free museum day

Select Southern California Museums FREE ADMISSION 2/5/2023!

Abby H.

Here in San Diego, February is Museum month, and that means 50% off admission to selected museums. Digital passes good for 50% off of up to four passes can be printed here, or visit your local City of San Diego or County of San Diego Library branch location.

Don’t forget that there is also Free Museum Tuesdays all year long for San Diego Residents and military families.

If you have an EBT/SNAP card, you can access over 1000 museums nationwide for FREE. Check out Museums4All here for more details and search for your local museums.

If you are looking for a fun road trip, or live outside San Diego County, there is a collection of 30+ museums in the LA/OC/Santa Barbara area with free admission offers next Sunday, 2/5/23.

Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
American Museum of Ceramic Art (Advance tickets required. Visit www.amoca.org to make a reservation.)
Armory Center for the Arts
Bowers Museum
Catalina Museum for Art & History
Cayton’s Children’s Museum (Advance tickets required. Visit www.caytonmuseum.org to make a reservation.)
Craft Contemporary
Descanso Gardens (Advance tickets required. Visit www.descansogardens.org to make a reservation.)
Fowler Museum at UCLA
Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, Pepperdine University
Hammer Museum
The Getty Center
The Getty Villa (Timed tickets are required for the Getty Villa. Visit www.getty.edu to make a reservation.)
Japanese American National Museum
La Brea Tar Pits & Museum (Advance tickets required. Visit www.tarpits.org to make a reservation.)
Laguna Art Museum
LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes
Lincoln Memorial Shrine
Long Beach Museum of Art
The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) (Advance tickets strongly recommended. Visit www.moca.org to make a reservation.)
Muckenthaler Cultural Center
Museum of Latin America Art (MOLAA)
Museum of Tolerance
Museum of Ventura County
Museum of Ventura County’s Agriculture Museum
Santa Barbara Museum of Art
Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History
Santa Monica History Museum
Santa Paula Art Museum
Skirball Cultural Center (Advance tickets strongly recommended. Visit www.skirball.org to make a reservation.)
The Wende Museum
The Zimmerman Automobile Driving Museum
USC Asia Pacific Museum

For more information and details, check out the website.

 

 

A San Diego Summer Favorite- Resident Free Days at Balboa Park

Abby H.1 Comment

One of the best ways to pass a Tuesday afternoon in the summer is to hit up Balboa Park. Each week there are several museums that offer free admission to residents of the City and County of San Diego, and to active military personnel and their dependents. Please be prepared to present a photo ID with your address.

Here is the schedule:

First Tuesday

Second Tuesday

Third Tuesday

Fourth Tuesday

Fifth Tuesdays

  • Regular admission prices are in effect

The Following Tuesdays: July 26th, 23rd, September 27th, October 25th,  November 22nd, and  December 27th:

  • The Comic-Con Museum (Not valid for “Beyond Amazing: Spider-Man – The Exhibition.” This special exhibit is an extra charge)

As a lifelong San Diego County resident, I’d pass on the automotive museum, it’s kinda meh (I’m not a gear head). And unless your kids are super into airplanes or outer space/NASA, I’d skip the Air and Space Museum. We paid full price a few years ago, and the kids hated it (ok, mostly Bitty hated it). The Mingei Museum is full of all kinds of stuff (folk arts, useful goods like pottery, clothing, quilts- it’s not super kid-friendly), but it’s pretty interesting.

Take a picnic, and enjoy eating in any one of the gardens/open spaces.  Another free activity in Balboa Park is the Botanical Garden and Lily Pond. Right next door is the Spanish Art Village, which is fun to explore as well.

Talk Back: What is your favorite part of Balboa Park?

 

9/21/19- Free Museum Day!

Abby H.

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Museum Day is a one-day event in which participating museums and cultural institutions across the country provide free entry to anyone presenting a Museum Day ticket. Participants are allowed to download one ticket per email address. The ticket provides free general admission on Saturday, September 21, 2019, for two people.

For those of us in San Diego County, there are 37 choices, ranging from The New Children’s Museum downtown to the Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad.  You can find a list of museums near you here.

Now, if you can’t make it out to free museum day, there are museums all over San Diego County that are FREE EVERY DAY!

Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum 4203 Anderson Ave, San Diego, CA 92145

Barona Cultural Center & Museum 1095 Barona Road, Lakeside, CA 92040

Bonita Museum and Cultural Center 4355 Bonita Road, Bonita, CA 91902

Miniature Engineering Craftsmanship Museum 3190 Lionshead Ave, Carlsbad, CA 92009

The Water Conservation Garden isn’t a museum, but it is free daily and super fun to explore. They also hold cool free events for kids and adults.

The Timken in Balboa Park is free every day. And there are select museums free every Tuesday in Balboa Park.  While you are in Balboa Park, stop by The City’s Botanical Building. It is open every day except Thursday. Admission is always free.

Make it a frugal afternoon by packing your lunch and snacks (don’t forget water- it’s going to be a hot one here in San Diego and most of the southwest next weekend)! I raid our snack cupboard and pack lots of different choices, that way everyone is satisfied.

Talk Back: Which museum in your area are you excited about checking out on 9/21/19?