Located on Museum Row in the Miracle Mile District of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) attracts over a million visitors annually. Museum Row is the stretch of Wilshire Boulevard that extends between Fairfax Avenue and La Brea Avenue. In addition to LACMA, Museum Row includes the Craft Contemporary Museum, the Petersen Automotive Museum, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, and the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum.
LACMA's collection of more than 150,000 works showcases an entire history of global art, including Asian art, Latin American art, and Islamic art (one of the most significant collections globally). The famed landmark also offers cultural events, feature films and concert series.
Fun Fact: LACMA's campus is approximately twenty acres, the same size as 15 football fields.
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The cultural marvel Los Angeles County Museum of Art delights guests of all ages and publishes incredible cataloged books that highlight the fantastic exhibitions and collections featured at LACMA. Visitors can also explore the online catalogs for complete lists of famous works of art held at LACMA. The most common searches on lacma.org are Picasso, Magritte, Diego Rivera and BCAM. The onsite Broad Contemporary Art Museum features 72,000 square feet of galleries and rotating artwork exhibitions.
Fun Fact: During the BCAM construction, builders excavated ancient animal bones and donated them to the La Brea Tar Pits.
photo credit: La Brea Tar Pits and Museum via Facebook
Special Exhibits at LACMA
- Urban Light: The most notable outdoor exhibit offered by LACMA is the Urban Light, a large-scale sculpture by artist Chris Burden, located at the Wilshire Boulevard entrance to the museum. The collection consists of restored street lamps from the 1920s and 1930s. This exhibit is free!
photo credit: Welcome to Los Angeles via Facebook
- Levitated Mass: This piece by Michael Heizer is a 340-ton boulder transported from the Stone Valley Quarry in Riverside to the 6th Street entrance of LACMA.
Photo Alert: Levitated Mass provides outstanding photo opportunities for guests to explore from all angles!
- The B. Gerald Cantor Sculpture Garden: Enter the world of the French sculptor, August Rodin, with this outdoor bronze collection wonderfully set amongst Southern California palms.
photo credit: LACMA
Fun Fact: There are at least 20 kinds of palms in each season of Robert Irwin's palm garden installation (also on the museum's campus).
- Jesus Rafael Soto's Penetrable: This exquisite arrangement of yellow plastic hoses hanging from an iron structure in the sky gets a lot of attention. The interactive piece allows patrons to move inside and create pathways through the yellow maze.
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Photo Alert: Apparently, the iconic giant yellow noodles make an excellent backdrop for holiday cards! Who would have thought?
- Boone Children's Gallery: This interactive gallery for kids, adjacent to the Chinese and Korean sculptures, offers budding artists paper, paint, and brushes to create to their heart's content.
LACMA History
In 1961, the museum split from the Los Angeles Museum of History, Science and Art (which opened in 1913 in Exposition Park) and moved to the Wilshire Boulevard complex designed by L.A. architect William Pereira.
Fun Fact: Songstress and Academy Award-winning actress Barbra Streisand is on LACMA's Board of Trustees.
Sponsor Howard F. Ahmanson donated $2 million for the new independent art-focused museum. The new institution had three buildings, the Ahmanson Building, The Bing Center, and the Lytton Gallery (later the Frances and Armand Hammer Building). Pereira oversaw the museum's design, which cost over $11 million.
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The museum saw significant growth in the 1980s, adding several buildings and a more comprehensive art collection. The Bruce Goff-designed Pavilion for Japanese Art opened in 1988, as did the B. Gerald Cantor Sculpture Garden of Rodin bronzes. LACMA's Latin American Art collection includes pre-Columbian masterworks as well as contemporary selections from renowned artists such as Diego Rivera, Frieda Kahlo, and Jose Clemente Orozco. In the early 2000s, the museum underwent considerable expansion and renovation, adding 58,000 square feet for a new impressive naturally lit open-plan museum space.
Fun Fact: With over 25,000 objects in the department, LACMA's most extensive collection is the Costume & Textiles.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art Hours
- Monday: 11:00 a.m. -6:00 p.m.
- Tuesday: 11:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
- Wednesday: CLOSED
- Thursday: 11:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
- Friday: 11:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.
- Saturday: 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
- Sunday: 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
(LACMA is permanently closed on Wednesdays, Thanksgiving and Christmas)
Museum Admission
(L.A. County residents with valid I.D. receive free admission on certain days and times. While members are always free)
- After 3pm Monday through Friday: FREE (LA County residents) $25 (non-residents)
- Youth (2 & under): FREE (LA County residents) FREE (non-residents)
- Youth (3-12): FREE (LA County residents) $10 (non-residents)
- Teens (13-17): FREE (LA County residents) $10 (non-residents)
- Adults: $20 (LA County residents) $25 (non-residents)
- Seniors (65+): $16 (LA County residents) $21 (non-residents)
- Students (18+): $16 (LA County residents) $21 (non-residents)
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Los Angeles County Museum of Art Dining
The Patina Restaurant Group offers several dining options for patrons of LACMA.
- C+M Grab & Go: Here patrons can find delicious lunch fares and bakery items. The café is open daily except for Wednesdays.
- Ray's and Stark Bar: Ray's offers gourmet farm-to-table cuisine with indoor and outdoor dining. Reservations are encouraged.
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Note: Museum admission is not required to dine at the museum's restaurants. Guests can enjoy the discounted parking rate of $8 from 7:00 p.m. until close.
Parking at LACMA
Parking for LACMA is located at the Pritzker Parking Garage on 6th Street, near Fairfax Avenue and costs $18.
Fun Fact: There are still active tar pits on the LACMA campus. Staffers often track tar in on the museum's carpets.