On a Friday night in Exposition Park, the museum stays open—and Los Angeles shows up. What began two decades ago as a modest experiment in after-hours access has grown into one of the city’s most reliable rituals of cultural nightlife. In 2026, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County marks the 20th anniversary of First Fridays, its once-a-month evening series that blends science, live music, conversation, cocktails, and community—without asking audiences to choose between learning and having a good time.
Running from February 6 through May 1, the 2026 season reflects on how First Fridays helped redefine what a museum night in Los Angeles could be. Not a lecture hall. Not a club. Something in between—where curiosity is social, and discovery happens after dark.
Live Music Returns to the Mammal Diorama Hall
This anniversary season brings back one of the most requested features in First Fridays history: live musical performances inside the museum’s iconic mammal diorama hall. It’s a room built for stillness—frozen ecosystems, silent animals mid-stride—but on these nights, it becomes one of the most unusual concert venues in the city. Past performers have included artists who later filled arenas and headlined festivals, including Phoebe Bridgers, Japanese Breakfast, and Father John Misty. The 2026 lineup continues that tradition, pairing globally minded, tastemaking artists with a setting that refuses spectacle in favor of intimacy.
Conversations at the Human Scale
Beyond the music, First Fridays has always leaned into conversation. This year’s discussion series is presented in collaboration with the Berggruen Institute’s Planetary Program and moderated by neuroscientist and science communicator Dr. Yewande Pearse. Each month features conversations with scientists and thinkers from NHM and institutions across the country—designed not as panels to endure, but dialogues to sit with.
The season opens February 6 with “Life at the Human Scale,” the first in a series that widens its lens month by month. The kickoff discussion explores how human health, identity, and biology are shaped by the unseen life people rely on every day—and how those relationships complicate what it means to be human in the first place.
A Museum Designed for Wandering After Dark
As always, the experience extends beyond any single room. Guests can move through the museum with a drink in hand, stop at one of NHM’s two bars, grab food from rotating local food trucks, and encounter pop-up experiences with museum experts, artists, and vendors throughout the space. Music, lectures, installations, and informal exchanges unfold simultaneously—less scheduled programming than curated collision.
Tickets, Times, and the 20th Anniversary Silver Package
First Fridays run from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tickets are $30 per event, with Museum Members receiving discounted admission at $20, along with early entry at 5:30 p.m. and a priority access line. New for the 20th anniversary season is a Silver Package ($75), which includes parking, reserved seating for the discussion, and guaranteed entry to the live music hall.
Sponsored by the Berggruen Institute, First Fridays 2026 doesn’t try to reinvent itself. Instead, it sharpens what it’s always done best: turning a museum into a meeting place, after hours, where science feels alive, culture feels local, and Los Angeles feels briefly gathered in the same room.
For More information and to Buy Tickets: nhm.org/firstfridays
Location: 900 Exposition Blvd., Los Angeles
Photo credits: Photos courtesy of Lucas Museum of Narrative Art
