Last year when I went to LA to visit younger daughter, I had a list of things I wanted to do and see. At the top of the list, of course, was to go to the ocean. I am always happiest at the edge of a large body of salt water. Sigh…..
The second thing on my list was to see the La Brea tarpits. I imagined black, goopy tar, as far as the eye could see. My daughter, when I once asked her if she had seen them, said that she had passed them on her way to a job site. I thought that she must have gone very far from downtown LA to have passed the huge tarpits.
So here are the La Brea tarpits.
Yup. That’s them…
That’s all she wrote.
A very small pond with sculptures of a mastodon family about to go to their doom, sinking into the tar. Sniff…sniff….so sad. And note the soda can on the ground. Tourists chuck all sorts of things over the fence, apparently hoping to see them sink into the tar. Nice...
There is a museum next to the tar pond. Inside is a history of the discovery/exploration of the tarpits, and hundreds – really hundreds - of skeletons of animals, some now extinct, found in the tarpits.
The tarpits used to be huge, but now most of it is covered by Los Angeles itself. Los Angeles is built over the tarpits. I wouldn’t have thought that was possible; how do they keep buildings, really heavy buildings, from sinking in the tar? I don’t know, but apparently the architects and engineers do. My daughter says that in some parking lots that are beneath the buildings, tar seeps up through the concrete.
The funny thing (to me – I have a weird sense of humor) was the glass wall through which we observed archaeologists/scientists at work. They sit, facing the tourists, at tables right against the glass wall, and work at scraping/studying/reassembling the bones of the animals. In front of each person is a sign stating his title and what he does. I expected a Please Do Not Tap on the Glass sign. (There wasn’t one.)
So that’s it, the great La Brea tarpits. Next time you’re in LA, go check them out. Just don’t tap on the glass..... or try to feed the scientists.
The second thing on my list was to see the La Brea tarpits. I imagined black, goopy tar, as far as the eye could see. My daughter, when I once asked her if she had seen them, said that she had passed them on her way to a job site. I thought that she must have gone very far from downtown LA to have passed the huge tarpits.
So here are the La Brea tarpits.
Yup. That’s them…That’s all she wrote.
A very small pond with sculptures of a mastodon family about to go to their doom, sinking into the tar. Sniff…sniff….so sad. And note the soda can on the ground. Tourists chuck all sorts of things over the fence, apparently hoping to see them sink into the tar. Nice...
There is a museum next to the tar pond. Inside is a history of the discovery/exploration of the tarpits, and hundreds – really hundreds - of skeletons of animals, some now extinct, found in the tarpits.
The tarpits used to be huge, but now most of it is covered by Los Angeles itself. Los Angeles is built over the tarpits. I wouldn’t have thought that was possible; how do they keep buildings, really heavy buildings, from sinking in the tar? I don’t know, but apparently the architects and engineers do. My daughter says that in some parking lots that are beneath the buildings, tar seeps up through the concrete.
The funny thing (to me – I have a weird sense of humor) was the glass wall through which we observed archaeologists/scientists at work. They sit, facing the tourists, at tables right against the glass wall, and work at scraping/studying/reassembling the bones of the animals. In front of each person is a sign stating his title and what he does. I expected a Please Do Not Tap on the Glass sign. (There wasn’t one.)
So that’s it, the great La Brea tarpits. Next time you’re in LA, go check them out. Just don’t tap on the glass..... or try to feed the scientists.
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1 comment:
Interesting field trip. We have the Drumheller area in Alberta, several hours from here. The whole town's economy is centered around the dinosaurs--it is still an active paleontological research site. And periodically there is a Passion Play which takes place in the badlands. haven't made it there yet, but it's on my bucket list.
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