Los Angeles County Museum of Art051

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art has a wide-ranging collection of over 100,000 works of art from all over the world, housed in a massive, and somewhat controversial, concrete and glass structure.

LACMA is especially known for its collection of Japanese Art, housed in its own Japanese Pavilion, just east of the main museum buildings. It's a work of art in itself, built to resemble a Japanese house with paper windows. Visitors stroll down curving ramps past exhibits of Samurai armor and lacquer boxes, and scrolls portraying Japanese military history and dreamy landscapes.

The entire ground floor contains an exhibit of Netsuke, the intricately carved miniature figurines, often of animals and dragons, traditionally used to hold kimono sashes.

The Museum also has impressive collections of Chinese, African, Korean, and Islamic art, all housed in the largest wing of the Museum, the Ahmanson Gallery. This is where you can find ancient art from the Greek and Roman empires, and pre-Colombian Art from Mexico and South America.

The Frances and Armand Hammer Wing holds the Impressionists, and other late 19th century works, as well as rotating exhibits of modern art and photography.

The 20th century is represented in the Robert O. Anderson building by Picasso, Jackson Pollack, David Hockney, and Rene Magritte, among others. A late 20th century art exhibit contains more provocative, multi-media works.

Obviously LACMA is huge; and you can't see it all in one day, especially with children, but it's manageable if your family can pick an era, or a culture, and concentrate on that. The Museum makes that even easier with audio tape tours, including a children's audio tour, Look and Listen, which uses stories and questions to help kids learn about works of art from around the world. The tapes are available for free checkout at the Welcome Center Box Office with valid ID and are available in English or Spanish.

Admission to the museum is free for everyone on the second Tuesday of each month, and every night after 5pm visitors may pay what they wish. Target Free Holiday Mondays at the museum offer family programs on Monday holidays.

Tours: Free family tours are led by docents on the third Saturday of every month. They leave from the Times-Mirror Central Court near the Ahmanson Building at 2pm.

Family Workshops: Every Sunday is NexGen Family Sundays. The two free sessions of hands-on-art, animated storytelling, and gallery tours are designed for kids ages five to 12. Be at the Museum at 12n, or at 3:15pm.

The phone number for family programs at LACMA is 323.857.6512.

LACMA's Boone Children's Gallery, just down the street at LACMA West , is designed to make the museum experience less overwhelming for kids and features family-friendly exhibits and class space.Note that the Boone Gallery is closed until sometime in 2010.

Membership makes multiple visits cheaper and easier. Art for NexGen LACMA Membership is the nation's only free youth membership program. NexGen offers free admission to anyone 17 and under as well as one accompanying adult. To join, visit the LACMA box office or print the enrollment form and mail it in.

The Museum's two restaurants serve a variety of food. Pentimento Restaurant is open during museum hours, while the Plaza Cafe closes at 6pm. The Museum store is open during all museum hours. Call 323.857.6146 for more information.

The entire museum area has free WiFi internet access.