La Brea Tarpits

Visited on January 18, 2024

At the tarpit lake. I spent a good portion of today looking through my Google Drive for the video tour I did with my students, but have yet to find it. It's in there somewhere. I'll post it eventually. :)

When I was a much younger person, probably a tween, I saw the movie My Girl 2 where Vada goes on an adventure to learn about her mother. She stays with her uncle and meets the kid from Last Action Hero and they wander around LA looking for details about Vada's late mother. I remember three critical moments from the plot: the place on the floor where the pumpkin exploded, the video of her mother singing on the projector, and the date the kids went on at the tarpits. I wanted to see the tarpits bubble.

Mischief managed and caught on camera!

While the bubbling tar was mesmerizing, I can say, the La Brea tarpits are not really a romantic place. First of all, there are a lot of chain link fences. (Totally not pictured in Volcano.) It is still an active paleontological site. Second, the tar doesn't smell great. It doesn't smell anywhere near as bad as I thought it would, but still. Third, there are a TON of people. Maybe it was just that people were on field trips or cutting through the park grounds to get to someplace else, but there were people everywhere. I would liken it to daytime on the National Mall in terms of populace. 

I knew the tarpits were active before I arrived, but I had no idea how many there were. The lake pictured above is the biggest pit by far, but there were other spots the size of tiny ponds or not much bigger than the interior of a hoola hoop. I didn't take the students inside, we just walked around the outside of the park area (Piper was with me and enjoying tugging me along to chase brazen, well-fed squirrels). But there are a number of placards explaining the various creatures that have been unearthed from the pits and possibilities about the way they met their ultimate demise.

If you are already in Los Angeles, it is definitely worth the visit. If you are somewhere on the edges, just know that it is basically in the center of the city and it will take roughly an hour to get in and out of that area if you don't hit traffic. Also, bring cash for parking meters or be willing to fork over $18 to be in the lot next to the museum. With all the camping gear and the dog, it was worth the expense for a two hour walking tour. You could probably find street parking much more reasonably.

If you look behind the statue of the mammoth, you'll spot a baby. I have no idea which parent it was losing in real time, but this was clearly just the beginning of the Disney movie for this family.

For more catch-up posts showing outdoor education adventures and things you've probably seen in a movie, keep coming back!