CALIFORNIAN SCICENTER 

Located in Los Angeles' Exposition Park, the state-of-the art California Science Center is a re-creation of the former California Museum of Science and Industry. An ambitious plan, to be sure, brought this museum to life in February of 1998 and focuses on hands-on learning and large-scale experiences. A collaborative effort between educators, scientists, business leaders, community residents, and elected officials, in a few short years, this museum has been a resounding success.

In the 245,000 square feet of engaging exhibits, learn about the law of the center for gravity by riding a bicycle across an open expanse of the grand atrium. Create your own music in a digital jam session, build an igloo, witness an operation in the Surgery Theater, play virtual volleyball or watch a 50-foot animatronic human model come to life to explain how the body works. The interactive museum is focused on four thematic worlds: The Creative World, The World of Life, World of the Pacific and Worlds Beyond.

The Creative World examines the environment humans build to meet their needs for structure, transportation, and communications. In the Discovery Room see an exhibit about how solar power can move cars. The use of laser, video, and audio imagery inspires exploration to make the connections between science, technology, and people's lives.

The World of Life explores how all living things function, from plants to animals to the human body. At the entrance to this exhibit is a lenticular tile wall that begins with a blinking eye that quickly shifts to red blood cells moving through an artery and into a pumping human heart. As the blood cells continue to move through the heart they emerge to become a school of jelly fish moving upward that become slithering snakes that turn into running cheetahs, ending in a sequence of the earth as the central part of a flower surrounded by petals.

Scheduled to open within the next 4 years, the World of the Pacific will feature exhibits on the mysteries of the ocean and living organisms of the Pacific Rim ecosystems. The World's Beyond exhibit is scheduled to open within the next 10 years and will focus on the great reaches of outer space, taking visitors on journeys from inside the earth's atmosphere to the edge of the universe. Both of these exhibits only feature a preview gallery now. In 2001 the new Air and Space Hall will re-open with new aerospace and planetary exhibits.

With a movie screen towering 7 stories high, The IMAX Theater, shows 2-D and 3-D films that tie into themes found in the Science Center. Open daily except Thanksgiving and Christmas. Call (213) 744-7400 for further information.

The 112 feet high glass atrium in the Science Court is the focal point of the museum through which visitors can enter and explore the four major exhibition areas.

The museum is open daily from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm except for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day. Admission to the museum exhibits is free. The best time to visit is weekday afternoons after 1:30 pm. Located in historic Exposition Park at 700 State Drive, Los Angeles, the center is two blocks west of the Harbor Freeway (110). For further information call: (323) 724-3623.