The La Brea Tar Pits
As you step outside Los Angeles County Museum the smell hits you. It’s an acrid odor as if a road crew were patching potholes on Wilshire Boulevard. Minutes ago you viewed art by Picasso or Georges Braque. Now you find yourself walking toward the parking lot, passing a dark brackish bubbling lake where three fiberglass mastodons recreate the image of ancient beasts trapped in a lake of tar.
It’s called the La Brea Tar Pits, but it’s not really tar. It’s asphalt, the lowest grade of crude oil. The ooze has been seeping from the ground for thousands of years. As the asphalt dries, the lower density oil evaporates. What remains are blobs of icky, gooey, nasty black gook.
The La Brea Tar Pits is the quirkiest tourist site in Los Angeles. They’re a perfect metaphor for the city, a spot where once dominant creatures became trapped and were left to die. Tens of thousands of years ago, the tar pits were covered with water, dirt and leaves. Mammoth elephants appeared searching for sustenance. They became trapped in the tar and were devoured by ferocious saber-toothed cats. The cats became trapped as well and their bones were perfectly preserved.
In the 1800s, the Native American Chumash tribe used the tar to seal cracks on their wooden plank canoes. Early California settlers used the solidified asphalt to cover the roofs of their houses and to fuel campfires. In…
