Some museums are closed right now due to the Palisades and Eaton Fires. We’ve noted any closures and reopening plans below; we also encourage you to consult our list of landmark closures.
Who says L.A. lacks culture? Not only do we boast an impressive array of amazing museums, but almost every single one offers free admission, either on select days or all the time. Aesthetes and culture vultures can get their fix for free at the spots below, which even with their price point removed from the equation would still rank among the best things to do. Whether you prefer the greatest hits at LACMA or off-the-beaten-path museums, it’s easy to plan a free museum visit (especially if you have a library card) as long as you keep some key dates and times in mind. Here are the best free museums in Los Angeles, whether they offer free admission year-round or free museum days.
Psst: Be on the lookout for the annual Museums Free-For-All and Museum Day, which offer free access to some spots that otherwise always charge admission.
RECOMMENDED: See the full list of free things to do in L.A.
Free with reservation, including Infinity Mirror Room. Timed tickets required.
Three words: Infinity Mirror Rooms. Downtown’s persistently popular contemporary art museum has two of Yayoi Kusama’s immersive, mirror-laden rooms (one that you can step into, and one that you only pop your head into). Eli and Edythe Broad’s collection of 2,000 post-war works includes artists like Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Ed Ruscha, Cindy Sherman, Barbara Kruger and Jeff Koons.
Free every second Tue 11am–6pm. L.A. County residents Mon, Tue, Thu 3–6pm; Fri 3–8pm. Timed tickets recommended.
Chris Burden’s Urban Light, a piece made up of 202 cast-iron street lamps gathered from around L.A. and restored to working order, has quickly become one of the city’s indelible landmarks. But you’d be selling yourself short if you don’t venture beyond the photo-friendly installation; LACMA’s collections boast modernist masterpieces, large-scale contemporary works (including Richard Serra’s massive swirling sculpture and Burden’s buzzing, hypnotic Metropolis II), traditional Japanese screens and by far some of L.A.’s most consistently terrific special exhibitions.
Just a heads up: The eastern half of LACMA’s campus (home to much of its permanent collection) is mostly closed as it gears up for a massive redesign due to be completed in 2024. On the plus side, though, the half-dozen sizable special exhibitions located in the Resnick Pavilion and BCAM are included in general admission—meaning free admission will get you into everything.
Free.
Industrialist Armand Hammer founded this museum in 1990, primarily to house his own collection, and it opened just three weeks before he died. Now, the free, UCLA partner institution stages fascinating shows of modern art, photography and design, often with an epmhasis on local artists. The shows are supplemented by the Hammer’s public events calendar (arguably one of the best in the city), chock full of free lectures, concerts and screenings.
Free for L.A. County residents Mon–Fri 3–5pm (closed first Tue of the month).
The NHM’s original Beaux Arts structure was the first museum building in L.A., opening in 1913 with Exposition Park itself. The more recent Otis Booth Pavilion welcomes visitors into the museum with a six-story glass entrance featuring a stunning, 63-foot-long fin whale skeleton. Highlights include the gem and mineral hall, spectacularly presented dinosaur and mammal fossils, the 3.5-acre urban nature gardens and “Becoming L.A.: Stories of Nature and Culture,” which examines the Los Angeles region’s history from Native Americans to the present day.
Museum free for L.A. County residents Mon–Fri 3–5pm (closed first Tue of the month); tar pits area always free.
Back in 1875, a group of amateur paleontologists discovered animal remains in the pits at Rancho La Brea, which bubbled with asphalt from a petroleum lake under what is now Hancock Park. Some 140 years later, the pros are still at work here, having dragged millions of fossils from the mire in the intervening years. Many of these specimens are now on display in this delightfully old-fashioned museum. Outside, the pits still bubble with black goo—you can watch paleontologists at work in the excavation of Pit 91 and toil away at the fossils waiting to be found as part of Project 23.
Free first Thursday of the month with advance ticket.
The bequest of entrepreneur Henry E. Huntington is now one of the most enjoyable attractions in the Los Angeles region. It’s also a destination that demands an entire day should you attempt to explore it in full: Between the art, the library holdings and the spreadeagled outdoor spaces, there’s plenty to see, and most of it is best enjoyed at lingering leisure rather than as part of a mad day-long dash. From a Gutenberg Bible to an exquisitely landscaped Japanese garden, nearly every inch of the estate’s grounds and collection is essential.
Note: The Getty Center is currently closed due to the Palisades Fire and is scheduled to reopen on January 28.
Free with timed ticket; parking $20, after 3pm $15, after 6pm (when open) $10 (valid same-day at Getty Villa).
This remarkable complex of travertine and white metal-clad pavilions houses ornate French furniture, recognizable Impressionist pieces and rotating exhibitions. Its relative inaccessibility is more than compensated for by free admission and panoramic views, from the hills and the ocean in the west all the way around to Downtown in the east.
