La Brea Tar Pits

We are open today from 9:30 am to 5 pm.

Mammoth in lake pit against an orange background

Final Months to Visit

Get Stuck With Us One More Time

La Brea Tar Pits closes July 7 for a 2-year mammoth makeover. Experience L.A.’s most iconic destination before we get a little work done.

Explore the sites, collections, and programs that bring the Ice Age to life.

1 of 1

DJ Novena Carmel with arms raised, surrounded DJ equipment and computer

Upcoming Evening Event

KCRW Summer Nights with La Brea Tar Pits

Excavator wearing a baseball cap and extending hand towards a group of visitors sorting fossils at a table

Premium Experience

La Brea Tar Pits Insider Tour

Saber-toothed cat puppet facing audience members

Ice Age Encounters

lake pit at la brea tar pits

Lake Pit

Photo of paleontologist excavating fossils

Our Excavations

dire wolf wall at the tar pits

Dire Wolf Wall

Analisa Rivera, a UCLA senior, examining microfossils in the Fossil Lab.

Fossil Lab

Photo of saber tooth cat teeth in the fossil lab

Ice Age Fossils

A scientiest looks at plant fossils in a microscope which arrays them on a screen to her left

Samuel Oschin Global Center for Ice Age Research

A New Scientific Research Hub

Stories

Okay, now I'm curious

Sean Campbell in a purple t-shirt, with fossils in the background

Day in the Life: Excavations Manager at the La Brea Tar Pits

The posterior end spiracles SEM image oil fly larva

story

Bugs of La Brea Tar Swamp

Laura Tewksbury Tar Pits video

Video

Experts Uncover L.A.'s Ice Age Past

Dire wolf display

story

Our Evolving Understanding of Dire Wolves

Sideview of black and white dire wolf against a purple background

story

Dire Wolf v Tar Pit

Explore the mystery of dire wolves in this new documentary

Juniper seeds

story

Solving a Juniper Seed Mystery at La Brea Tar Pits

Life recreations American Mammoth Colombian Mastodon

story

Mammoths vs Mastodons: A La Brea Tar Pits Trunk Show

Crowds wait for entrance in the new Tar Pits Mobile Museum

story

Get Stuck in Our New Tar Mobile

Ice Age garden plant

Video

Planting the Ice Age

Dr. Emily Lindsey in the La Brea Tar Pits collections close up

Video

What Tar Pits Fossils Reveal

with Dr. Emily Lindsey

Groups of visitors gathered on a grass lawn in front of a glass wall with skeletons behind it and a ramp in the distance

Reimagine
La Brea Tar Pits

Reimagine the future of La Brea Tar Pits and explore the transformation, the process, and keep up-to-date on the latest developments.

Imagine what's next

What are you interested in learning about at the Tar Pits?

Icon of a saber-toothed cat to represent cats

Icon of a globe and thermometer to represent climate change

Icon of binoculars to represent discoveries

Icon of a woolly mammoth head to represent mammoths

Icon of a shovel to represent digs