This park has so much fun stuff going on. I have pictures of my boys with the giant sloth going back years. Lots of tar pit activity to engage the curious. Little bridges crossing the idea of a stream. Lots of large trees and shade. On either side of the park, you have LACMA (where local kids can get free admission through nextgen and bring a parent as a plus one!) and the other is the Page Museum. aka the tar pits museum where kids roll down the big grassy hill and admire the saber tooth cats engaging in furious battle. **This museum closes for renovation 7/6 for a couple of years so get in while you can. Wish there were more shaded picnic benches. The only ones they have are right under the unforgiving sun. Fruit guy usually at the corner right outside the La Brea entrance. A guy selling soft serve inside the park out of a little pink car. (Not so friendly though, my kid ran to ask him for a napkin and he just kept repeating "Sold out!" Dude, chill, and listen.) Highly recommend this park. read more

See all

A great spacious park to walk through. It's connected through the Brea Tar Pits and the grass is well maintained. Street parking can be found or one can choose to park in the private lot (unsure of price). They much prefer dogs to be kept on their leash here due to high traffic. read more

See all

Boy, who could forget Handcock Park. Right by the Labrea Tarpitts. Park has lots of acres around the city, and lots of space for children, pets, animals , I have lots of fun jogging and exercising here. So much to do here. its just one of those large city parks. read more

Free park near the la brea tar pits. You can walk around and see some of the digging sights and tar pits. Interesting place that's unique. read more

See all

I went to Hancock Park today with my dog. It was nice. We walked various pathways and checked out Lake Pit. I love that the place is dog friendly. There were lots of families and pets out enjoying the day. read more

So this is the area that surrounds the La Brea Tar Pits Museum. Very nicely landscaped with the exception of a few spots where tar is literally bubbling up out of the ground. But, the crew makes sure to identify that with cones and tapes it off to prevent people from getting into it accidentally. There is quite an expansive area to walk around and explore and get a taste of what the La Brea Tar Pits are about. Plenty of informative signs that identify what you are looking at and where you are heading. You can also observe archeologists at work at Area 23 - the latest excavation boxes from a parking structure that they put in close by. Really, just enough info to make you curious enough to check out what the museum has to offer. Not sure how long it's good for, but if you check in to the museum there is a reward for a couple $$ of the price of admission. Glad we wandered around this area and checked everything out. read more

This review is for Hancock Park - La Brea, only covering the outside grounds at the "La Brea Tar Pits." I have also written a separate review for the "La Brea Tar Pits & Museum," for inside the museum itself. The outside grounds at the La Brea Tar Pits makes for an enjoyable walk around the park. While strolling through the park, one can find people doing various activities while enjoying the fresh air, of course with the exception of the fumes emanating from the tar pits themselves. ;-). Typically, I find people just sitting on the grass, playing frisbee with friends, or taking a mid-day nap on a park bench. Several other folks are usually walking around the park while casually enjoying the main tar pit attractions on display, like we usually do. Entrance to the park at the tar pits is free, although parking is not. I usually park right across the street where there is typically plenty of parking available for a few bucks (remember that this is still in a congested part of Los Angeles). The automated system is pretty easy for parking too. There is also closer parking right behind the museum, but it usually fills up first. The main attraction in the park is the Lake Pit, showing a mammoth trapped in the pit, crying out of fear of what has occurred while the mammoth's family watches the tragic event unfold in slow motion. It's a great example of what occurred, and presents an excellent source of discussion for explaining this period of time to your young children. Also on display on the outside grounds at the La Brea Tar Pits are several other pits that reveal interesting facts about the pits themselves, like how tar pits mostly trapped carnivores. One can also see ongoing excavation projects in action and talk with staff members doing interesting research, as well as take a walk through the Pleistocene Garden. A walk around the park would not be complete without a visit inside the museum itself, which was beautifully constructed and is visible throughout your stroll. The outside grounds at the La Brea Tar Pits may only require an hour or two to enjoy and still see everything on display. This visit should either be preceded or followed by your visit within the museum itself to get the entire experience. Your combined visit to the museum and park can easily be completed in one half a day, since it is relatively a small museum and park. Although relatively small, I still highly encourage a visit here every so often, especially if you have children eager to learn interesting facts on history. Enjoy! read more

