BE ADVISED: On Saturday, April 20 and Sunday, April 21, nearby events at Exposition Park and the University of Southern California will impact traffic, parking, and wayfinding in the area. Please consider riding the Metro E (Expo) Line and exiting at USC/Expo station.

Rendering of the NHM Commons, including a rectangular background with glowing yellow windows, people in the crosswalk, including someone pushing another person in a wheelchair

NHM Commons: A New Wing Welcoming Visitors in 2024 

In Fall 2024, our Museum will welcome you to NHM Commons, the Museum’s new wing and community hub in Exposition Park. Celebrating the intersection of science, nature and culture, this unique outside-inside experience features 75,000-square feet of new and refreshed spaces, including many free experiences. See Gnatalie, a 70-foot green-boned sauropod. Get up close to L.A. artist Barbara Carrasco’s landmark mural, L.A. History: A Mexican Perspective, and see an exhibition of notable specimens found by local community scientists and collected and researched by our own scientists. In addition, NHM Commons will include: 
 

  • The new, beautifully landscaped NHM Community Plaza and Museum entrance
  • A multi-purpose 400-seat theater with mission-aligned programs, films, and performances
  • The expansive Judith Perlstein Welcome Center with new exhibits, displays and ticketing desks for visitors and Members
  • A new grab n’ go cafe on the plaza run by South LA Cafe and a local-inspired museum shop.
Visitors walking on a tiled plaza with landscaping of shrubs and rocks and trees, with a staircase and building in the background

Community Plaza
A space for gathering, relaxation, and passage designed with native landscaping and co-created with the NHM Commons Native American Advisory Council. 

NHM Commons Gnatalie

Judith Perlstein Welcome Center
A free communal space for discovery and exploration featuring  the 70-ft long green sauropod dinosaur we call Gnatalie, Barbara Carrasco’s Landmark Mural LA History: A Mexican Perspective, and community co-curated exhibits.
 

NHM Commons Theater

NHM Common's Theater
The 400-seat Theater, a dynamic, multi-purpose theater for films, live programs, and community events. 

A cafe with two walls of windows and visitors standing, sitting at tables, and a counter in the background

South LA Cafe 
Indoor-outdoor grab-n-go cafe for snacks and refreshments. 
 

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Community Plaza
A space for gathering, relaxation, and passage designed with native landscaping and co-created with the NHM Commons Native American Advisory Council. 

Judith Perlstein Welcome Center
A free communal space for discovery and exploration featuring  the 70-ft long green sauropod dinosaur we call Gnatalie, Barbara Carrasco’s Landmark Mural LA History: A Mexican Perspective, and community co-curated exhibits.
 

NHM Common's Theater
The 400-seat Theater, a dynamic, multi-purpose theater for films, live programs, and community events. 

South LA Cafe 
Indoor-outdoor grab-n-go cafe for snacks and refreshments. 
 

Thrilling New Exhibits

The Judith Perlstein Welcome Center, the Museum’s portal to never-ending exploration and discovery, features brand-new exhibits that are free and open to the public.

Meet Our Green Giant 

Visitors walking by a green dinosaur skeleton mounted on the wall

Led by NHM's Dinosaur Institute, a team of paleontologists and excavators unearthed and assembled Gnatalie, a new long-necked dinosaur measuring more than 70-feet long. Not only is Gnatalie awesome in size, but the sauropod is unique in color due to the mineral deposits in the quarry where it was found, which turned the bones green.

A New Home for L.A. History

Visitors looking at a mural on the wall

Barbara Carrasco’s landmark and once controversial 80-foot mural, L.A. History: A Mexican Perspective, portrays the city’s history through a series of vignettes woven into the flowing hair of la Reina de Los Ángeles (the Queen of Los Angeles). 

Learn more about Artist Barbara Carrasco’s mural.

Of, For, and With Los Angeles

NHM Commons taps into the spirit and influence of Los Angeles through community-co-created experiences that serve South L.A. audiences, new visitors to Exposition Park, and NHM’s ever-growing family of members and guests. The new spaces in NHM Commons will enable the Museum to expand the offerings of our signature Being Los Angeles festivals, existing programs such as Dino Fest, Earth Day, Bug Fair, First Fridays, a new 3D film featuring Thomas the T. rex, all-new Dinosaur Encounters performances, new after-school programs for elementary-to-teen learners, live science demonstrations, guest speaker series, and so much more. NHM Commons will also host events co-created by our many community partners.

ADVISORY GROUPS

NHMLAC has convened two advisory groups for the development of the new wing—the NHM Commons Native American Advisory Council and the NHM Commons Advisory Coalition—whose members collaborate with our community engagement, education, public programs, and exhibitions staff on all aspects of the new wing to ensure we are engaging with our local communities in an authentic and intentional way. 

Learn more about our NHM Commons advisors! 

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THANK YOU TO OUR DONORS

NHM Commons is supported by NHMLAC’s Opening New Doors Campaign, which has exceeded $106 million and includes funding for NHM Commons construction as well as endowment and programmatic fundraising efforts.

The NHM Commons project is supported by leadership gifts and grants from the following public and private contributors:

County of Los Angeles - $30 million
State of California - $9 million
Annenberg Foundation - $5 million
Ron Perlstein, in memory of Judith Perlstein - $5 million
Joan Payden - $2.4 million
Ahmanson Foundation - $2 million
The Rose Hills Foundation - $2 million
The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation - $1 million.