Free with timed ticket.
The main branch of L.A.’s Museum of Contemporary Art houses thousands of artworks crafted from 1940 to today, and it’s an efficient primer on post-war art. Spend half an hour or an entire afternoon absorbing contemporary pieces from lesser known artists, punctuated by sightings of Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock works.
Free; parking $8–$10 per hour.
The vista from this hilltop landmark is stunning, particularly at night when Los Angeles twinkles below. Inside you’ll find a bevy of exhibits, including a Foucault pendulum (directly under Hugo Ballin’s famed mural on the central rotunda), Tesla coil and planetarium show. Give yourself plenty of time before the 10pm closing to gaze through the 12-inch refracting telescope on the roof, otherwise you can look through the far less crowded modern, reflecting telescope on the front lawn.
Free.
After spending most of its nearly six decades around Newport Beach, Orange County’s main visual arts institution has moved a few miles away to Costa Mesa. In its new Morphosis-designed home at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts campus, OCMA now boasts about double the gallery space to show both permanent and temporary collections of (largely California-based) contemporary artists.
Free.
The Institute for Contemporary Art Los Angeles, or ICA LA, is the new home for the former Santa Monica Museum of Art. The new facility in the Arts District occupies 12,700 square feet of warehouse space.
Free Tue, Wed 1–4pm with RSVP.
You might expect this Griffith Park museum to be a kitschy exploration of the life and works of famous singing cowboy Gene Autry. Though there’s often some sort of Autry memorabilia on display in the foyer, it’s actually a very engaging exploration of the West, outlining its history and detailing the myths that came to surround it.
Free.
Bigger than it looks from the outside, this handsome museum, conference center and research library focuses on the artistic and historical achievements of African Americans. The permanent exhibit loosely tells the story of African Americans’ journey from Africa, through emancipation and into the 21st century, using an assortment of paintings, textiles, photographs, ceremonial objects, personal testimonies and other memorabilia. In addition, there are other curated and traveling exhibitions throughout the year, as well as occasional screenings and workshops.
Permanent exhibitions free.
Permanent exhibit galleries at this kid-friendly Exposition Park museum explore life sciences, human innovation and powered flight (all with a decidedly ‘90s design flair). Just note that Space Shuttle Endeavour, arguably the institution’s main attraction, is temporarily off display for the next few years as it’s moved into an upright position inside of the museum’s under-construction expansion.
Free.
Step inside Downtown’s LA Plaza De Cultura y Artes campus for a taste of rich Mexican-American history and culture, from a retrospective on Mexican roots in Los Angeles to a recreation of 1920s L.A. to a museum space dedicated to Mexican food. You’ll find the exhibitions inside the beautiful brick Vickrey-Brunswig Building, with a garden and cultural events in the adjacent paseo.
Free.
An earnest exhibition compiled by a young, Cold War–obsessed academic, this small collection is somewhat appropriately located in a former National Guard Armory, making it feel like an undercover operation. There are Stasi artifacts here, along with propaganda posters, remnants of the East German counterculture and segments of the Berlin Wall. “Wende” is the German word for “turning point,” referring to the period from the fall of the Wall to reunification, though the museum focuses more closely on the Cold War period in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. So why is it in L.A.? According to founder Justinian Jampol, the geographic remove lends critical distance.
Free first Fri of the month 3–6pm with reservation.
Housed for two decades in a school gym, this popular interactive children’s museum moved to a new site in 2004 after an $18-million funding drive. There’s a wide variety of exhibits and entertainment, from the Kaleidoscope entrance to the educational gardens and the Splash Dance water feature in the central courtyard, the perfect way to cool down on a baking valley afternoon. Pasadena’s young ’uns are lucky to have it on their doorsteps.
Free (except for some special exhibitions).
MOCA started life in a humongous bus barn on the edge of Little Tokyo. That’s now the Geffen Contemporary—its spacious, raw interior designed by Frank Gehry in the 1980s—considered by some to be one of his gutsiest spaces. MOCA stages the more mainstream exhibits, leaving the Geffen Contemporary to concentrate on more esoteric artists and spectacle installations.
Free first Fri of the month 4–7pm.
The Norton Simon’s Frank Gehry-helmed makeover in the late 1990s raised the museum’s profile, but it also helped to expand the range of the museum’s collection, giving it more space and creating a calm, simple environment. The museum is still best known for its impressive collection of Old Masters, notably pieces by 17th-century Dutch painters such as Rembrandt, Brueghel and Frans Hals. The French impressionists are represented by, among others, Monet, Manet and Renoir. After you’ve checked out the temporary shows, head into the excellent sculpture garden.
