Los Angeles Museums Prepare for 2028 With Major Renovations at the Getty Center and La Brea Tar Pits
Two of Los Angeles’s most visible museum destinations are entering a period of transformation ahead of the 2028 Olympic Games. The Getty Center in Brentwood will close in March 2027 for its first major renovation, while the George C. Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits will shut on July 6 for a campus-wide overhaul. Both institutions plan to reopen in 2028, before the Games begin.
At the Getty, the project arrives as the museum approaches its 30th anniversary. The renovation will combine structural and cosmetic updates, including changes to galleries, the Welcome Hall, the tram system that carries visitors up the hill, and infrastructure such as WiFi and cell service. The museum has said the refreshed galleries will bring art into dialogue with nature and introduce new artist commissions. Some areas are already offline for HVAC repair, including the Special Exhibitions Pavilion, the East Pavilion, and part of the South Pavilion.
A Getty representative said the North Pavilion will close in the summer, followed by a full South Pavilion closure later in the year, while the West Pavilion will remain open until the center’s full closure in March 2027. During the renovation, selected works from the collection will be shown at the Getty Villa in Malibu. The museum also plans to open a nearby space for special programs and begin work on a Westwood facility for scholarly activities.
The Page Museum’s renovation has been in development since 2019, but the scale of the project is now coming into focus. Overseen by New York-based Weiss/Manfredi, the redesign will modernize access to the building and unify the 13-acre campus around the tar pits. New elements will include visible research laboratories, collections storage and displays, an immersive theater, a roof terrace, and a Global Center for Ice Age Research. The center is named for Samuel Oschin, whose foundation made a $240 million transformational donation to the Reimagine La Brea Tar Pits campaign.
The museum is also planning a final round of public programming before the shutdown, including a free KCRW Summer Nights with La Brea Tar Pits event on June 12 and a disco-themed Last Dance at La Brea Tar Pits on June 27. The campus’s green spaces, including a new half-mile walking path, will remain open as appropriate, and excavations at the tar pits will continue.
With LACMA’s Geffen Galleries opening April 19 nearby, the museum district around Wilshire Boulevard is entering a period of visible change. By the time the Olympic Games arrive, two of the city’s most closely watched cultural sites will have been reimagined for a new era.
