{"id":795722,"date":"2026-07-11T20:42:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T20:42:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/795722\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T20:42:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T20:42:28","slug":"live-near-the-lucas-museum-you-might-be-able-to-visit-for-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/795722\/","title":{"rendered":"Live near the Lucas Museum? You might be able to visit for free."},"content":{"rendered":"

After breaking ground back in 2018, the long-awaited Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is finally opening in September. It announced its ticketing details<\/a> just last week: Future visitors to this shrine to storytelling can purchase tickets online beginning Tuesday, July 21, at 10am, and general admission tickets will cost $25\u2014a pretty reasonable price, in line with the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures<\/a> and LACMA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But this morning, the museum unveiled a special program for its neighbors: the LM37 pass, which will grant ongoing free access to the museum<\/a>\u00a0to all those living in the 90037 zip code. I spoke with Lucas Museum CEO Tracey Bates about the details of the program and more exciting museum news on the horizon.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur founders [George Lucas and Mellody Hobson] have always wanted to be truly committed to the community that we\u2019ve entered here at Exposition Park and all the surrounding neighborhood,\u201d says Bates. \u201cIt\u2019s been an exciting but long eight-year project here, and we wanted to make sure that [the direct neighbors] were gifted something back immediately as a thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those direct neighbors are the residents of South L.A.\u2014over 65,000 people reside within the 90037 zip code. And all of them can apply for an LM37 pass, which will allow them to reserve free museum tickets for themselves and one guest. The best part? The long-term pass isn\u2019t good for just one visit; it has no expiration date and can be renewed each year with proof of address. All those eligible can sign up at lucasmuseum.org\/lm37<\/a> to be notified as soon as they can register for a pass in August.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really excited to bring such a significant art museum to South Central,\u201d says Bates. So while the museum opens to all on September 22, a special Community Preview Day will be held nine days earlier, on September 13, giving those in the neighborhood a sneak peak at the museum. Tickets for that will be distributed through community partners and to registered LM37 passholders.<\/p>\n

For those that live in one of L.A. County\u2019s some 500 other zip codes, keep an eye out for details on upcoming community days that will run wider than the 90037, according to Bates. Those and lots of other exciting programs are still T.B.A., including after-hours nights, music performances and events in the surrounding parks and gardens, taking advantage of the 11-acre campus.<\/p>\n

\"An
\nPhotograph: Photo by Sand Hill Media\/Eric Furie. \u00a9 2025 JAKS ProductionsAerial view of Lucas Museum park. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just so excited, you know, after eight years, to be opening the doors to the people. We are very excited to see how Angelenos respond to the museum. We are very excited to open the parks and gardens and have such a large green space to add to the community here in South Central L.A.,\u201d says Bates. \u201cSo I think as well as the art on the walls and the programming we\u2019ll be creating,\u00a0I never want people to forget the parks and gardens that we\u2019re opening too, because that\u2019s just a great space to come and feel a sense of community.\u201d<\/p>\n

So\u00a0once you do get to visit the museum, what can you expect to see? \u201cEveryone assumes a certain amount of Star Wars, but it\u2019s so much more than that,\u201d says Bates, who details highlights including a community gallery where the artwork ranges from Frida Kahlo paintings to one of the famed \u201cDogs Playing Poker\u201d series by Cassius Marcellus Coolidge.<\/p>\n

More than 1,200 pieces have been selected for the museum\u2019s first installation (selected from Lucas\u2019s collection of over 40,000 items). These will be installed throughout some 30 galleries and 100,000 square feet. The artwork will span prehistoric cave paintings and ancient sculptures of gods and goddesses all the way to comics and artifacts from modern cinema. You\u2019ll find pieces by Norman Rockwell, Jack Kirby, Beatrix Potter, N.C. Wyeth, photographer Dorothea Lange and more modern names like cartoonist Alison Bechdel all under the same roof\u2014in short, there should be something for everyone.<\/p>\n

With the opening of the Lucas Museum in September, Exposition Park is poised to be a hub of L.A.\u2019s cultural scene, rivaling Miracle Mile. Between the newcomer and its neighbors\u2014the Natural History Museum<\/a> (which is free for all L.A. residents weekday afternoons) and the always-free California African American Museum<\/a> and California Science Center<\/a>, which will open its ambitious\u00a0Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center<\/a> expansion in November\u2014you could spend an entire, very budget-friendly weekend at the park getting your fill of history, science and art.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After breaking ground back in 2018, the long-awaited Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is finally opening in September.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":795723,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[76,354,355,49,48,16613,356,75,16614,12270],"class_list":["post-795722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-categories-things-to-do","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-news-city-life","tag-things-to-do"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=795722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/795723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=795722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=795722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=795722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}