The California Science Center and Los Angeles Public Transit Adventures

This past week, the celebrate the beginning of Winter Break, I took my 8-year-old son to the California Science Center, located in Exposition Park in Los Angeles, California, to see the space shuttle Endeavor.  He is extremely into astronomy and space exploration, so this was a big deal for him. 

As all southern California natives know, the drive from the northwestern-most reaches of Los Angeles to Expo Park is not ideal, especially if you are required to drive during rush hour on a weekday.  So, with that in mind, I decided after much deliberation that my son was old enough to take public transportation.  I will start by saying I do not recommend public transportation options in Los Angeles to anyone who is not from a big city and already comfortable with making connections and navigating schedules and train platforms.  If you're from a small town or don't go out much, the system can be intimidating.  But, if you're feeling adventurous or already have experience with public transportation in large cities, you should definitely do this.  It's so much better than dealing with driving in gridlock.

To get to Expo Park, we started off on the Metrolink, a commuter train that runs several lines throughout the greater Los Angeles area.  Our particular train was on the Ventura County Line.  Tickets on weekdays, roundtrip, are $20 for adults and $15 for kids, but these tickets allow you to also make free and unlimited connections on other transit providers, including the Metro system, meaning we didn't have to pay additional fees for the other lines we used to travel on for the day.  We arrived at Union Station around an hour after we boarded Metrolink and, after a quick bathroom break, made a very easy connection to the Red Line subway toward North Hollywood.  We rode a few stops and found ourselves at our next point of transfer at the 7th Street/Metro Center station, where we walked up the stairs to the upper level and connected directly with the Expo line.  The Expo line is a light rail line that travels between Expo Park and Santa Monica.  Again, the connection was easy and within about 30 more minutes, we had arrived at our destination at the USC/Expo Park stop. 

My son wanted to explore USC a bit since we had some extra time.  The architecture is absolutely beautiful and my son was so taken with the beauty that he now wants to go to college there. I told him he better do something amazing and get a really good scholarship.

Exposition Park is always a beautiful place to explore.  It's a fun piece of history and symbols from the 1984 Olympic Games remain, serving as a reminder of why this park exists.  While we were waiting for the Science Center to open, we took a walk around and checked out the rose garden, some of the aircraft on display, the entrance to the Coliseum, and some of the buildings in the area.  There are several museums within the park, including the Natural History Museum, which we visited last year, and you can read about here.

The California Science Center is a museum with interactive exhibits offering children, adults, and families fun and educational displays to explore.  The Science Center offers free admission to most of its permanent galleries, with small fees for timed entry exhibits ranging from a few dollars up to about $30 for the more impressive offerings such as the current King Tut exhibit.  An IMAX theater is also connected, offering educational films related to current exhibits for a fee for about $9 per person. 

There wasn't enough time to explore everything in a day, so my son and I stuck to the Space Shuttle exhibit, an IMAX show related to space exploration, and the free galleries.  The space shuttle was the whole reason for our trip and we were not disappointed.  We did expect there to be a little bit more to it, but a whole pavilion for the space shuttle is still in construction, so it's currently housed in a temporary location within the museum walls.  Though the exhibit was smaller than expected, it was amazing to see a shuttle that has traveled many times through space up close.  It's an experience any fan of astronomy and space exploration should have at least once.

Aside from the space shuttle and space-related exhibits, my son also enjoyed an exhibit on the science/psychology of fear.  Several classic psychological experiments are set up in order to challenge your perceptions and help you realize your fears.  It was a fun little area and one of my favorite hands-on exhibits.

Overall, it was a great trip.  The ride back home was a little tricky because we didn't time ourselves correctly and had to wait for a train at Union Station for a little over an hour, but overall, it wasn't bad.  We had a great day and I can confidently say I would take public transit down there again.