San Diego Natural History Museum

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA

About This Museum: This museum is located in San Diego's Balboa Park and features both rotating and permanent exhibits as well as a theater showing short 3-D movies related to the natural world.

Street Address:
San Diego Natural History Museum
1788 El Prado
San Diego, California
(MAP)

Highlights: The gem and mineral exhibit is an extraordinary collection of items and is one of the best things about this museum. It is a rotating exhibit so check the official website (listed below) for the museum's current exhibit schedule. There is enough in this exhibit to amaze anyone. Many of the gems and minerals are in their natural form showing off their rare natural beauty while others have been made into fine jewelry or unique exquisite decorations.

Points-Of-Interest: The fossil exhibit on the second floor is one of the museum's few permanent exhibits. It displays a rich assortment of fossils and details the natural history of the Southern California and Baja California region.

Don't Miss: There is a short 3-D film about sea turtles entitled "The Secrets Of Turtle Reef" (depending on current theater schedules).  The film features some spectacular footage as is follows the daily lives of sea turtles in both their underwater and upon-land travels. The theater is located on the first floor.  Check the official website for the most current film schedule.  Save your museum admission ticket when you first enter the museum because this is collected when you are entering the theater.  So don't miss stopping by the theater for a quick movie!

Best Thing About This Place: The San Diego Natural History Museum is located in Balboa Park which also has many other unique museums, walking trails, several gardens, performing arts concerts, and the San Diego Zoo which is in the northern section of the park.  There is so much to see at Balboa Park that you cannot see everything in a single day.

Above: One of the many beautiful gardens at Balboa Park

Official Websites:

San Diego Natural History Museum

Balboa Park

Museum Of Jurassic Technology

CULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA

About This Museum: Located near downtown Culver City in an unassuming building on Venice Boulevard, this museum houses a strange and unique collection of artifacts and displays.  Though the outside of the building appears to be fairly small, the inside seems much larger and is divided up into many smaller rooms which hold some of the most bizarre and unusual museum artifacts around.  Most of the rooms are kept rather dark, but with the displays themselves lit up enough to view them and read the descriptions.  The unusual items displayed in the museum along with the dimly lit and odd feel of the builing itself add to the overall weirdness of this place.  Admission is free but donations are suggested.

Street Address:
The Museum Of Jurassic Technology
9341 Venice Blvd
Culver City, California
(MAP)

Highlights: The rooms seem to be divided up according to subject matter.  One of the rooms has several microscopes set up which you can view very tiny yet intricately designed art pieces.  Another room has several 3-D images called vectographs available for viewing and also discusses the history of that field of scientific study.  Not all the displays are purely scientific in the modern sense however.  One of the rooms houses the technology of cures of diseases and ailments and is really more a curious look at the superstitious ideas and unusual beliefs of the past.  But this loose definition of "technology" at the Museum Of Jurassic Technology actually makes the experience more interesting because it's part science and part history with all of the weirdness factor that happens when the two overlap.

Points-Of-Interest: The "Bell Wheel" can be heard from a distance inside the museum and makes an enjoyable sound similar to wind chimes but with small metal bells.  Upon entering the room you'll see it hanging from the ceiling and can watch as it stops and starts creating a strange yet pleasant sound.

The "Bell Wheel" which spins slowly creating an unusual sound

Free cookie from the tea room

Don't Miss: Free tea and cookies are served in the upstairs tea room. Even if you are not going to be eating anything it's worth checking out the upstairs area to witness the strangeness of this place in its entirety — both in terms of the museum itself and also some of the people who seem to visit regularly.

Best Thing About This Place: If you like things that are weird, random, and perhaps a bit creepy then this place is for you.

Museum Official Website: The Museum Of Jurassic Technology

California Science Center

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

About This Museum:

The California Science Center, located in Exposition Park near the USC campus and the L.A. Coliseum, offers interactive science exhibits, science demonstrations, and an IMAX theater.  Exhibits include a range of scientific studies including Earth ecosystems, human inventions, the plant and animal world, and more.  Many of the exhibits are hands-on and are geared primarily for children, however adults will find plenty to learn from and enjoy as well.

Street Address:

California Science Center

700 Exposition Park Drive

Los Angeles,California

(MAP)

Highlights: Some exhibits may change while others are ongoing so check the official website listed at the bottom of this article for more info.  Museum highlights include the earthquake simulator and the Creative World exhibit which showcases human inventions. 

Points-Of-Interest:  There is a sensor camera which displays your silhouette upon a screen as you walk by and are then attacked by a silhouette of a mountain lion.  This is located in the "Goosebumps: Science of Fear" exhibit which is open through April 2011.  This exhibit also features phobias of varying significance:

No details are given but apparently this is a common enough fear to have a sign dedicated to it there among the Fear of Flying, Fear of Needles, and Fear of Heights signs.  Speaking of the latter, if you don't possess a fear of heights you may want to give this high wire bicycle ride a try:

Don't Miss:  If you're into learning through demonstration check out the Airplane Wing Display located in the Air And Space exhibit which demonstrates how air flow around an airplane's wing causes an airplane to lift off the ground.  If you're more into hands-on fun check out the "Be a barnacle" food-grabbing game located in the outside patio of the Ecosystems wing of the museum.

Best Thing About This Place:  Admission to the museum is free.  Donations are accepted at the door but are not required.  (There is however a small fee for parking and the optional IMAX theater does charge an admission fee.)

Museum Official Website:  California Science Center