See all

Look at that green grass! http://www.yelp.com/user_local_photos?userid=QtT8tBXKhZI3Ehe4oUfbGw&select=eo80soeEYkxJVoEw-HqFjw Don't you want to run your bare feet over that? Tar Pit http://www.yelp.com/user_local_photos?userid=QtT8tBXKhZI3Ehe4oUfbGw&select=95NLT8dTHUNKDANqdU_6kQ I used to do have projects across at the E! building so it's so convenience to walk over to eat at the park for lunch. I missed those good ole days... read more

Hancock Park La Brea - Parks Near Me - Los Angeles, California

See all

L.A has really good museums and art space to visit, and this place you should go! The Rodin sculptures are incredible. The lights are so beautiful and inspired. The rock always impress everyone. Nice place to go in a second date. read more

Well, ladies and gentlemen... I've just been served a massive helping of reality pudding. Went to the Tar Pits today, as I've done thousands of times before, only to see a seagull stuck in the tar of the main lake pit off Wilshire. The boyfriend and I were watching the gas bubbles of the smaller pits and listened to a street performer playing music on water glasses, when we decided to take a walk around the large asphalt lake. I had just been talking about how the mammoth mother sinking in the lake while the baby mammoth reaches out to it as the father mammoth stoically looks on being one of the most tragic sights in all of L.A. when the boyfriend goes, "Is that a duck SWIMMING in the pit?" I wave it off at first since the majority of the lake is water. But there! There, right beside the perpetually drowning mammoth in the lake, was a seagull amidst its own struggle, entirely covered in black tar, attempting every few minutes to try to fly but never rising more than a couple inches before submerging back into its pitch-dark bonds. Its head and shoulders remained above the surface, looking around at all of the people staring and taking photos from the bridge. A few of the Page Museum docents came out to watch, explaining to the concerned on-lookers that it was too dangerous to attempt to rescue the bird and it would just have to eventually die in the tar, tortured. I felt so... powerless. Like the baby mammoth standing on the shore. Here beside the docents calmly accepting and examining the situation. Much like the father mammoth. All around me parents were relaying the docents' message to their children, turning this into a teaching moment about life and death. One pair asked their son if he'd like to say a few words for the seagull. I could further wax philosophic about this rather troubling occurence, but I guess at best I could say that we got to see the tar pits in action -- ensnaring a creature that will eventually meet its demise fatigued from trying to preserve itself. Life around Hancock Park marches on. A middle-aged man continued to practice Tai Chi in the middle of the lawn. Another street musician plucked a banjo for tips. A couple whined about LACMA's "Levitated Mass" not being open yet. Families kept pouring through for their leisurely walks after visiting the museums. Photographers gathered around a bear statue in the north end of the park, snapping picture after picture. Seagulls come and go. The park abides. read more

I don't like smells. But I guess the Tar Pits would naturally smell ...like...tar. Once you walk past that, the park is just lovely. Small rollin' green hills perfect for lil kids to knock each other down on, dog walks, reading, picnic, etc. Very kid-friendly place (and how educational, right adjacent to LACMA). What it's NOT perfect for is tanning...case in point, random guy this weekend was sun-bathing while reading. At a park?! Do that at the beach. Please. read more

The park has changed so much since I first moved to LA in the late 90s. They've worked hard to return it to a more natural/native state, with a little brook and native plants. The information signs around the various tar bubbles are helpful, and the old statues of ancient mammals returned to the park, are fun. I enjoyed the botanical garden. The excavation pits were always fun to see, and now they've made an effort to really help visitors understand what's going on in there. The new deposits found during construction are impressive to view. I spent many lunch hours picnicking in Hancock Park, and now there are even more reasons to visit. I always brought visitors here, and now as a visitor myself I was excited to find so many new things to experience as well as revisiting the old favorites like the old viewing area and the giant tar pit. read more

It's okay...I couldn't recommend to anyone to go out of their way (submit themselves to an hour of LA traffic) in order to experience this. If you're an out of towner, spend your time somewhere else...this place is BORING! read more

See all

This place was disappointing :( I remember it being * a lot* nicer when I was a kid. Maybe it is for this reason I was underwhelmed. So much so, I was in a bad mood for the rest of the day. The park is clean. The grounds are well kept. If you are here for a park, I'd say come here! However, if you are here to check out the tar pits (which we were here to do) I was disappointed because many were dried out or locked. I was so sad. I couldn't see any bones in the pits!! They have some pretty cool statues (sculptures?) around the park and it is great for a history lesson, but next time I might just pass on this unless I have oodles of time. read more

