Travel bucket list idea:
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
Los Angeles, California, United States of America (USA)
Credit Shutterstock.com/Alex Millauer
Last updated: 22 April, 2024
The Western US’s pre-eminent art museum is a 20-acre compound of galleries and pavilions housing more than 100,000 works, from ancient Mayan bowls inscribed with bat heads and Japanese sculptures dating from 3000 BC to paintings by Rubens, Cezanne and Degas.
The museum also has a strong contemporary art offering, with works by Lichtenstein, Pollock and Jasper Johns. There’s also a space for lectures, performances and other events.
Logistics
Price from: £17
Minimum age: 0
Age suitable: 18+
When: All year around
Getting there & doing it
LACMA spreads out over a large campus on Wilshire Boulevard and anchors Museum Row, a stretch of Wilshire between Fairfax Avenue and La Brea Boulevard that’s home to five museums (LACMA, the Academy Museum, the La Brea Tar Pits, Petersen’s Auto Museum and the Craft and Folk Art Museum).
Many buses run past the museum. There’s no official onsite parking, but there are several pay parking lots in the surrounding area.
There are no guided tours or audio guides, but you can see highlights of the collection on the website, categorised by type of art. Worth a browse before you go if you have a specific area of interest.
When to do it
It’s open all year round, Thursday to Tuesday. Closed Wednesday.
Arrive at noon and leave before 4pm to beat the Wilshire traffic. Or go later – LACMA stays open until 8pm and some nearby parking lots offer free parking after 6pm.
