Museums in Los Angeles

Discover 17 unusual museums in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles, California

Campo de Cahuenga Memorial Park

Overshadowed by the theme park opposite it, this small museum explores a major moment in American history.

Travel Town

Los Angeles, California

Travel Town Museum

A miniature train theme park, free to the public, laying at the base of the Santa Monica Mountains.

1955 Metropolitan Astra-Gnome prototype.

Los Angeles, California

Metropolitan Pit Stop

This vintage car parts store is also a museum devoted to a squat little gem of automotive history.

Permanently Closed

Mae West's falsies.

Los Angeles, California

Dearly Departed Museum

A macabre tour of Hollywood’s deadly history.

19th century pump

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles Fire Department Museum

Formerly Fire Station No. 27, the museum is a hidden gem in the heart of Hollywood.

Hale House

Los Angeles, California

Heritage Square Museum

Beautiful Victorian buildings from L.A.'s forgotten architectural past.

Street lights on display.

Los Angeles, California

Historic Street Lighting Museum

The illuminating collection of L.A. street lights is run by the city and only opens one day per month.

Nighttime in front of LACMA.

Los Angeles, California

Urban Light

Scores of vintage street lamps shine along L.A.’s Miracle Mile.

There is a companion skeleton in storage

Los Angeles, California

Galápagos Tortoise Skeleton

This rare tortoise skeleton has been hanging around the downtown Los Angeles museum for over a century.

Permanently Closed

The Museum of Broken Relationships in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles' Museum of Broken Relationships

Where the leftovers of love affairs can live on forever.

La Brea Tar Pits

Los Angeles, California

La Brea Tar Pits Dragonfly Fossils

These delicate buggers are some of the rarest fossils that have bubbled up from the Tar Pits.

Los Angeles, California

Valley Relics Museum

One man's vast collection of artifacts and ephemera from matchbooks and postcards to vintage neon signs and cars.

Walt Disney's Carolwood Barn

Los Angeles, California

Walt Disney's Carolwood Barn

The famous animator's private station house and man-cave was the birthplace of imagineering.

Permanently Closed

Institute For Figuring

Los Angeles, California

Institute For Figuring

This hands-on math museum believes in turning concepts into constructs.

Image from the Psychiatry: An Industry of Death Museum website.

Los Angeles, California

Psychiatry: An Industry of Death Museum

A look into the Church of Scientology's deeply unfavorable view of psychiatry.

Los Angeles, California

The African American Fire Fighter Museum

Celebrating the accomplishments of Black firefighters in Los Angeles.