Website: https://nhm.org/site/
The Collections: The LACM ranks high on my list of most-visited collections, and for good reason. Southern California is rich in Cenozoic fossils, and this is the largest collection of them in the region. I've spent countless hours working through drawer upon drawer of horses, dogs, and squirrels from the LA area and far beyond. As with many collections along the west coast, it's full not just of terrestrial fossils, but a variety of marine organisms as well.
The Exhibits: There are bigger collections along the Pacific slope, but I don't think I'm going out on a limb when I say the LACM is the west coast's premier museum for fossils on display. The paleontology exhibits occupy the entire, recently remodeled east wing of the museum, and while the dinosaur exhibits are the headliner, my (strongly biased) opinion is that the fossil mammal hall is the highlight. Among other things, it includes the only skeleton I've ever seen of the giant dog Epicyon and a wealth of regional marine mammals, including the bizarre desmostylian (and possessor of one of the all time great genus names) Paleoparadoxia. If the LACM fossil halls don't leave you sated on local paleontology, the museum also administers the tar pits of Rancho La Brea, home of one of the world's great paleontology site museums.
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