Los Angeles & Southern California - Andrea Schulte-Peevers [240]
Bioclimatic environments include Tiger River, a re-created Asian rain forest; Gorilla Tropics, an African rain forest; and the Sun Bear Forest, where the Asian bears are famously playful.
Absolutely Apes is devoted to the apes of Indonesia, including orangutans and siamangs climbing in lush forests. The large, impressive Scripps Aviary and Rainforest Aviary have well-placed feeders to allow some close-up viewing. And you can walk right beneath 100 species of winged creatures inside the Owens Aviary. Finally, don’t miss the African Rock Kopje (outcrop), where klipspringers (small antelopes) demonstrate their rock-climbing abilities.
The zoo gardens are renowned and some of the plants are used for the specialized food requirements of particular animals. Pick up a brochure for the self-guided botanical gardens tour.
And of course the zoo is made for kids, from animal shows in at least two venues, to a children’s zoo exhibit (where youngsters can pet small critters). Both children and adults will enjoy the animal nursery, where you can see the zoo’s newest arrivals. Babies are born every spring and summer.
CALIFORNIA QUADRANGLE & MUSEUM OF MAN
El Prado passes under an archway and into an area called the California Quadrangle, with the Classical Revival–style Museum of Man (Map; 619-239-2001; www.museumofman.org; adult/child/senior $8/4/6; 10am-4:30pm) to the north. Figures on either side of the arch represent the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, while the arch itself symbolizes the Panama Canal. This was the main entrance for the 1915 exposition, and the building was one of Goodhue’s most ornate Spanish Colonial Revival creations, said to be inspired by the churrigueresque church of Tepotzotlán near Mexico City. The Tower of California, richly decorated with blue and yellow tiles, is an architectural landmark.
Originally, the building displayed more than 5000 ethnographic artifacts, including some specially made for the exposition – cast concrete reproductions of Mayan carvings are still on display. The museum now specializes in Native American artifacts from the American Southwest and has an excellent display of local baskets and pottery. The museum shop sells handicrafts from Central America and elsewhere.
PLAZA DE PANAMA
In the middle of El Prado, Plaza de Panama was the center of the Panama–California Exposition. The equestrian statue on the southern side is El Cid, who led the Spanish revolt against the Moors in the 11th century. On the plaza’s southwestern corner, next to a rare New Zealand kauri tree (a fragrant evergreen with flat leaves), is the House of Charm, the Indian Arts building for the Panama Exposition; it got its present name during the 1935 fair as a souvenir market. It now houses the Mingei International Museum (Map; 619-239-0003; www.mingei.org; adult/student/senior $6/3/4; 10am-4pm Tue-Sun) and its excellent permanent collection of folk art, costumes, toys, jewelry, utensils and other handmade objects from traditional cultures.
SAN DIEGO MUSEUM OF ART
Built in 1924, the SDMA (Map; 619-232-7931; www.sdmart.org; adult/child/student/senior $10/4/7/8; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun, to 9pm Thu) is the city’s largest art museum. It was designed by San Diego architect William Templeton Johnson in the 16th-century Spanish plateresque style, so named because it features heavy ornamentation resembling silverwork. The facade is particularly ornate, with sculptures depicting Spanish artists, most of whom have pieces inside the museum. The permanent collection has works by a number of European masters from the renaissance to the modernists (though no renowned pieces), some worthwhile American landscape paintings and several fantastic pieces in the Asian galleries, and there are often important traveling exhibits. The Sculpture