Diorama: 1997 North Hollywood Bank Robbery Shoot-Out.

LAPD Museum

As LA crime-saturated as TV watchers and moviegoers may feel, this attraction devoted to Los Angeles police history holds many surprises. An old 1925 police station was converted and opened in 2001 as a museum, allowing visitors to sit in jail cells, examine bomb disposal robots, and climb inside the "batter ram" V100 tank. Souvenirs, memorabilia and evidence help explain famous cases: the Black Dahlia, the Robert F. Kennedy assassination, Charles Manson, the Night Stalker, the Hillside Strangler, the Symbionese Liberation Army.

One memorable display features two dummies dressed as robbers from the 1997 North Hollywood Bank Robbery Shoot-Out, the floor around them littered with ammunition and explosives.

There are old squad cars punctured with bullet holes, vintage guns, handcuffs, badges, and uniforms -- what's left after the smoke clears on more than a century of keeping the peace in a sprawling American city.

LAPD Museum

Los Angeles Police Museum

Address:: 6045 York Blvd, Los Angeles, CA
Directions:: Los Angeles Police Museum. In the old Highland Park police station, on the north side of York Blvd three blocks west of N. Figueroa St.
Hours:: M-F 10-4, 3rd Sa every month 9-3 (Call to verify)
Phone:: 323-344-9445
Admission:: Adults $8.
RA Rates:: Worth a Detour

Nearby Offbeat Places

Chicken Boy - Muffler Man, Los Angeles, CA - < 1 mi.

Big Red Dragonfly, Montecito Heights, CA - 1 mi.

Birthplace of the Cheeseburger, Pasadena, CA - 2 mi.

In the region:

Simon Rodia - Watts Junk Towers, Los Angeles, CA - 13 mi.

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April 26, 2018