The La Brea Tar Pits are a boiling reminder of the past, located in the heart of the city’s museum district. The smell of asphalt is an indicator you’re nearing the pits, but they are fenced off to make sure visitors don’t fall in like so many prehistoric creatures before them. The site is one of the world’s most famous fossil sites, recognized for having the largest and most diverse collections of extinct plants and animals in the world.

Next to the tar pits is the George C. Page Museum, which is dedicated to the study of the pit and all the remains excavated from within. Check out the displays of skeletons from wooly mammoths and saber-toothed cats.