See all

As a tourist I really wanted to see the La Brea Tar Pits. We skipped the museum which costs money and just stayed on the outside part which is free. It's actually very pretty and a nice change of pace from Hollywood. There's a few animal figurines throughout the park that make for nice photo opps. There's only one tar pit area which I thought was slightly disappointing but I guess you can't complain about nature. I think this is a must-see for all tourists. If I had more time, I would have checked out the museum too. read more

This is a nice park in central LA. Perfect for a jog or walking your furry friend. Pretty large park with soccer fields and courts. They have a path around the park for easy strolling. Lots of people just chilling and having picnics enjoying the LA weather. They have a small parking lot along Beverly Blvd. Gets filled fast but sometimes you can get lucky with people always coming and going. read more

This is another place I've always wanted to go and I finally went there with my boyfriend, Jeff, because I had just had to see the tar pits. They have some pretty cool exhibits next door at the museum and then the best part is going outside to see the actual Tar Pits. Probably the locals aren't that excited, but coming from the east coast a visit here is great way to spend and afternoon outdoors and escape into the very distant past while getting some exercise. read more

This place is the pits--in a good way. After parking (fee $7.00), you can see quite a lot for no additional cost. There are several large, fenced-off tar areas with natural gas bubbling up from the depths. The amount of gas coming up is surprising, although that is not the source of the smell that permeates the entire park. Everywhere you go there is the lingering scent of asphalt in your nose. Every once in a while, there is a fenced off section of grass in the surrounding park where a pocket of tar decided to creep its way to the surface. I only wish that people didn't decide to throw their trash in there. . . A view of the current archaeological dig can also be seen here--a really smelly, dirty way to do your college fieldwork, but you have to start somewhere. The museum (an additional fee) is pretty typical by way of museums, with the obligatory penny press and hands-on displays, but at least they have thousands of bone samples directly from onsite. You get your money's worth, definitely. A unique museum, sitting near pools of bubbling tar in the middle of LA. Totally worth visiting on your next trip to SoCal. Not as entertaining as Disneyland, but a good shake more interesting. read more

I'm a big fan of anywhere I can have fun for free. We just wandered around for an hour or two without entering any of the museums and had a great time. While the tar pits don't seem to be anything particularly amazing, I loved walking around the park, rolling down the grassy hills and staring at the bizarre art that's scattered throughout the space. It's nice to know that not everything in LA sucks or has a cover charge. read more

I am sorry I just do not get why anyone in their right mind would live here. Traffic everywhere you go, the smell of car pollution on every street corner, homeless people lurking around, just plain nastiness EVERYWHERE. This area is filled with multi-million dollar homes a moments walk away from crime. The houses have no fences or security bars on the windows, which is basically like putting up a sign on your front lawn saying 'Come Burglarize my House.' I have done business in this neighborhood for many years and the people here seem to walk around and conduct themselves as if the City is lucky that they choose to live here. People seem to associate living North of Wilshire and South of Melrose as a good place to call home, they could not be any further from the truth. I have seen the crime reports on the Monday morning after an extended weekend from this area and they are street robberies, burglarizes, and burglary from motor vehicles. I can sense when I am away from the Beach and just being within eye shot of that Samsung sign on the corner of Wilshire & La Brea make me sick and sad. You drive down the street and it is building after building after parking after apartment complex after graffiti, YUCK YUCK YUCK. NO THANK YOU. read more

I've lived in Miracle Mile for almost a year!! Decided to explore my backyard this past weekend. Planned a Saturday fun day and started with LACMA. A trip to this beautiful museum was long overdue... to get to the museum you walk through Hancock Park La Brea. It's lively, yet peaceful. Clean... definitely want to have a picnic here before the summer ends. The tar pits are... cool? I guess? But what's up with the mammoth statue that's supposed to look like it's getting sucked into the tar while the baby mammoth and Daddy mammoth just watch.... not cool, dude. NOT COOL. read more

Hancock Park La Brea - Parks Near Me - Los Angeles, California

We unexpectedly discovered this park while exploring LACMA. People with toddlers: the beautiful grassy park around the tar pits looks beautiful and clean, but it is full of tar! We climbed trees--there is tar on the trees! We ran on the grass--there are mini tar pits in the grass! Somehow we got tar on our clothes and hands even though we were extra careful. Wear black! Me and my 8 year old niece and 3 & 6 year old nephews liked looking at the big black bubbles oozing up out of the tar pits. We found sticks and stuck them in a small tar patch almost a foot in diameter in the grass and watched the gooey tar drip off the end back onto the ground. Then we explored Project 19, an old excavation site, and climbed onto giant sloth statues on the grass. The kids were happy and excited to explore this fun and educational park. read more

