Easterner here - visited LA a few times and the first time, unknowingly drove past and smelled the smell of fresh road being paved before I realized we were passing the tar pits. Stopped and went in the visitor center/museum. There is actually tar coming up between cracks in the pavement around the pits. I have no idea why I was surprised there was tar all around the tar pits. Great place to visit!
I think it’s amazing to see something naturally forming but it typically is only a thing associated with industry and man. You say tar and people ask you about cars and feathers, but that’s been there since well atleast the ice age eras and unfreezing periods right there’s sabertooth cats and sloths n shit in there. It’s like how a diamond in a ring is wealthy rich stuff for people but a hunk of diamond pulled from a mine feels like a different $$$ moment
It’s oil. When you go to the museum you’ll see cracks on the pavement and oil seeping out. It smells like rotten eggs because of hydrogen sulfide gas and in some areas it does smell like fresh asphalt. If you haven’t seen it before you need to. It’s nice had a great time.
My father took me there as a child, it sparked the fire inside me to ask questions and know that life is so much bigger than my own. The past held magic, frozen in time, for us to see. I felt fortunate seeing everything there. I’ll always be grateful to him for that.
In 2018, I visited Los Angeles for the first time and the Tar Pits was a priority to visit. The museum was incredible, and just to see the scale of the creatures was simply breathtaking.
Growing up in SoCal, I've of course first visited as a field trip in school, but went back in my early adulthood. So interesting to see the labs where they are actively cleaning and analyzing fossils through large windows.
The year was 2000. I was in the 6th grade. I almost got expelled from school for throwing a little canister over the fence in hopes of watching it sink in the tar. My school (Edison Elementary 🦅) was no longer allowed to go there on field trips 🫠
That's legitimate reporting, regardless of what everyone thinks, what we watched was informative and insightful into the ways the Government AND the media should behave. Great content honestly!
Huh? They just talking about tar pits. They aren’t talking about anything controversial that their advertisers or viewers might disagree about, so it’s pretty easy. The sky is blue. Wow!
I used to like those handles you could pull up that simulated how difficult it would be to pull yourself out of the tar. That and the saber-toothed tiger were my favorites.
I visited in 1946 and the large mastodon now located in the museum there was sticking out of the lake. I remember the smell and it scared me pretty good. But I was only six.
Wow, I've never knew about this. I've live in Northern California and have been to LA countless times. Thanks for reporting on this. I will have to visit soon.
Great segment! The tar pits are really something special to see in person as well. The Colombian mammoth sculptures have a real emotional resonance to them. Edit: I mistakenly had written “woolly mammoth”, but upon further research found that they’re actually Colombian mammoths!
Who else would get busted by the teacher for rolling down the sides of the museum? Even as a grown up I've done it with my siblings during every visit and have continued the tradition with my nephew. So much fun!
I was there just 3 weeks ago from Arkansas. I was staying in the area and just had to check it out. Unfortunately, the one day a month the museum was closed was the day we were there. The LA County Museum of Art and the Museum of Academy Awards are right next door!
The La Brea Tar Pits are like a time capsule of history. I feel sorry for the animals that were fooled into thinking they could drink from there, but what an amazing find for the scientific and research communities.
That unlocked a deep memory from childhood. Left CA at 4yo and haven’t really been back. Do remember playing with the “plungers” as a kid (you would pull up on them and see how hard it was to get out of the tar I think)
This must be old archive footage. Anyone that watches the show La Brea knows that where the tar pits were is now a giant sinkhole leading into a different world.
The Tongva tribe of Indians used the tar for their baskets and plank canoe’s, Around 2,000 Tongva people still live in the Los Angeles area, and they are considered to be one of the two most prominent California tribes without recognition, with 2,800 archaeological sites, such as the sacred site of Puvungna, located on what is now Cal State Long Beach. Tovaangar. The original people of Los Angeles, the Tongva, defined their world as Tovaangar. It extended from Palos Verdes to San Bernardino, from Saddleback Mountain to the San Fernando Valley and have lived in the area for more than 7,000 years…
I grew up in Los Angeles, but moved to Idaho 19 years ago. I just couldn’t live in LA anymore. My sister is still there. I thank God I was in Idaho during covid instead of being locked up inside in Los Angeles. I went back for a funeral 4 years ago. That place is now a hellhole. Idaho is far better.
Nice bit of reporting! I must visit next time I'm in the area. Just to clarify a couple of points. The "fossils" he's talking about are actually the preserved remains of the animals that fell into the pit. Most of these date from the last 40,000 years and they are the actual animal tissue, preserved from decomposition, in effect mummified. This is NOT like dinosaur fossils. For a start, the dinosaurs lived millions of years ago, not just 30-40,000 years ago. Second, the dinosaur fossils we see in the science museums are not the actual tissue of the animals. The fossils are made up of minerals that have slowly replaced the tissues over time. In effect the fossil is a stone "copy" of the original animal tissue.
I lived in la when i was a kid and i loved this place!! Been there many times with my sister.... man that place is awesome... been a long time ago for me... if anyone plans to visit anywhere near there please go visit u cant go wrong !!
I first saw these when I was in the 5th grade ,I lived in Norwalk California,we took regular field trips there ,we also went to the museum of Natural History many times,it’s where i saw my first T Rex skeleton,I’ve been hooked ever since ,many years ago I was invited to a dig in Utah ,I was too busy to attend, i regret that to this very day.
Fantastic site to visit, but man you do not want to work near it for an extended period. I was part of a film crew shooting around the Tar Pits, and by the end of the day we were all nauseous from the fumes.
“Look over there. See those tar pits? Hollywood's a really pretty town that's smack on top of all that black tar. By the time you realize you're sinking, it's too late.”
I remember some bully pushed me into the tar pits and I was trapped for 5 hours before being discovered by city workers. The year was 1991 we went on a field trip from New York to LA. We were all in the 3rd grade. It took nearly 3 months to get the tsr off me. AZ for the bully he mysteriously died of food poisoning 3 weeks later.
Meanwhile, the text below shows the other side of the city, with human remains blocking a pipe under freeway 55. I guess that intertwines the two stories.
These natural oil and tar deposits run all thru L.A and out to the Santa Barbara Channel, that's why we get natural occurring tar all on the beaches here,not from oil drilling.
Love this place ever since I was a kid, always one of my favorite places to visit. What I didn't know and learned recently is that out of all those fossils only one time have human remains been recovered... so far.
Is La Brea the only place where tar pits have formed? Seems like there would be more of them in other locations/ countries? (I live in northeastern U.S., we are culturally deprived here!)
Nice to see the newscast occasionally have pieces like this….this is what news is supposed to be….information to help make you more knowledgeable…not to start a gripe session about news or rant against any particular news outlet, just nice to see a change of pace when watching a news broadcast
Have you done a "look at this" on the tent cities and feces/urine covered sidewalks yet? If so I must have missed it. Oh and what about the shooting up on the sidewalk as I walk into the street to avoid contact. Musta missed that one too.
Yes, yes, yes, we all are aware of the homeless crisis. But instead of blaming political parties, what solutions are there to be had? As someone who's been homeless myself, I can attest that the main causes of homelessness are substance abuse and mental illness. We need better programs and centers to help these issues. Jailing them is not an effective solution. Also, where do you think these people come from? I can tell you, most came from unplanned and unwanted pregnancies. Born into households and a bigger society that was unprepared to care for them enough to provide better opportunities to become productive members of society. So yeah, expect an explosion of this type of population in about 15 - 18 years.
