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May. 10th, 2005 04:15 pmToday was spent at the Tar Pits. For some reason, the tar pits, which are along the part of Wilshire Boulevard known as "Miracle Mile," are home to several museums.
The bad news was that the part of the museum that I most wanted to see was closed while they install a new exhibit. I can try again at the end of the month, but it won't be free. It's still less expensive than the MFA, so I'll be going back.
The good news was that I got to explore the permanent European collections. One little boy (I'd put him at about five) was wheeled along in majesty by his mother complaining about how boring everything was until they turned into the room with the Greek jars and kraters and Roman statuary. There was an 8 foot Roman copy of a Greek Athena. He stared for a moment and then said, "Wow."
The park around the tar pits is interesting. The pits themselves are oddly fascinating. The most prominent section is something they call a lake -- it looks more like a pond to me, and a shallow one at that. However it collects its water, there's a permanent "oil slick" -- that's their term -- on top of it. The "oil" is actually liquid asphalt. And the bubbles that gloop up every few minutes and then dissipate in rings of bubbles are natural gas escaping through little fissures under the pond.
This is the pit that has some cheesy fiberglass statues of Colombian Mastadons (or were they mammoths?) being trapped by the tar.
The little museum devoted to the pits and the discoveries in them wasn't free, but I wandered in and around the gift shop. There was a big sign on the information desk apologizing to kids that there wouldn't be any dinosaurs inside as none had ever been discovered at La Brea.
It was a good several hours. I'm getting to know the Metro and Bus system. It's handy, but confusing.
The bad news was that the part of the museum that I most wanted to see was closed while they install a new exhibit. I can try again at the end of the month, but it won't be free. It's still less expensive than the MFA, so I'll be going back.
The good news was that I got to explore the permanent European collections. One little boy (I'd put him at about five) was wheeled along in majesty by his mother complaining about how boring everything was until they turned into the room with the Greek jars and kraters and Roman statuary. There was an 8 foot Roman copy of a Greek Athena. He stared for a moment and then said, "Wow."
The park around the tar pits is interesting. The pits themselves are oddly fascinating. The most prominent section is something they call a lake -- it looks more like a pond to me, and a shallow one at that. However it collects its water, there's a permanent "oil slick" -- that's their term -- on top of it. The "oil" is actually liquid asphalt. And the bubbles that gloop up every few minutes and then dissipate in rings of bubbles are natural gas escaping through little fissures under the pond.
This is the pit that has some cheesy fiberglass statues of Colombian Mastadons (or were they mammoths?) being trapped by the tar.
The little museum devoted to the pits and the discoveries in them wasn't free, but I wandered in and around the gift shop. There was a big sign on the information desk apologizing to kids that there wouldn't be any dinosaurs inside as none had ever been discovered at La Brea.
It was a good several hours. I'm getting to know the Metro and Bus system. It's handy, but confusing.
