The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County has a new permanent exhibit titled, “Becoming Los Angeles.” The displays contain large format photos, artifacts, and videos set in a larger than life timeline that swoops between several rooms. Each area includes tributes to pioneer voices and captures the everyday experience on this former sprawling vista. This L.A. tribute considers the land from its infancy to current state of being filled with medicine, aircrafts, and technology. The NHMLA describes the display the following manner: “The permanent exhibition, Becoming Los Angeles, tells a 500-year story about how Southern California went from tiny pueblo to sprawling metropolis.

School groups interested in California history should visit this exhibit. We are developing new activities and curricula tied to state standards over the next 12 months.

Becoming Los Angeles unfolds in six major sections:

The Spanish Mission Era
The Mexican Rancho Era
The early American Period
The emergence of a new American city in the late 19th and early 20th centuries
The Great Depression
World War II to the present.”