Free Sun 11am–6pm.
Located on land that once housed a productive silent film studio, everything about this museum is a forward-thinking enterprise, from its modern and contemporary-driven collection to its building. The core of the permanent collection is in the Long Gallery, with work by one artist from every Latin American country.
Free.
Located in the northwest corner of Griffith Park, Travel Town could be thought of as a petting zoo for railroad cars, including engines and cabooses from the late 1800s. But it’s not the only destination in the park for budding railroad aficionados: The adjoining Walt’s Barn offers a glimpse into Walt Disney’s model-railroad workshop (relocated here from his former home in Holmby Hills) on the third Sunday of each month.
Free.
Hauser & Wirth is technically an art gallery, all of which are typically free to visit. But we’ve included it on this list of museums largely due to size: At 116,000 square feet and with its own restaurant and bookstore, this international gallerist’s Arts District location in a former flour mill basically feels like a museum, with high-caliber displays of contemporary art to match.
Free.
This fine little museum presents a lively account of the Hollywood Bowl’s history, through archival film footage, audio clips, photography and all manner of other memorabilia.
Free.
Partially intended for the academic viewing purposes of students at the adjoining college, the FIDM museum’s impressive collection has included nineteenth century hats, vintage couture pieces, wardrobe samples from movies and hit TV shows and even a fragrance archive.
Free Sun 10am–5pm.
While Beverly Hills has the Museum of Tolerance, Fairfax is home to what was initially known as the Museum of the Holocaust when it opened in 2010. The subect matter is, naturally, dark, but the museum treats it in a sensitive manner, providing audio guides that lead visitors through a succession of rooms detailing the rise of the Nazis through concentration camps, the Holocaust and its aftermath. Guided tours and talks from survivors are also given on a regular basis, while temporary exhibitions round things out.
Free, $5 suggested donation for adults.
The largest maritime museum in the state contains a potted history of fishing in California, the story of San Pedro's canning industry, and an array of model boats and ships. Check online for details of temporary shows, which cover related topics. The handsome 1940s Streamline Modern building that houses the museum once acted as a ferry terminal.
Free.
Serving Torrance and the rest of the South Bay since 1960, the Torrance Art Museum’s two gallery spaces focus on modern and contemporary work from both local and world renowned artists. The museums also hosts a number of educational programs throughout the year, including artist talks, lectures and symposia.
Pay what you can on Sundays.
L.A.’s only public showcase devoted to contemporary craft and community-based folk art continues to broaden its programming. Shows could cover anything from Venetian glassmaking to American printmaking, the circus-themed dioramas of Sonny King to a retrospective of work by Hungarian designer Eva Zeisel.
Note: The Fowler Museum is temporarily closed due to the Palisades Fire and air quality.
Free.
Contemporary artworks representing cultures from all over the globe are the focus at this gem of a museum, tucked away on UCLA’s sprawling campus. From animal figurine collections to Tibetan Buddhist prints to illustrated ethnographies—pretty much every exhibit here is guaranteed to teach you at least one thing about the world you didn’t know before.
Note: The USC Pacific Asia Museum is currently closed due to the Eaton Fire and will reopen when air quality improves.
Pay what you wish Thu, free second Sun 11am–5pm.
Art and artifacts from Asia and the Pacific Rim are displayed in the historic Grace Nicholson Building, a recreation of a northern Chinese palace with a charming Chinese Garden Court to match. Taken from the museum’s collection of 14,000 items, the permanent displays include both contemporary and traditional Asian arts; they’re supplemented by temporary shows, which tend to run for roughly four months at a time.
Note: The Getty Villa is currently closed until further notice due to the Palisades Fire.
Free admission with timed ticket; parking $20, after 3pm $15 (valid same-day at Getty Center).
In 1974, oil magnate J. Paul Getty opened a museum of his holdings in a faux villa. Eventually the decorative arts and paintings were moved to the Getty Center, and the villa was closed for conversion into a museum for Getty’s collection of Mediterranean antiquities. Today, there are roughly 1,200 artifacts on display at any one time, dated between 6,500 BC and 500 AD, and organized under such themes as Gods and Goddesses and Stories of the Trojan War. Even if you’re not interested in the art, the palatial courtyards and manicured gardens are worth the visit.
Note: The Skirball Cultural Center is currently closed until further notice due to the Palisades Fire.
Free every Thursday.
Something of a local powerhouse, the Skirball aims to look at connections between 4,000 years of Jewish heritage and different communities around L.A. Those with an interest in Jewish history will get the most from some of the exhibits, but this is an egalitarian enterprise that should interest most visitors with a sense of cultural adventure. Little ones will love Noah’s Ark, a wonderful kid-oriented exhibit that explores cultural differences through a retelling of the old animals-two-by-two tale.
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