Expo Park, at least in its current form, owes its existence to the presence of USC across the street. In the 1870s, what is now Expo Park was established as “Agricultural Park,” a fairground meant to bolster the region’s agricultural industry. At the time, this would have been surrounded by fields on the outskirts of town, with a horse-drawn streetcar bringing people in from town.
One of the attractions of the fairground was a racetrack, and pretty quickly this became Agricultural Park’s main draw. Like any racetrack worth its salt at the time, it invited plenty of drinking, gambling, and even prostitution, with one of the city’s most popular brothels located on the premises. All of this was taking place directly across the street from the newly-established University of Southern California, which so scandalized civic reformers (won’t someone think of the impressionable young minds!) that they had the whole thing demolished in 1910 and replaced with more wholesome activities.
The Exposition Park of today is a complex of museums, stadiums, recreational facilities, and park space that covers 160 acres. Two of L.A.’s most popular museums as well as two of the city’s most prominent sports venues are found here, making it a major attraction as well as a much-loved green space in a part of the city that generally lacks for parks.
Expo Park is easily accessed by transit, thanks in large part to the Metro E Line (formerly the Expo Line). The Expo Park/USC station is the most convenient for accessing both the park and the USC campus. There’s also a stop at Expo/Vermont, at the northwestern corner of the park.
And then there are plenty of frequent Metro bus lines that serve the park. #2 starts on Figueroa next to the park and heads north to Westlake and Echo Park before taking Sunset Blvd to the Westside. #40 runs along MLK Jr Blvd, #81 runs along Figueroa, and #204/Rapid #754 run along Vermont. And lastly, the Metro J Line (formerly the Silver Line) is an express bus line along the 110 freeway, stopping at a freeway station at 37th Street/USC, a couple blocks from the northeastern corner of the park.
Most of the actual green space is located in the northern half of the park, surrounding the various museums, while the southern half is taken up mostly by parking lots and the stadiums. Fortunately for transit users, the Expo Line/USC station is located directly across the street from the Rose Garden, the scenic “front door” of the park.
The lush Rose Garden is a lovely sunken garden, framed by the historic facades of the original 1910s museum and exposition buildings that have since been expanded upon. In season, you can stroll past fragrant blooms of roses, with rows of bushes sitting atop a lush lawn. A giant spray fountain marks the center of the garden, with a couple of classical statues and gazebos situated amidst the roses. The stairway at the main entrance facing Expo Blvd is a popular hangout spot for local skateboarders, while ice cream vendors and hot dog carts often sit underneath colorful umbrellas at the other entrances to the garden.
While you’re in the Rose Garden, be sure to look over at the Wallis Annenberg Building on the east side of the garden. Originally built in the 1910s as an armory, then later converted into exhibit space for the science museum, the building now holds the education annex and event space for the Science Center. While it’s not open to the public, from the Rose Garden you can observe the building’s strange feature of bamboo growing out of the building’s open roof.
On the Annenberg Building’s south side is a 1980s addition that’s one of Frank Gehry’s first major public buildings and which originally held the Science Center’s aerospace exhibits, which have since been moved inside the main museum building and will soon be moved into the new expansion of the Science Center currently taking shape right across the street. But the old aerospace building still has a fighter jet clinging to its side and a Douglas DC-8 passenger jet sitting on the other side of the building.
Another fighter jet awaits you at the entrance to the California Science Center, which is not only Expo Park’s most popular museum, but one of the most visited museums in the entire country, and far and away the most popular in all of California. A big reason for this is that the Science Center is entirely free (save for the occasional special exhibition), no ticket required; you can just walk in, head upstairs, and start looking at the exhibits. It’s also wildly popular with school groups; on any given day of a school week, expect to see the equivalent of several busloads of rambunctious kids on a field trip.
The entrance from the Rose Garden leads you into the food court and through the glass-ceilinged atrium, where you’ll find the very popular science-themed gift shop. An IMAX theater is located straight through and just outside the entrance opposite, while a set of escalators will take you up to the second floor, where all the exhibits are located. The air and space exhibits will be the first ones you encounter, which include a bunch of authentic aircraft and space capsules, which are particularly fascinating and can be viewed up-close under glass.
Many of the exhibit galleries at the Science Center are currently in a state of flux, given the imminent opening of a massive expansion that will house the air and space exhibits. This includes the museum’s most famous object, the Space Shuttle Endeavor, which now towers above the under construction expansion, sitting in an upright “launch” position while the new wing of the building is built around it. But the bulk of the museum’s interactive exhibits and highlights are still housed in the two other main sections of the Science Center: World of Life, which focuses on cell biology, life cycles, and the human body; and Ecosystems, which deals with the natural environment and has a series of galleries devoted to different biomes.
The Ecosystems section is particularly impressive, opening with an immersive room of full-wall projections highlighting the various biomes of planet Earth. The most spectacular exhibit is a full-on aquarium that contains a massive kelp forest tank and an underwater tunnel, as well as interactive tanks on the second floor that allow kids to touch starfish and sea anemones. Another favorite is the desert room, which has a flash flood simulator that produces thunderstorm sound effects before a massive waterfall suddenly gushes forth from one of the rocky walls (with a “splash zone” for the very excited kids who don’t mind getting wet) before all goes quiet again.
