I recently took an expedition to the La Brea Tar Pits to examine the fossil remains and to also see the new Second Home Serpentine Pavilion, a colorful temporary structure that is both a giant piece of art and a functioning public space.

My tour of the tar pits began in the main gallery, where I encountered large ground sloths, massive mammoths, and menacing saber-toothed cats. I also got a chance to look inside a real working lab to watch scientists prepare specimens found on site.

The biggest and most impressive display in the gallery is the Columbian mammoth. Standing nearly 14 ft-tall and weighing some 17,000 pounds this giant proboscidean mammal roamed what is now Los Angeles between 11,500 and 1.6 million years ago. The Columbian mammoth is recreated at La Brea Tar Pits with actual skeletal remains and also with a giant, live-sized model.

Another ancient animal found onsite is the giant ice age bear, which lived 12,000 to 1.5 million years ago. With the help of a giant replica, the museum brings this massive creature to life, giving visitors a scary glimpse of the largest carnivore during the last ice age.

The discovered bones of other extinct animals on display include the American Lion, which resembled today’s lions; the extinct camel, which lived about 45 million years ago; the California saber-tooth cat, with its huge fang-like teeth; the Dire Wolf; and the American mastodon.

So visitors can get an idea of how the bones are cleaned and prepared, there is a working lab in the middle of the museum that is surrounded by windows so guests can watch paleontologists at work.

While touring the museum I learned a lot of history about the tar pits. Over the last 50,000 years, Ice Age animals, plants, and insects were trapped and preserved in sticky tar, which is actually asphalt. More than 100 excavations have been made at the Tar Pits since the early 1900s, and most of the fossils discovered here are housed onsite. The discoveries range in size from huge, extinct mammoths and sloths to “microfossils,” or tiny remains of plants and animals that give us clues about how ancient ecosystems and climates changed. Since opening, the museum has excavated over 3.5 million fossils from the Tar Pits, and they are still digging.

Besides all the incredible bones on display, the museum is also showing a movie called Titans of the Ice Age, which is an additional $5 on top of admission. In this mesmerizing 3D adventure, narrated by Christopher Plummer, viewers will discover an icy world on the brink of extinction, where humans share the frozen tundra with majestic beasts. The movie is a great way to see how these magnificent creatures lived 10,000 – 50,000 years before humans, and how they became trapped in tar, preserved in time, and are being unearthed today at the Tar Pits.

Outside the museum are actual bubbling tar pits, including the large Lake Pit that welcomes visitors near the front entrance. Left over from asphalt mining work in the 1800s, the pit is highlighted by mammoth trapped in tar.

Across the lawn from this pit is the new Serpentine Pavilion, designed by Spanish architect SelgasCano. Organized by Second Home, a London-based workspace business, the 866-sq-ft chrysalis-like structure is covered in a translucent, multi-colored fabric membrane, allowing the public to experience architecture “through shape, light, transparency, color, and materials.”

The pavilion offers the public a flexible, multi-purpose social space in which to enjoy public programs and events focusing on the intersection of art, design, science, and nature. The Second Home Serpentine Pavilion will be at La Brea Tar Pits from June 28 to November 24, 2019.

The La Brea Tar Pits is located at 5801 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, 90036. Adult admission is $15 and parking is $15. For more information, call 213.763.3499 or visit www.tarpits.org

Greg Aragon
Greg’s Getaway

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The $1.2 billion Wilshire Grand Center is the new tallest building in Los Angeles (picture courtesy of
Wilshire Grand Center)

Located on the former site of the historic Wilshire Grand hotel, which closed in 2011, the new 73-story tower stands 1,100 ft-tall, making it the new tallest structure in Downtown LA and west of the Mississippi River. It is about 82 ft taller than its neighbor and former tallest building in LA, the US Bank Tower. This height difference comes mainly from an iconic steel spire that sits atop the Wilshire Grand and stands 294-ft, 9-inches.

“This is the culmination of a dream and the completion of a promise.  I have long dreamed of reinvesting in Los Angeles, my second home,” said Yang Ho Cho, chairman and CEO of Korean Air, the developer of the project. “We promised a world-class project and we delivered the crown jewel of Figueroa Street.”

Destined to become a top entertainment / hospitality destination for the city, the new development includes 400,000 sq-ft of office space and more than 45,000 sq ft of retail that sits below the 900-room InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown hotel. The new luxury hotel, which occupies floors 31 through 68, promises a “different experience that cannot be found in other hotels in the region.”

The lobby of the hotel is located on the 70th floor, allowing guests the unique experience of checking in while enjoying the skyline and spectacular views of downtown L.A.  The glass doors in the hotel’s ballrooms provide views onto the gardens and add a special touch that isn’t found in other hotels. In addition, guest rooms are equipped with retractable windows, so guests can enjoy the beautiful Los Angeles weather.

A highlight of the new skyscraper is a 900-room hotel with a sky lobby on the 70th floor
(picture courtesy of Wilshire Grand Center)

Vistas from hotel rooms and offices promise to be spectacular both day and night, with floor-to-ceiling glass, allowing the spaces to be filled with natural light. Project officials say this is the first significant building in Los Angeles to have this feature. From an external point of view, this plays well as the Wilshire Grand is literally surrounded by existing buildings that are composed of granite with inset windows. “This more glassy expression will portray the building as being “of our time,” a unique contrast to its neighbors,” say officials.

Other Wilshire Grand Center amenities include restaurants and bars, ballrooms, retail shops, and the 70th floor sky lobby. There is also below grade parking for 1,250 cars, along with stunning views from an observatory deck and a sky pool deck.

Another interesting tidbit about this project is that Architect Chris Martin’s grandfather was the designer on another iconic LA structure — the 1928 City Hall building on Spring Street. I spoke to Martin a while back about the new building’s distinctive spire and he told me that the project is a “big deal because my grandfather did L.A. City Hall in the 1920s, and that is the only other building in the city that really has an architectural top. All the buildings in L.A. have flat, truncated tops, so this is going to stand out — and we want it to.”

Martin, whose cousin David Martin is the lead designer on the new hotel, says the spire and the entire exterior skin of the tower will be filled with programmable LED lighting, which will be seen throughout the city, and used to “artistically to give character to the building in light.”

The project team showcased this LED light system at a grand opening celebration on June 23, as they illuminated the entire building and much of Downtown Los Angeles with a dazzling array of lights accompanied by music.

The Wilshire Grand Center is also very structurally sounds, as it is built with state-of-the-art construction methods. It is designed to withstand a magnitude 8 earthquake by using the Bucking Restrained Braces (BRB) method that is especially important in a region affected by Pacific Rim earthquakes.

The city of Los Angeles hopes that all of the Wilshire Grand Center amenities will help the city in its bid for the  2024 Summer Olympics. Accommodations are a key element for hosting the Olympics and it is anticipated that the opening of Wilshire Grand Center will help differentiate L.A. from its competition.

The skyscraper, which has created an estimated 122,000 new jobs across the city, was developed by Korean Air Lines Co., and built by Turner Construction Company, with Brandow & Johnston serving as the Structural Engineer of Record. A.C. Martin was in charge of the design.

The Wilshire Grand Center is located at 900 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90017. For more information, visit: www.wilshiregrandcenter.com.

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