The Los Angeles area has more than 250 museums, including some of the best art museums in the world and some really original little museums and historic houses. We have museums for kids, science buffs, car lovers, cultural explorers, and of course movie and TV buffs. Some of the city’s most famous institutions, like LACMA and the Getty Center, are worth a trip to Los Angeles in their own right. Even some with more specialized interests, such as the variety of Train Museums or the small Corita Art Center , attract experts and fans from all over the world.
They are all a great escape on a hot summer afternoon or a rainy winter day.
If you know the name of the museum you are looking for, you can go straight to the Alphabet List of over 240 Los Angeles Museums , but trying to find the best museums for you in an alphabetical list, when sometimes it is not clear which museum is The focus is, it can be a bit overwhelming, so I’ve broken them down into more manageable lists by interests below. Whatever your interests, be sure to check out the list of the most unusual museums in Los Angeles below under By Topic. We have some really weird ones!
The number behind each Theme category is the number of museums and attractions in that category. That’s right, more than 34 historical museums and 24 art museums! Some subject areas include museums in the surrounding counties if they are relevant to the subject.
By theme
Best of
- Best Museums in Los Angeles – Start here if it’s your first visit and you just want the best of the best overall.
- Best Los Angeles Museums By Type – One per category for art, history, science, kids, architecture, entertainment, transportation, and ethnic museums.
Free
- Free Museums and Museum Free Days in Los Angeles – A list of museums that are free all the time and which museums have one or more days off per month.
Kids
- Los Angeles’ Best Children’s Museums (11): From Toddlers to High School
Artº
- Los Angeles Art Museums (24) – From encyclopedic collections to individual artist tribute museums.
Story
- Best Los Angeles History Museums (8+): From Los Angeles History to Human History.
- Los Angeles Missions, Ranches, and Adobe Museums (20) – Relive California’s history.
- Historic Home Museums in Los Angeles (34+) – From humble homes to mega-mansions of Los Angeles historic movers and shakers, including presidential homes and libraries.
- Los Angeles Local History Museums (23): The stories of Los Angeles’ individual cities and communities.
Transport
- LA Auto Museums and Attractions (14) – Museums and experiences for car enthusiasts.
- Los Angeles Air & Space Museums & Attractions (12) – From Small Historic Airplanes to a Space Shuttle.
- LA Train Museums and Attractions (11+) – From model to full-size trains.
- Museum ships and maritime museums (10): everything related to ships, boats and ocean exploration.
Pop culture
- Entertainment Museums in LA (10) – Focuses on the film, television and music industries.
- Los Angeles’ Most Unusual Museums (15): From Death to Rabbits.
- LA Pop Culture and Kitsch Museums (6+) – Did what?
Culture and ethnicity
- Los Angeles Cultural and Ethnic Museums (16+): Represent the cultural diversity of Los Angeles.
- Native American Museums and Attractions in Los Angeles (10+) – Representing the first people of Los Angeles and the rest of the United States.
Armed Forces and Heroes
- Military History Museums in LA (11)
- Fire and Police Department Museums (12+ years) – Displays firefighting and law enforcement history and tools.
By museum district
- Museum Row at Miracle Mile: a group of museums on Wilshire Blvd, between Hollywood and Beverly Hills.
- Exposition Park Museums – A group of museums adjacent to the University of Southern California, near downtown Los Angeles.
More art
- Unexpected art in Los Angeles
- LA Art Walks and Studio Tours