Expo Park’s other major museum is the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, the oldest continuously operating museum in the city, dating back to 1913. The original building still sits on the side of the museum facing the Rose Garden, with its elegant rotunda, marble columns, and dramatic statue beneath its domed ceiling. But the building has undergone many major expansions over the decades, with an equally impressive modern entrance on the building’s north side, facing Exposition Boulevard, where you’ll find a whale skeleton suspended inside a massive glass cube. A new entrance is also being constructed on the south side of the building, facing the Coliseum.
The Natural History Museum is definitely one of L.A.’s best museums, with an incredibly varied collection of paleontological, archaeological, natural, and historical objects, all presented in very modern displays. As with any natural history museum, the most popular highlights are the dinosaur skeletons, and there’s certainly plenty of those to go around. The most iconic are the “dueling dinos,” a pairing of a T. Rex and a Triceratops that sits in the very center of the museum, which is also recreated with a statue sitting outside facing Exposition Blvd. And in the dinosaur hall, you’ll find a whole family of Rexes feasting while other dinosaurs watch on.
But the museum has plenty of other great highlights, like the diorama halls with their uncanny recreations of natural life, or the gem and mineral hall with all of its stunning precious stones on display. Or perhaps the Becoming Los Angeles exhibition, which is the closest thing the city has to a proper history museum and contains some remarkable displays, like a 1930s miniature model of Downtown and an intricately detailed ofrenda that pays tribute to the many cultures of the city.
Downstairs you’ll find the museum’s small cafeteria, which is actually pretty good as museum food goes. There’s also the interactive galleries, namely the nature lab, which has displays on the local wildlife of Los Angeles (including some live animals, like snakes, rats, and spiders) and opens onto the nature gardens outside. And speaking of the gardens, be sure to spare some time to explore them, as they’re wonderfully tranquil and have some scenic highlights of their own, like a serene pond, a bird viewing area, and a colorful edible garden.
General admission to the Natural History Museum is currently $18 per person, although the museum is free for L.A. County residents after 3pm on weekdays (bring your ID). The museum also hosts some changing exhibit galleries, and you might have the opportunity to visit their outdoor butterfly/spider pavilion (which one is available will depend on the season), although this requires an extra fee.
Expo Park’s other main attraction are its two stadiums: the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, a historic 1920s stadium that’s home to USC football games and the occasional major sporting event; and BMO Stadium, a much newer soccer stadium that hosts the L.A. Football Club, or LAFC for short. The Coliseum is one of the most historic stadiums in the country, having hosted events for both the 1932 and 1984 Summer Olympics (and if all goes according to plan, it will become the first stadium to host three Olympics in 2028) as well as the very first Super Bowl.
Frankly, there’s not a whole lot to see if you’re not already attending a game. However, the Coliseum does have a “Court of Honor” outside the eastern entrance which is open on non-game days, which holds some plaques commemorating significant L.A. sports events and athletes. The centerpiece of the court is a pair of headless bronze nude statues created for the 1984 Olympics, which certainly make for a striking landmark with the Coliseum’s peristyle looming behind. Walking tours of the Coliseum are available on Mondays and Tuesdays, see the website for details.
One curious landmark sits at the Figueroa end of “Christmas Tree Lane,” the green strip that stretches between the Coliseum and Figueroa. There, you’ll find the oldest palm tree in Los Angeles. A commemorative plaque explains the history of the tree, which was moved to the entrance of the Southern Pacific Railroad station in Downtown and served as an icon of the city, greeting travelers to Southern California. When the station was demolished in 1914, the tree was moved to this site, where it still lives to this day.
Expo Park’s third and smallest museum is the California African American Museum (CAAM), which sits inside a fairly humble building just east of the Science Center, overshadowed by the massive expansion of the Science Center taking shape right outside the front door. At the time of writing, CAAM is closed to the public but is scheduled to reopen May 22, 2024. When they reopen, expect a return to CAAM’s normal programming of changing exhibitions of African American art and history, with free admission to the public. If you can, try to make it to an exhibition opening, which are usually pretty hopping, or the MLK Day festivities.
The park’s newest attraction is taking shape on the western side of the park, along Vermont Avenue. The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is a massive new museum that will house George Lucas’ personal art collection, which promises to be a fascinating collection of Americana and pop culture artifacts. The building is already incredibly striking, resembling a spaceship parked on the edge of the park, and is currently scheduled to open in 2025.
While not located in Expo Park, it’s worth mentioning Mercado La Paloma, which is probably the best place to eat in the immediate vicinity of the park. The Mercado is located at 37th Street and Grand Avenue, just on the other side of the 110 freeway from Expo Park (and only a block from the Metro J Line bus station at 37th). Start from the corner of Exposition Blvd and Figueroa, follow 37th from where it splits off from Exposition, and after you pass under the freeway, look for the building with the mural across the parking lot.
Despite its name, La Paloma is more of a trendy food hall than the swap meets/vendor markets that typically go by “mercados.” There are a couple of artisan vendors inside La Paloma, but the focus here is definitely on the food. Latin American flavors are dominant, with stands specializing in regional cuisines like Oaxacan and Yucatan. Far and away the most popular spot here is Holbox, a Mexican seafood counter that consistently gets high praise and long lines. But if you’re not up for the wait or you’re looking for something more affordable, there’s plenty of other Mexican options inside.
The USC campus sits on the other side of Exposition Blvd, across the street from Expo Park, and we will be returning soon to highlight its attractions in another guide.
Transiting Los Angeles 