This past Spring, my wife, teenage kids, and I were in Los Angeles for a three day get-away. It was a chance to enjoy memories from when we lived in L.A. - and experience a few new things.
First stop, the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. A new main entrance at the north side of the building opened a few years back. This was the entrance when I was a kid, so I still tend to use this door. Plus, we found free street parking a couple of blocks south, so the south entrance worked for us.
As an aside, the new George Lucas Museum of Narrative Art will be immediately adjacent to the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. The $1.5 billion museum is currently under construction, and is scheduled to open in 2021.
L.A. County Museum of Natural History originally opened in 1913, and is the largest natural history museum in the Western United States. Above, two dinosaurs battling in out in the front entrance.
The museum offers a "free day" the first Tuesday of the month. That worked with our schedule, so - yeah - we made a visit. First stop: the North America/Africa dioramas just off the entrance.
These dioramas date back to the 1930's and are in excellent condition.
I realize that today's audiences are spoiled with amazing video like the BBC Planet Earth series. Folks 80 years ago were limited to black and white photos, and - maybe - some rough nature films. Getting up closed like this and seeing animals in what really look like their native habitats had to have been amazing. They still hold up well, in my opinion.
The American Bison scene - which was also featured in the 2006 film "A Night at the Museum".
My kids enjoyed a trip down memory lane - seeing the museum they had grown up with ten years earlier.
More dinosaurs. These displays are new. At least I don't remember them from ten years ago.
Obligatory family photo.
We were able to step outside of the original entrance, which was just off of the Rose Garden on the east side of the building.
View of the historic Rose Garden, which is free of charge and worth a visit. The 90 year old Rose Garden was the vision of USC law professor - and devote Christian - William Miller Bowen.
Here's a link to a previous post on how Bowen worked with the city to replace the saloons and brothels that were hear with museums and the historic Rose Garden.
Inside the original entrance to the 1913 building, recently restored to it's original grandeur.
My wife and kids taking photos of the statue and the ceiling above.
The ceiling above, with a beautiful 100+ year old tiffany style stained glass window. Really impressive.
My wife outside, enjoying the beautiful pink flowers on the tree outside the Rose Garden. Springtime is one of the best times to visit Los Angeles, in my opinion.
photo credit: Lucas Museum of Narrative Art
As an aside, the new George Lucas Museum of Narrative Art will be located immediately adjacent to the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. The $1 billion museum is currently under construction, and is scheduled to open in 2021.
There was a new exhibit - "Becoming Los Angeles" - which open in 2013 and I was excited to finally see in person. More on that in the next post.
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