La Brea Tar Pits
5801 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, CA
A place in the middle of the city where the ground still bubbles up sticky asphalt, exactly as it did when it swallowed mammoths and saber-toothed cats.
For tens of thousands of years, natural asphalt has seeped to the surface here, forming shallow, sticky pools that shimmer under a skin of dust and water. Animals that wandered in could not get out, and predators that came to feed on them were caught in turn. Over time the asphalt preserved their bones almost perfectly, layer upon layer, until this one city block became one of the richest Ice Age fossil sites on earth.
What makes it extraordinary is that it is still happening, in the middle of Los Angeles. The pools still bubble, new fossils still turn up, and paleontologists still work the site every day. You can stand on a lawn off Wilshire Boulevard and look straight down into the deep past.
What Guests Love
- Standing at active asphalt seeps that still bubble and trap leaves and insects today
- Seeing walls of real dire wolf skulls and the fossils of saber-toothed cats and mammoths
- Watching paleontologists clean and sort Ice Age bones in the working lab
- A genuine fossil site in the middle of the second-largest city in the country
Worth Knowing
- The bubbling pools are asphalt, not tar, and they are sticky and toxic, so the fenced pits are for looking only
- The grounds and outdoor pits are free to walk; the museum with the collections is ticketed
- It is a favorite school-trip destination, so weekday mornings can be busy with groups
- Summer in Los Angeles is hot and the park is partly exposed, so bring water and sun protection
Details
Los Angeles, CA
Learn about La Brea Tar Pits
How the trap works
Crude oil rises along a fault beneath this part of Los Angeles, and as its lighter parts evaporate at the surface, what is left is a heavy, sticky asphalt. In warm weather it softens into pools that are easy to walk into and nearly impossible to escape.
A large plant-eater caught in the asphalt would draw predators, which then became stuck as well, which is why the site holds so many meat-eaters. Only a small amount of asphalt is needed to trap even a big animal, and the same slow burial that killed them also protected their bones for the ages.
The Ice Age menagerie
The fossils recovered here map out the animals that lived around Los Angeles during the last Ice Age: mammoths and mastodons, ground sloths, ancient bison and horses, and predators like the saber-toothed cat, which is the California state fossil, and the dire wolf.
The dire wolf is the site's most famous resident. Hundreds of their skulls have come out of the asphalt, and a wall of them at the museum is one of the most striking displays in any natural history collection. The pits have also yielded countless smaller creatures, from birds and insects to plants and pollen, that together reconstruct a whole lost world.
A working excavation in the city
The Tar Pits are not a finished dig. Paleontologists continue to excavate deposits on the grounds, and a glass-walled lab lets visitors watch scientists clean, identify, and catalog fossils that came out of the asphalt.
One find, a partial mammoth skeleton nicknamed Zed, was uncovered during nearby construction and moved here for study, a reminder that the fossil beds extend far beyond the fenced pits and under the surrounding neighborhood.
Hancock Park and the Miracle Mile
The pits sit in Hancock Park, a shady green square in one of Los Angeles's densest districts. The land was once part of a Mexican-era ranch and later an oil field before the fossil riches were recognized and the site was donated for preservation.
The block has become one of the city's great cultural clusters. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures are next door, and the Grove and the historic Farmers Market are a short walk away, so the Tar Pits fold easily into a full day in the city.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Los Angeles
LACMA and the Academy Museum
Next door
The largest art museum in the West and the film-history museum in the landmark old May Company building, both on the Miracle Mile beside the pits.
The Original Farmers Market and the Grove
About half a mile north
A 1930s food market of counters and stalls beside an open-air shopping district with a trolley, a classic Los Angeles gathering spot.
Griffith Park
About 7 miles northeast
One of the largest urban parks in the country, home to the Griffith Observatory, miles of trails, and views over the whole Los Angeles basin.