The Broad is the museum that made contemporary art cool for people who never thought they'd care about contemporary art. Since it opened in 2015 on Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles, it's become one of the most visited museums in the country — nearly a million people a year walk through its doors, most of them under 35. The building itself, with its honeycomb-like white exterior (the architects call it "the veil and the vault"), is already iconic. The art inside is even better.
Founded by philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad, the museum houses over 2,000 works of postwar and contemporary art by more than 200 artists. The collection reads like a who's who of the most important artists of the last 60 years: Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons, Roy Lichtenstein, Cindy Sherman, Barbara Kruger, Takashi Murakami, Kara Walker, Ed Ruscha, Robert Rauschenberg, Keith Haring. And the whole thing is free.
The Third Floor: The Permanent Collection
This is the heart of the museum. A massive 35,000-square-foot open gallery illuminated by natural light through skylights in the ceiling. The collection rotates, but you'll consistently find:
Jean-Michel Basquiat The Broad has one of the largest collections of Basquiat's work anywhere. Raw, urgent, chaotic canvases that hit you in the gut. Untitled (1981), a skull rendered in oil stick and acrylic, is one of the collection's crown jewels.
Andy Warhol Major works spanning Warhol's career, from early pop pieces to his celebrity portraits and late abstract works.
Jeff Koons Love him or hate him, Koons' Balloon Dog sculptures and other works are here and impossible to ignore.
Roy Lichtenstein Comic-strip-inspired paintings that defined pop art. The Ben-Day dots look even more incredible up close.
Cy Twombly Swirling, gestural canvases that look like beautiful controlled chaos.
Ed Ruscha LA's own. Text-based paintings and Hollywood-inflected works by one of the city's most important artists.
Takashi Murakami Kaleidoscopic, anime-influenced canvases that are visual overload in the best way.
First Floor: Special Exhibitions
The first floor hosts major special exhibitions that change every few months. Currently on view:
Robert Therrien: This is a Story (through April 6, 2025) The largest solo exhibition ever of Therrien's work. You walk beneath oversized tables and chairs, encounter enormous hanging beards, and navigate stacked plates that seem to shift before your eyes. It's playful, surreal, and unlike anything you've seen in a museum.
Coming in 2025: Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind — the artist's first solo museum exhibition in Southern California.
The Infinity Mirror Room
This is the thing everyone comes for, and it lives up to the hype. Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirrored Room — The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away (2013) is a small mirrored room filled with LED lights that create the illusion of infinite space in every direction. You step inside, the door closes, and for about 30 seconds you're floating in a universe of light. It's transcendent.
How to get in: Infinity Mirror Room tickets are separate from general admission. They're released monthly on the last Wednesday at 10 am PT for the following month. Additional tickets drop nightly for the next day. These sell out fast — set a reminder. Walk-ups are also available daily, but the wait can be significant.
The Escalator Experience
Don't rush through the lobby. The escalator that takes you from the ground floor to the third-floor galleries cuts through the "vault" — the museum's art storage core. You pass through this dense, sculptural concrete channel and emerge into the bright, skylit galleries above. It's a deliberate architectural experience, and it's one of the most photographed features of the building.
Visiting Info
Address: 221 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012
| Day | Hours | |---|---| | Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday | 10 am – 5 pm | | Thursday | 10 am – 8 pm | | Saturday & Sunday | 10 am – 6 pm | | Monday | Closed |
Admission: Free. Timed-entry reservations recommended — released monthly on the last Wednesday at 10 am PT. Walk-ups available daily.
Parking
Underground garage beneath the museum. Enter on 2nd Street from Grand Avenue only. $19 for up to 3 hours with validation. $15 flat rate after 5 pm on weeknights and all day weekends. $28 daily max.
Construction Note
The Broad is expanding with a $90M addition. Hope Street is closed between GTK Way and 2nd Street. Museum remains fully open. Expansion opens before the 2028 Olympics.
Transit
Grand Avenue Arts/Bunker Hill Metro station right there — cross the bridge over Hope Street for direct access. Metro bus at 1st & Grand and Grand/3rd.
Where to Eat
Grand Central Market — 10 min walk LA's legendary food hall. Dozens of vendors. Get the breakfast burritos from Sarita's Pupuseria, tacos from Tacos Tumbras a Tomas, or Thai from Sticky Rice.
Otium — On the plaza Upscale restaurant right on The Broad's plaza, with a menu built around seasonal California ingredients.
Walt Disney Concert Hall — Next door The Gehry-designed concert hall next door has dining options and is worth walking around just for the architecture.
Little Tokyo — 15 min walk Ramen, sushi, izakaya, mochi. Daikokuya for ramen. Sushi Gen if you're feeling a wait.
Arts District — 15 min walk Bestia, Bavel, Wurstküche, and dozens of other spots.
How to Do It Right
- Book tickets the moment they drop. Monthly releases happen on the last Wednesday at 10 am PT. For Infinity Mirror Room tickets especially, set an alarm. If you miss it, check the website the evening before your desired visit — extra tickets drop nightly.
- Thursday evening is the best time to go. The museum is open until 8 pm, most tourists don't know about late hours, and the galleries thin out significantly after 5 pm. It's also $15 flat rate parking.
- Weekend mornings right at opening. Saturday and Sunday at 10 am, before the social media crowd arrives, is a good window. By early afternoon on weekends, it gets busy.
- Don't beeline to the third floor. Check what's on the first floor first. The rotating exhibitions at The Broad are consistently some of the best in LA, and people often skip them to head straight to the permanent collection.
- Take the stairs down after the third floor. The descent takes you through the visible art storage vault — you can see painting racks and stored works through windows. It's a completely different perspective on the collection.
- Pair it with the neighborhood. Walt Disney Concert Hall (Frank Gehry's masterpiece) is literally next door. MOCA is across the street. Grand Park is a block away. You could spend an entire day on Grand Avenue without running out of things to see.
Nearby
Walt Disney Concert Hall — Next door Frank Gehry's iconic stainless steel building. Free self-guided tours available most days.
MOCA Grand Avenue — Across the street Museum of Contemporary Art.
Grand Park — 1 block LA's central park, stretching from Grand Avenue to City Hall.
Angels Flight Railway — 2 blocks The world's shortest railway, a funicular connecting Hill Street to Grand Avenue.
Grand Central Market — 3 blocks Legendary food hall with dozens of vendors.
Little Tokyo — 15 min walk Restaurants, shops, Japanese Village Plaza.
Arts District — 15 min walk Galleries, breweries, restaurants.
FAQ
Is The Broad really free? Yes, general admission to The Broad is always free. You do need to reserve tickets online in advance, especially for weekends. Some special exhibitions may carry a separate charge, but the permanent collection on the third floor is free. Kusama's Infinity Mirror Room requires a separate (also free) ticket.
How long should I spend at The Broad? Plan for 1.5 to 2.5 hours. The museum isn't massive — it's two floors of gallery space — but the art is dense and worth taking slowly. Add 30 minutes if you're doing the Infinity Mirror Room.
How do you get tickets for the Infinity Mirror Room? Tickets for Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirror Rooms are available as timed entries when you reserve your free general admission ticket. They go fast, so book as early as possible.
What artists are at The Broad? The Broad features works by Jeff Koons, Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Cy Twombly, Cindy Sherman, Roy Lichtenstein, Takashi Murakami, and many other contemporary artists.