Dinosaurs? Check. Tar pits? Check. Fake wooly mammoth mama dying in said tar pits while dad and Jr watch helplessly? Check. Real live excavations? Check. Shortcut from 6th to Wilshire? Check. Location of the oh-so-amazing Levitating Mass and unnecessarily excessive numbers of lamps on display in front of LACMA? Check. What more could you ask for in a public park?? Seriously though, this park is pretty neat. On weekends families roam around, and little kids giggle and play around the fake prehistoric animal statutes. There are plenty of places to hang out (e.g., benches). I'm assuming most people visiting Hancock Park are there for one of the museums, but it's actually a pretty nice park in itself. I'd walk my dog through it daily if I had one (my cat doesn't really like her harness/leash so unfortunately I visit HP sans pet). Note: Being that HP is the location of the La Brea tar pits, beware of TAR. A while back I was walking through HP behind three teenage girls, one of which was wearing fancy boots. I couldn't hold back a chuckle when she whined about getting tar stuck to her expensive footwear. Good thing tar comes off super duper easily. :P read more

Theres no place like this place around....and if there are it is it isn't many. The park is always clean and even the bathrooms are decently kept up. I've been here a few times and each time I think its interesting....granted it helps alot if you like history! Each time I've been I have been lucky enough to find street parking and the free sites and tar pits are much worth the visit. For a bit extra you can even visit the museum with lots of on site fossils. If your around, have people visiting, or just want to go to something different and interesting you have to try this place out at least once. Good job LA. read more

Located right next to LACMA and the Page Museum, this park is definitely a great place to relax in the city. The park itself is very massive with a lot of different paths to different places. I haven't walked around the whole thing yet because the times I go are always (1) way too scorching hot to walk around or (2) way too dark to see anything. The parts that I have seen, which include the tar pits, are amazing. It's so interesting that we get to see a part of this first hand. I really liked how they incorporated viewing areas for what the facility is researching. I definitely would love to see how people actually remove fossils from the tar! Ya'll should walk around this area if you're visiting the museums! read more

Cool park. A small amphitheater, the Tar Pits (really, asphalt), the Page Museum, LACMA, drinking fountains, rolling mounds, picnic benches (unfortunately, not many under trees), short running paths and maybe a street musician over by the Page Museum. It's a small park, but there's always something neat to see here. read more

Early dinner and a movie on a Saturday night... Afterwards found ourselves not wanting to go to a bar but not wanting to go home so we took a stroll by the tar pits and into the park. At 9:30pm it's 95% empty, very romantic and soothingly peaceful. You now, just holding hands, talking and cuddling and laughing and smiling... 1 on 1 quality time fellas! Kept walking and found the lights. Probably 6 couples taking engagement photos, maybe a fashion shoot or two... not crowded but quite a bit of folks buzzing about, it was fun to people watch. For something quiet and just for the two of you or with a group of good friends I would recommend spending some weekend evening time here. We loved it! read more

People, people! This is not the park where you want to go sit down on the lovely grass and have a picnic in the sun. Nor let your kids roll down the hill that's attached to the museum. Tar is still spewing up in MANY places. What are you thinking?! Perhaps grass in LA is such a rarity that tarry grass will suffice. The above were our thoughts as we walked around this park...on the asphault pathway. read more

Great place to bring kids, but I think the kids had more fun outside (rolling down the small hill they have) than inside, lol. read more

Hancock Park La Brea - #breatarpits - Parks Near Me - Los Angeles, California

Stopped by on the way to LACMA. Had an hour til LACMA opened so I figured I'd entertain myself with the tar pits seeing as I loved dinosaurs and ancient animals as a kid and have always wanted to go. The park itself is alright, I've definitely seen better but it is relaxing and well-kept. It's definitely a good place to take your kids to see the museum or take your dog out on a walk though. The tar pits were kind of a disappointment. Everything was locked and I couldn't see any fossils unless I paid to go to the Page Museum which I decided not to since I already bought tickets for LACMA. The huge pit with the fiberglass mammoths were pretty cool though. Though I did feel slightly bad that it was like a family portrait of the mom or dad mammoth dying in the pit. And you could REALLY smell the tar over there. So interesting and definitely not what I was expecting. read more

