Reimagining the La Brea Tar Pits

After extensive upgrades to the Observation Pit, Pit 91, and the Rest Area Station that included remodeling, painting, landscaping, lighting, signage, and graphics, officials at La Brea Tar Pits are reopening this collection of pavilions to the public. Closed for decades, the Observation Pit, a round mid-century building which originally opened in 1952 as the original tar pit museum is now restored as a sunlit pavilion that brings visitors down spiral steps to see the ice age bones of horses and camels trapped in natural asphalt. The viewing station at Pit 91, an active excavation site, with its distinctive butterfly roof now has a reconfigured interior that allows for more display space while allowing visitors to look on as workers dig for fossils from a pool of naturally occurring asphalt. The Rest Area Station exterior and interior has been upgraded to feel more like a part of the building collection at the park. Completed in collaboration with KBDA.