The Natural History Museum is usually where Angelenos go to stare up at enormous dinosaur skeletons, lose track of time in the gem vault, and remember that the local wildlife outside is much more interesting than the traffic on the 10.
This winter, though, the museum is dimming the everyday lights and inviting guests in after sunset.
8 October 2026 09:30 + more dates
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
NightTales: An Illuminated Museum Experience is a new premium indoor-outdoor nighttime event arriving at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County on select dates from November 12, 2026 through January 10, 2027.
The experience is set to transform select museum halls and garden spaces with glowing installations, cinematic projections, immersive visual encounters, and an entirely new perspective on the collections after dark.
Details have been slowly pouring in, and we have the full scoop on how to get tickets before anyone else.
A winter night at the museum, reimagined
NightTales is not being positioned as a standard holiday lights walk-through.
The museum describes it as an “illuminated journey” that moves indoors and outdoors, using art, projection, color, light, and the museum’s natural-history setting to turn familiar spaces into something much more surreal.
L.A.-based artist Maggie West is behind the experience’s inaugural artwork.
West is known for saturated photography that plays with light, scale, and the natural world, and NightTales will feature her luminous reimagining of museum specimens throughout the experience.
Expect glowing creatures, vivid botanical visuals, cinematic light play, and the kind of darkened-gallery atmosphere that makes the ordinary museum trip feel suddenly much more cinematic.
The route will include selected spaces in the museum and its gardens, so guests should note that not every gallery will be open during NightTales.
That is part of the point though: rather than trying to fit in the full daytime museum visit, this is designed as a distinct after-hours world.
From dinosaur fossils to glowing galleries
The Natural History Museum is already a dramatic place to spend an afternoon, let’s be honest.
Its Dinosaur Hall holds more than 300 fossils and 20 mounted dinosaur skeletons, while the Gem and Mineral Hall contains 150,000 objects, including gold, diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and plenty of natural eye candy. Just outside, the Nature Gardens create a living pocket of Southern California wildlife and native plants in the middle of Exposition Park.
That is what makes NightTales more interesting than a typical holiday light walk.
Rather than building a temporary attraction in a parking lot or botanical garden, it uses one of L.A.’s most recognizable museum settings as its canvas.
The result is a chance to see familiar halls, specimens, and garden pathways from a completely different angle, long after the daytime crowds have cleared out.
What to expect at NightTales
NightTales is an indoor-outdoor after-dark journey through selected areas of the museum and its gardens, created in collaboration with L.A. artist Maggie West.
Guests can expect:
- Glowing installations and cinematic projections
- Immersive visual moments inspired by the museum’s collections and the natural world
- Original artwork from Maggie West
- A nighttime route through select museum galleries and garden areas
- Timed-entry visits from 5:30 pm to 10 pm on select nights
- A premium experience separate from a standard daytime museum admission
NightTales opens November 12, 2026, and continues on select nights through January 10, 2027, including dates around Thanksgiving, throughout December, and into the first week of January.
More to see at NHM
NightTales may be the museum’s newest reason to visit, but the daytime lineup offers plenty of reasons to build a fuller Exposition Park day around it.
In 2026, NHM is also hosting Orcas: Our Shared Future, Unearthed: Raw Beauty, and Oceans 3D: Our Blue Planet, along with the seasonal Spider Pavilion through December 6.
The museum’s ongoing draws include the Dinosaur Hall, the Gem and Mineral Hall, the Nature Lab, the Nature Gardens, and rotating programs such as live-animal presentations and Dinosaur Encounters.
NightTales dates and tickets
Where: Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 900 Exposition Boulevard, Los Angeles
When: Select nights, November 12, 2026 through January 10, 2027
Hours: Timed entry is scheduled between 5:30 pm and 10 pm
Tickets: $30 for adults and $25 for children, according to the museum’s announced launch details
Parking: Limited prepaid parking is available in the NHM Car Park during online checkout. Cashless general parking is also available in Exposition Park on event evenings.
⛄ Get NightTales tickets and view available dates through NHM and normal museum admission tickets here!