Really beautiful park to take a stroll and sit on a bench and chat (notice I said bench, not grass). The LACMA is located by this park but unfortunately we didn't go in, just visited the giant $10 million "floating" rock and the lamps. The tar pits are located here and are basically quarantined off in various sections of the park. There's a lot of interesting information about each tar pit and what is currently being researched. Note this is really not exactly a park for you to sit on the grass and picnic at (there's tar still spewing in various areas (most are small patches that are fenced off, but still). Plenty of steps or benches to sit down on, people. Best part is, not as many homeless as there would be at Angel's Knoll (le sigh, tried to take my 500 Days of Summer photo but alas, there was someone who set up their home right there on the bench...) read more

I honestly didn't know what this park was called. I thought it was part of the La Brea Tar Pits and Hancock Park La Brea didn't cross my mind. This place is very well kept, and very cheery since you see kids and parents playing in the bed of flowers or going in and out of the museum. It's a nice place to stroll on a gloomy day or a sunny day, whatever suits you. They've got random arts dispersed around the park, there's also the famous tar pits simulating what may have happened to animals millions of years ago, a botanical garden you can look down on if you choose not to pay the ticket and go inside the museum instead. You can start off at the Hancock Park and work your way around it to get to LACMA. These 2 museums are literally connected. There are potential places to take funny photo ops. read more

Sunday afternoon success! Not wanting to make the drive to the beach, but looking for a relaxing spot to sprawl out and relax, Hancock Park La Brea was the perfect solution. Lush green grass, beautiful flowers and trees, and not the least bit crowded. The bathrooms were even clean!! I couldn't believe it! I will definitely be back here. Great place to read, draw, relax or just soak up the sun. Don't be turned off by the stench or bubbling gases of the tar pit. It's a cool spot. And I just made both of the aforementioned sound a lot worse than they are. Come check it out :D read more

Stopped and strolled around the park today with a dog in tow; enjoyable enough to bask in the sun watching the black bubbles POP :). Our son gets such joy out of it; always brings a smile to us. HIGHLY recommend a day well spent Butterscotch and peanut butter fun time godness! :) read more

I'd never seen the Tar Pits before so this was a surprising treat en route to the LACMA. Clean, well kept, and full of interesting exhibits including the Tar Pits and various pieces of public art this was a nice space to wander around in and the convenient $1/hr parking is an additional benefit in a city where parking is routinely overpriced and inconvenient. read more

Very nice grounds. Nice green grass. They seem to maintain it well. Clean side walks too. Cool place to spend the afternoon. Came on a weekend and there were quite a few people exploring the tar pits and chillin on the grass. read more

I did not get to spend much time here, but it is a very clean park with an interesting story to tell. Yes, the park smells Iike asphalt. Yes, there are small children running around everywhere. Yes, the sculpture of a mastodon dying while it's family looks on is depressingly tragic (particularly against a backdrop of gleeful children). However, in all my travels, I do not believe that I have every before encountered tar pits or the sheer number of fossils that have been discovered on this site. To have a treasure like this available to LA's visitors and residents is invaluable and to have entrance be free to boot is welcomed and unexpected. We were able to find street parking rather easily. If you come to LA, this MUST be on your list of places to see, if only for a couple minutes. read more

DONT EVEN THINK ABOUT MOVING HERE! They don't care a bit for your concerns. Security and Services NEVER answer the phone (leave a message!). Good luck trying to leave a parking pass for anyone. NOW ROACHES EVERYWHERE! All the bad reviews on here are very accurate. I have lived here 17 years and this was a lovely well-run place. Now its run by smug "managers". Who don't give a Damn about your issues. In all my time here I have never once called about pests - not even an ant. I am now infiltrated with roaches. In the past 30 days I have not had a kitchen or a living room because while they inconvenience me by spraying, they are not dealing with the building AND, OH BY THE WAY good luck if you bring your issues the Resident Services Manager. He chuckled and smirked at me - handed me a complaint form and told me to go away. DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT THIS PLACE! read more

I love this park! It links the LACMA to the Page Museum, and it totally takes you away from the whole city feeling that you usually get on Wilshire. Besides the tar smell that you get at some spots, the place is really serene and beautiful! I don't know if this is every day, but today at least, there were a couple artists with large canvases up in the middle of the main lawn of the park, and they were painting/drawing right there for everyone to watch! It was a lot of fun to watch them work, and they were all truly talented artists! There was also a guy playing a banjo, amongst all the other instruments he had going on, and overall the atmosphere was just very light-hearted and FUN. I would imagine that they would be a great place for a picnic and then wandering around the museums afterwards. Excellent date idea, btw ;). read more

Bring a camera - there's a lot of places to take photos at. Not the cleanest park but very unique with the "tar" pits. Kids loved it. Parking was a nightmare though. The lot was full and it was early afternoon. read more