1. Hammer Museum
If you can tolerate getting to and being in Westwood, this UCLA-affiliated space is an oasis of great curation, a lovely quad with funny chairs to hang out in, a nice bar/restaurant and even free ping-pong.

2. Getty Center
You have to make it to the marble ivory tower (probably in your car in which case you have to pay a lot for parking) but once you get there it’s free, and so is the view.

3. Getty Villa
Even farther afield for most, the Getty Villa is an extremely pleasant fake Roman Villa and has some remarkable stolen antiquities, same deal with parking.

4. The Broad
I haven’t managed to find time to wait in line, but they say that the real estate mogul has some good art to show off, and you can walk around Disney Hall next door for free too.

5. Griffith Observatory
From Space Age nostalgia exhibits to the more up-to-date underground bit, plus the classic art-deco building, telescopes and the ugliest bust of James Dean imaginable, and you can go for a hike too in the museum of nature that is Griffith Park.

6. Fowler Museum UCLA
Of course parking is an overpriced nightmare, but you could take the bus and then stroll through the sculpture garden on the way to a manageable-sized ethnographic museum.

7. LACMA
While not exactly free for all, always, if you tag along with a youngster (under 18) or go the 2nd Tuesday of the month, or are an LA resident on Mondays, Tuesdays Thursdays from 3 to 5 and Fridays from 3 to 8 and MLK Day, President’s Day and Memorial Day it is, except for “special exhibits”; plus there is free art just strolling the grounds and smelling that tarry air.

8. MOCA and the Geffen Contemporary on Free Thursday evenings from 5 to 8, especially if you like crowds.

9. Wende Museum
Definitely worth a field trip back to the Cold War for us nostalgics, check for infrequent visiting hours.

Harper Dry Lake—from the Center for Land Use Interpretation, photo archive

10. Center for Land Use Interpretation
I don’t even know if it’s free but don’t be such a cheap motherfucker, these people are doing interesting work and they’re right by the Museum of Jurassic Technology with its inscrutable mission.