La Brea Tar Pits Museum Is Closing for Two Years of Renovations
One of Los Angeles' most beloved and distinctive landmarks is about to go quiet. The George C. Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits will close its doors on July 7, 2026, for a two-year renovation — its first major overhaul since the museum opened in 1977. The closure is timed to allow the facility to reopen fully before the 2028 Summer Olympics bring an influx of international visitors to Los Angeles.
Why the Museum Is Closing
The La Brea Tar Pits sit in the heart of Los Angeles' Miracle Mile neighborhood, where active excavations of Ice Age fossils have been underway continuously for more than a century. Museum leadership says the current facility lacks the space to properly house or display the collection, and that research facilities no longer meet the demands of the ongoing scientific work happening on-site. Like the California landmarks that defined an earlier era, the Tar Pits have long traded on a mix of history and spectacle, and the renovated facility aims to bring both into the modern era.
The renovation will expand the museum significantly, add a rooftop terrace, and improve physical connections between the building and the excavation sites spread across the 13-acre park. Visitors will also have greater access to the research happening in real time.
What the La Brea Tar Pits Are
The sticky asphalt pools bubbling up from the ground at Hancock Park have been trapping animals for tens of thousands of years. Ice Age megafauna, including mammoths, saber-toothed cats, and dire wolves, became mired in the tar and were preserved in extraordinary condition. What makes the site uniquely compelling is that it is one of the world's most significant deposits of prehistoric fossils, and excavation work has never stopped.
The site was first noted in the 1769 journal of a Spanish friar who observed the unusual tar springs. It was only in the early 20th century that scientists identified the bones found there as belonging to long-extinct creatures, sparking serious excavation. Philanthropist George C. Page funded the construction of the on-site museum in the 1970s, and it opened in 1977.
What Visitors Can Still See
Even after July 7, the park remains open. The tar pits themselves cannot be shut down, and ongoing excavation work will continue throughout the renovation period. Visitors to the surrounding area, including those heading to the adjacent LACMA next door, will still be able to view the pits and observe active digs. What will be unavailable is access to the interior collections and the extensive display of Ice Age specimens accumulated over five decades.
When the museum reopens in time for the 2028 Olympics, it will be a substantially different experience. For now, anyone who wants to see the museum in its original form has until July 7 to do so.
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