Discover LA's Museum Row & More Car Free

Start your journey at Los Angeles’s Museum Row with a visit to the Los Angeles County Museum Of Art (LACMA). The museum features more than 150,000 works from ancient to contemporary, and hosts dozens of weekly events including special exhibitions, films, live music and talks for art buffs, novices and families. The museum is a short walk from the LA Metro D Line station at Wilshire/Fairfax. It is also accessible by the following LA Metro bus lines: Local 20 and Rapid 720 (Wilshire Blvd.), Local 217 (Fairfax Ave.). 

From LACMA, walk east along the paths through the lush botanical gardens of the museum grounds, past the still-bubbling pools of real tar, to the La Brea Tar Pits Museum. Overlooking the large tar pool from atop its grassy bluff, the La Brea Tar Pits Museum houses the thousands of fossils found at the Tar Pits, the world’s most famous Ice Age fossil excavation site. The museum is filled with educational dioramas and displays featuring countless skeletons of saber-tooth cats, dire wolves and mammoths. Visitors can watch as scientists pull new fossils from the black goo every day at several of the active excavation sites.

La Brea Tar Pits will be closing on July 6, 2026 for a massive upgrade expected to last about two years. The project is aimed at modernizing the facility ahead of the 2028 Olympics. 

Directly across the street from LACMA on Wilshire Boulevard is the Craft and Folk Art Museum (CAFAM), L.A.’s only museum exclusively dedicated to craft and folk art. The CAFAM features new and emerging artists.

Walk four blocks west to the Petersen Automotive Museum, located on Wilshire Boulevard at Fairfax Avenue. The Petersen has more than 150 rare and classic cars, motorcycles and trucks and historical displays covering four floors and more than 300,000 square feet of exhibition space.
 

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is the largest institution in the United States devoted to the arts, sciences, and artists of moviemaking. Located on Wilshire and Fairfax in the heart of Los Angeles, the museum celebrates the past, present, and future of moviemaking. Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Renzo Piano, the museum has restored and revitalized the historic Saban Building, formerly known as the May Company building (1939). The Saban Building's seven floors contain expansive exhibition spaces, the 288-seat Ted Mann Theater, the Shirley Temple Education Studio, special event spaces, a cafe, and a store. A new spherical addition connected to the Saban Building via glass bridges features the state-of-the-art David Geffen Theater and the rooftop Dolby Family Terrace with sweeping views of Hollywood.

From Wilshire, walk about three quarters of a mile north to the corner of Fairfax Avenue and 3rd Street to find The Original Farmers Market. Or, take the Fairfax Avenue DASH bus line from the corner of Fairfax and Wilshire north and get off at 3rd. First opened by local farmers in 1934, this cultural-historic landmark was once a dairy farm and even took a turn as an oil field. It now houses more than 70 shops and restaurants, offering everything from oysters to authentic Mexican cuisine, burgers and sandwiches. For those with a sweet tooth, don't miss the iconic Bob’s Coffee & Donuts.

Adjacent to the Farmers Market is The Grove, a lifestyle-retail center whose dozens of high-end stores and attractions bring in 18 million visitors a year. In addition to retailers like Nordstrom and Apple, The Grove is home to a 14-screen AMC complex, a free trolley car, and excellent restaurants with outdoor dining patios in a range of price points.

A half-mile stroll north on Fairfax takes you through one of the largest and oldest Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods in Los Angeles. This stretch of Fairfax is complete with a hodgepodge of cake shops, tchotchke stores, kosher shops and the mighty Canter’s Deli, which has been serving heaping pastrami sandwiches and matzo ball soup to both hipsters and bubelehs since 1931.

From the corner of Fairfax and Melrose, take the DASH Fairfax line (or walk) about 10 blocks west and exit at Kings Road. Walk a couple of blocks north to the Schindler House at 835 N. Kings Road. Considered the first house built in the Modern style, the Schindler house is an architectural gem designed by Frank Lloyd Wright protégé Rudolph Schindler and built in 1922. It is notable for its indoor/outdoor design and is home to the Los Angeles arm of Austria’s Museum of Applied Arts (MAK), which hosts tours Wednesday through Sunday afternoons.

If you're planning to spend more than one day exploring LA's Museum Row, there are some nearby options. 

Located on Miracle Mile, Kimpton Hotel Wilshire is within a short walking distance from Museum Row. You'll be about one block away from the Academy Museum and Petersen Automotive Museum and two blocks away from LACMA. The hotel is home to rooftop restaurant and bar Videre, as well as a pool overlooking the city. 

Located across from The Grove and Original Farmer's Market, Short Stories retains its mid-20th century charm while offering contemporary luxuries, like wellness activities and pet amenities.