angeles has to offer.
If you want to make it a family affair, or simply a chance to explore your own passions or interests, here are a few museums to explore.
Autry Museum of the American West
4700 Western Heritage Way
Los Angeles, 90027
Restrictions he museum is free to the general public until April 18. Reservations are required at this time. For more information, visit theautry.org/visit.
The Autry is a museum dedicated to bringing together the stories of all peoples of the American West, connecting the past with the present.
Located in Griffith Park, it features world-class galleries filled with Native American art and cultural materials, film memorabilia, historic firearms, paintings, and more.
Current exhibits include:
“When I Remember I See Red: American Indian Art and Activism in California”
“What’s Her Story: Women in the Archives”
“Art of the West”
La Brea Tar Pits
5801 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles 90036
Restrictions dvanced, timed tickets are required and available online. Admission is $15/adults, $12/seniors and students, $7/children. Members are free. Parking is $12. For more information, visit tarpits.org/plan-your-visit.
Experience the only Ice Age fossil site in the world that is actively being excavated in the middle of a major metropolis.
These tar pits have fascinated scientists and visitors for more than a century. For more than 50,000 years, Ice Age animals, plants and insects have been trapped in sticky asphalt. Many of the excavation discoveries are on display in the La Brea Tar Pits Museum, located at the center of the park.
Natural History Museum
900 Exposition Blvd., Los Angeles 90007
Restrictions dvanced, timed tickets are required and available online. Admission is $15/adults, $12/seniors and students, $7/children. Members are free. Parking is $12. For more information, visit https://nhm.org/plan-your-visit.
Watch butterflies take flight all around you in the Butterfly Pavilion as you watch caterpillars feeding on leaves. There are also opportunities to chat with museum educators and keepers to learn more about the 30 different species you could see. Admission is $6.
Besides the pavilion, there are many ongoing exhibits currently open including the extraordinary Dinosaur Hall. There you will find more than 300 fossils, 20 complete dinosaurs and ancient sea creatures. The centerpiece of the exhibit is the T. Rex growth series with the only trio of different-aged T. Rex specimens in the world.
There also are two other special exhibits. “Rise Up L.A.: A Century of Votes for Women,” is open until Oct. 10. The exhibit examines the fight for women’s suffrage in Los Angeles since Nov. 2, 1920 when millions of women cast their first vote in a national election.
You can meet your tiny neighbors in the “Spiky, Hairy, Shiny: Insects of L.A.” exhibit that will be open until April 1, 2022.
Newhall Aquarium
24631 Arch St Newhall 91321
Hours he museum is open on Saturdays and Sundays at 3 p.m. Call ahead for information, (661) 220-5212
The nonprofit Newhall Aquarium offers families hands-on learning experiences with touch tanks and lessons on marine life.
“I’m very excited to be opening up because I do miss people coming in,” said Tony Taymourian, managing director. “I come here to take care of the animals, and it’s really quiet.”
The aquarium has worked hand-in-hand with local school districts providing students with marine life education resources.
Guests can watch seahorses, sharks, eels and octopi being fed. They can also learn about coral reef fish and invertebrates, or fish that lack a backbone.
