Science Center History

	The gate to Agricultural Park, which is now known as Exposition Park, the home of the Science Center. In 1876 when Agricultural Park opened, the land was used for agricultural fairs.

The California Science Center is housed in a location that has long played an important role in the history of Los Angeles. The first State Exposition Building, which stood in the exact spot of the current Science Center, opened in 1912 and housed simple, agriculturally based displays of natural resources and industrial products from across the state.

After World War II, as technology-based businesses began to grow, the State Exposition Building was remodeled to show visitors the role of science and technology in everyday life. To better describe this new objective, it was renamed the California Museum of Science and Industry in 1951.

In 1987, the Museum began a comprehensive, long-range planning effort that included a reassessment of its role and its methods. The final plan called for the transformation of the Museum into a state-of-the-art science education facility, designed to respond to the needs of diverse communities and a state that continues to grow and evolve. Its new name, the California Science Center, reflects the redesign and ambitious goals.

The California Science Center's Master Plan includes three phases. The first phase of the three-part plan (1988-98) called for the construction of the Science Center's main building, the Howard F. Ahmanson Building, which opened in February 1998. Although the Ahmanson Building was totally redesigned, it still keeps the historical façade of the original State Exposition Building. Two permanent exhibits, World of Life and Creative World, are the main exhibit components of Phase I, offering over 100 hands-on activities and a wide variety of floor programs.

We are currently nearing the end of Phase II (1998-2010), which has greatly expanded the role played by Science Center in formal science education in southern California and beyond. Phase II witnessed the opening of the Science Center School, a neighborhood public elementary school created in partnership with the Los Angeles Unified School District, and the Amgen Center for Science Learning, the education division of the Science Center, which offers professional development opportunities, training and tools for science, math and technology instruction. In 2004, the Wallis Annenberg Building for Science Learning and Innovation opened. This 80,000 sq. foot facility is designed to facilitate the creation and implementation of cutting-edge science learning and education practices. Housed within the Wallis Annenberg Building for Science Learning and Innovation, and open to students, teachers families and community educators, is the Big Lab, a 32,000 sq. foot inquiry space for hands-on science experiments.

Other main features in Phase II are The SKETCH Foundation Air and Space Exhibits renovation (completed in March 2002), featuring artifacts from over 100 years of flight and space exploration, and the expanded parking structure the Roy A. Anderson Blackbird Exhibit and Gardens, (completed in 2003) which features California native and friendly drought tolerant plantings, spanned by a one-of-a-kind featuring a Lockheed A-12 Blackbird aircraft. The last element of Phase II is World of Ecology, a permanent exhibit gallery focusing on Earth's ecosystems is on-schedule to open to the public in early 2010.

To find out about what’s to come in Phase III, click here.

The California Science Center main building as it looks now, blending the front of the old State Exposition Building with a new structure. The building serves as a reminder of our history—and of our plans for the future.