La Brea Tar Pits museum will close in July for renovations

The Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits is closing down this summer in preparation for its first significant overhaul in its 50-year history.

The closure comes as its neighbor LACMA’s David Geffen Galleries finally open to the public after a two-decade campus transformation, and L.A. institutions make a concerted effort to bolster the city’s cultural scene in advance of the 2028 Olympic Games.

“We’re excited about bringing the entire campus together, and our part of it is really important to making it feel like you can easily move from LACMA over into the Tar Pits,” said Lori Bettison-Varga, president and director of the Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County, which oversees the Tar Pits. “So we worked closely with LACMA on that interface, and we’ll continue to do so.”

The last day to visit the Page Museum is July 6. Prior to closing, the Tar Pits will host a free public KCRW Summer Nights event June 12 and a members-only, disco-themed dance party June 27.

The museum renovation, like the recently announced Samuel Oschin Global Center for Ice Age Research, is part of the NHM’s broader Reimagine project — a yearslong site revamp led by architecture firm Weiss/Manfredi that will make the 13-acre Tar Pits campus more accessible and emphasize its function as the only active paleontological research hub located in a major urban area. For the Page Museum, that means a new and improved northwest entrance, expanded visible research labs and collections displays, an immersive theater and a rooftop terrace overlooking Hancock Park.

“We’re going to have this more accessible, state-of-the-art museum that really tells the story of Ice Age Los Angeles and its relevance today in a way that it currently doesn’t,” Bettison-Varga said.

Bettison-Varga added that the revamped Page Museum will demonstrate “why this place is a worldwide treasure, and that it’s telling us about ecological and climate change that happened in the recent past and what we can learn from it.”

“All of this is about placing it in the context of relevance for today, not just a window into the past,” she said.

To date, the Reimagine project has secured more than $131 million, just over half of its $240 million fundraising goal.

Guests can still observe active excavation during the two-year museum closure — albeit from different vantage points — as researchers continue their work on site. Hancock Park will stay partially open, with new walking paths and outdoor features set to be phased in coordination with construction.

“[The renovation] is really going to position that museum with respect to the landscape and the fossils that are right from this site, while still preserving all the wonderful things that the community loves about the site: the frieze and the lake pit, the mammoth family, the visible excavations and, of course, the hills that everyone likes to roll down,” Bettison-Varga said.

Plus, with the Geffen Galleries opening, “it’s actually a good reminder for everyone to come see the vintage, iconic La Brea Tar Pits before the Page Museum closes,” Bettison-Varga quipped.

While the Page Museum is under construction, the grant-funded La Brea Tar Pits Mobile Museums will continue visiting schools and other public places throughout L.A. County.

The Page Museum opened in 1977 and currently houses more than 2 million specimens in its collection.