LACMA

LACMA tore down its old eastern buildings in 2020 and replaced them with the David Geffen Galleries, a concrete Peter Zumthor building that crosses Wilshire Boulevard and opened to the public in May 2026. Any older guide to the place is out of date. The useful part for a first visit is how much you can see without buying a ticket, starting with Urban Light.

What's Worth Seeing

The outdoor art is free, with no ticket required. Chris Burden's Urban Light is 202 restored street lamps from the 1920s and 1930s on Wilshire. You can walk among them, and they light up after sunset. Michael Heizer's Levitated Mass is a 340-ton boulder set over a 456-foot trench behind the Resnick Pavilion, and you walk right underneath it.

On the north side of Wilshire, the Cantor Sculpture Garden has Rodin bronzes on shaded paths. Back on the south side, Jeff Koons's Split-Rocker stands 37 feet tall and is covered in plants. Calder's Three Quintains sits in a new reflecting pool on the east side of the campus. LACMA's list of free public art has the rest.

Inside, the Geffen Galleries hold the permanent collection. Time Out counts more than 2,500 works on view, and they aren't arranged by time period. It also points to Richard Serra's sculpture and Burden's Metropolis II, a tangle of toy cars.

Advance timed-entry tickets are recommended. Walk-ups are possible, but time slots do sell out, and members need one too. The museum isn't open every day, so check the visit page for hours and the tickets page for prices and free admission programs.

How to Get There

The Metro D Line's Wilshire/Fairfax station opened in May 2026 and is the easy way in. Buses on Wilshire and Fairfax also stop within half a block.

From the 10, take Fairfax Avenue north 2 miles to Wilshire. From the 101, take Highland Avenue south 3.5 miles, turn right on Wilshire and go 1 mile west. Parking is in the Pritzker Garage on 6th Street, just east of Fairfax, with a 6'10" height limit. There are meters on 6th Street and Wilshire, but read the signs. LACMA's directions page has the current details, including drop-off on 6th Street.

Nearby

• La Brea Tar Pits is next door. Its museum is closed for renovation, but parts of Hancock Park and the outdoor dig sites are open.
• The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is at Wilshire and Fairfax, in the old May Company building.
• The Petersen Automotive Museum is at 6060 Wilshire Blvd, with its garage entrance on Fairfax.