Page Museum
The Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits displays Ice Age fossils excavated from the tar pits, offering insights into prehistoric life in Los Angeles.
Planning your visit
The La Brea Tar Pits are the only Ice Age fossil excavation site in the middle of a major city, and they are still producing. Natural asphalt has seeped to the surface here for tens of thousands of years, trapping animals that came to drink at the water pooling on top — and then the predators that came for them, which is why the deposits contain far more carnivores than a normal fossil assemblage.
Over three million specimens have been recovered: dire wolves in their thousands, sabre-toothed cats, mammoths, ground sloths, and a single human, a woman found in 1914.
The Page Museum displays them, with a working laboratory where visitors watch fossils being cleaned and catalogued through glass, which is the museum's most engaging feature.
Excavation continues outside, and the pits still bubble.
It sits on Wilshire in Hancock Park beside LACMA. Allow two hours. The main booking is an entry ticket. Current availability is shown below.
Before you book
Where is Page Museum?
Page Museum is in Los Angeles, United States. The map on this page marks its exact location.
How long should I allow for Page Museum?
Allow two hours. That is the time the collection itself takes at an unhurried pace, before any queue.
Do I need to book Page Museum in advance?
Tickets can be bought on the door at quiet times, but booking ahead fixes the date and avoids the queue at busy ones. Live availability is shown on this page.
