It’s kind of funny, but I guess I never thought of the La Brea Tar Pits as a real place… but more one of those places that gets name dropped in an Bugs Bunny cartoon. Sure, I knew it was a real place, but my brain never made the connection that it existed in reality. My brain works in strange ways.
But, then again, so does the Tar Pits. The very first thing you notice as you leave your car is the smell… it’s like a road being paved on a hot day and it is absolutely permeating. You’ll smell it on yourself days afterward.
What’s even more strange is that the tar seems to bubble up out of nowhere. In the parking lot, in fact, there was a large section blocked off because the tar was gooping up through the pavement.
On the grounds, you’ll find the George C. Page Museum and, being a sucker for museums, it was hard for me to pass up. Inside, you will find treasure troves of finds that have been scooped out of the tar pits from saber-toothed cats to mighty mastodons.
Trust me, the tar pits are real and they are really fascinating.
Jason Gaston 