The Natural History Museum has a new “front porch”: NHM Commons, a $75 million project being unveiled this weekend, aims to make the institution more inviting and accessible to the local community. Located on the west end of the museum, the space consists of a cafe, lobby, welcome center, theater, gallery and outdoor garden. Here’s what to expect from a visit.
A new glass façade now seamlessly connects the museum to the Exposition Park, allowing those outside a peek at Gnatalie, a.k.a. “the Green Dinosaur” (more on her below), and grants those inside views of Exposition Park, the L.A. Memorial Coliseum and the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, which looks like it’s inching closer to completion each day.
Once you enter, ride the escalator to the second-floor Judith Perlstein Welcome Center, which serves as both a destination unto itself and a gateway into the museum, offering a free mini museum experience (you don’t need a ticket to explore the handful of displays). The star of the show here is Gnatalie—the “g” is silent, like “gnat”—one of a new species of sauropod who was discovered in Utah in 2007 and excavated for over a decade by a team of interns, volunteers and international staff. The most complete sauropod skeleton on the West Coast and the world’s only green-colored fossil specimen, she measures over 75 feet long. While her bones don’t look as green (read: very green at all) as you’d expect from the marketing, she is notably lighter than the dark brown skeletons of other dinosaurs you’ll find inside the museum, due to the presence of the mineral celadonite.
Across from Gnatalie, you’ll find Barbara Carrasco’s 80-foot-long mural L.A. History: A Mexican Perspective. Originally created in 1981 for L.A.’s bicentennial, the piece has been in storage and now finally has a permanent home. Its 51 vignettes woven into the flowing hair of la Reina de Los Ángeles tells the story of the city, from ancient times to the 1980s. Depicted are some of the L.A.’s greatest hits—Grand Central Market, the Hollywood Sign, Santa Monica Pier and Angels Flight—as well as the darker parts of the city’s history. At the time, Carrasco had to fight against censorship to keep some of these in the mural, like the references to the 1871 Chinese massacre, the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II and the Zoot Suit Riots of 1943. “Everybody has a right to have their story told,” she said at this week’s preview.
Last but not least, you’ll find a temporary interactive exhibit dedicated to NHM’s Community Science initiatives, in particular its research into the biodiversity in our own backyards. At the far end of the welcome center, you’ll find a ticket booth and entrance to the museum.
Also upstairs is the W.M. Keck Theater Gallery. On display right now is Collective Knowledge, which spotlights some of the items from the Natural History Museum’s collection of 35 million objects via close-up photography by National Geographic’s Craig Cutler and Scott Bremner. In the back of the gallery, you’ll find the entrance to the Commons Theater.
The theater will host programming including performances, animal meet-and-greets, and film and speaker series. The 22-minute family-friendly film T.REX 3-D, which brings the story of the museum’s Thomas the T.rex to life through narration by Jurassic Park’s Sam Neill, begins screening daily November 18. And Ocean Encounters, a live, large-scale puppet show that takes you back in time and under the sea, opens November 23. Both shows will cost $10 with museum admission.
Outside NHM Commons is a new landscaped Community Plaza. The museum worked with a tribal advisory council for active acknowledgment of the native land the museum sits on. To that end, there’s a sustainable garden with two new oak trees and nods to the very first Angelenos, the Tongva tribe, with installations by Tongva artist Lazaro Arvizu Jr.
For refreshment, head to South L.A. Cafe, the newest location of a local mini-chain run by husband and wife Joe and Celia Ward-Wallace, who have roots in the area. In fact, Joe spent his summer days as a kid in the museum, and he got emotional when noting a full circle moment: He’s now helping draw the community to the museum himself through his cafe. A menu highlight: the Gnatalie matcha latte. And, of course, there’s a gift shop with plenty of Gnatalie merch, as well as products by local artists and artisans.
NHM Commons gives the museum a welcome sprucing up before the neighboring Lucas Museum opens in 2026 and the Summer Olympics return to the Coliseum in 2028. Get a first look this weekend at the opening celebration and block party happening Sunday, November 17, from 9:30am to 5pm. The free indoor-outdoor event will fill the space with food, music, hands-on activities, artist workshops, meet-and-greets with scientists and more.