Los Angeles Police Museum — Attraction in Los Angeles

The “Highland Park Police Station” in the Highland Park section of Los Angeles, is the city's oldest surviving police station and was closed in 1983.

The station took a year to construct (1925-1926), and cost $100,000 to build at that time. The new police station opened in April 1926, and the official opening was attended by then Chief, Edgar Davis and Police Commissioners, Birnbaum, Insley and Webster.

** “Did you know……,” that in 1942, future LAPD Chief Daryl Gates was arrested and briefly held at this station for “assault and battery on an officer!” In 1963, he returned as a police captain in command of the station.

A number of “high profile” cases were handled out of this station; "Hillside Stranglers", Angelo Buono, Jr. and the Kenneth Bianchi case. The radical Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), the group that kidnapped Patty Hearst and engaged in an infamous shootout with the LAPD in 1974. In 1973, they planted a bomb at this station but it proved to be a “dud.”

February 28, 1997, “North Hollywood Shootout” two heavily armed bank robbers (Larry Phillips Jr and Emil Mătăsăreanu), against a couple hundred LAPD Officers! Eleven police officers and seven civilians were injured, and both robbers were killed. There were numerous vehicles and private property damaged or destroyed by the nearly 2,000 rounds of ammunition fired by both sides.

• Due to the large number of injuries, rounds fired, weapons used, and overall lengthy shootout, it is regarded as one of the longest and bloodiest events in US police history.

Our visit; I think I was just as enthusiastic as my kids were in coming to visit this place. From the outside, there really wasn’t anything “snazzy” about the place. There wasn’t any advertisement or some “clown holding an arrow, like you see around tax time.” We were able to park next to the museum which was convenient. You could tell this place was old by just looking at how it was built and once you entered, it undeniably had that “turn of the century” style.

The museum has two floors of old uniforms, weapons, and accessories worn by officers of that bygone era. The one incident that most stands out in my mind is the “North Hollywood Shootout.” I remember watching this live on TV and was glued as I watched the firefight taking place between the "two bank robbers and almost all of LAPD!"

It was hard to watch as civilians and officers went down and with live coverage, you saw the blood all over the place. The ending was the most dramatic as “SWAT officers” exchanged fire with the lone gunman and eventually took him into custody. The suspect died shortly thereafter on scene. I still have vivid memories of the whole incident!

The museum had on display and encased in glass, the life size manikins of the two heavily armed robbers and a video tape of the actual shootout. Vehicles outside of the museum included a shot-up police vehicle, armored vehicle, and a helicopter, used during this incident.

I recalled this incident changed the way police officers responded to future shootouts. Before, regular patrol officers only had their sidearm and shotgun at their disposal and had to wait for SWAT to arrive for the firepower. Today, officers are equipped with the latest AR-15’s to match the suspect’s firepower.

My family enjoyed all the props and items at this museum and upstairs, sat and watched the actual North Hollywood Shootout. While they watched the documentary, I enjoyed reading and looking at all the uniforms and other things they had displayed.

On the humorous side, the museum also displayed “ID Cards” from the widely popular 60’s Detective TV Series, “Dragnet” which featured a “true” story every week. Det. Joe Friday & Gannon's police identifications they “flashed” on the show was on display (Uploaded to YELP).

Can’t say enough how much I enjoyed seeing this museum and I think the kids liked it too! Our family left learning a lot more about police work along with memories of...

I will never return to this place again!! They talked to me and treated me like I was some ahole!! Ok, so I came here a couple times before with several months in between visits. One of my visits, I asked about a car (detective older gray square Caprice) that was on display before as many pictures of it have surfaced on the internet at the location with the rest of the vehicles on display. I simply asked! The guy, retired LAPD cop, gray hair...talks to me with contempt, like I'm some ahole or have some bad agenda..Told me he never seen the car. That's fine, not a big deal..I only asked, he may not have worked there until recent and therefore haven't seen the car. But then about 9 months later, I returned to the museum because I was in the area and wanted to see the cars again and get some pics. Then I noticed a patrol car that was just there on my last visit was now missing. So, (big mistake) I casually asked the lady up front what happened to it. The same guy walks up to me with such a dk manner, loudly "WHAT DO YOU NEED SIR??" I'm thinking wow, I only asked what happened to another car that I had just saw. So I simply showed him a picture from my phone which was clearly taken on site from a previous visit. He says he doesn't know, I said ok, that's cool, just wondering. Then before anymore tension can rise, to my relief, a sheriff deputy that was just visiting immediately diverted all the attention away from me by grabbing that retired bag and began talking to him about some old phone box. I was "whew!" But then the lady walks up to me like i was starting some problem or something.."you asked about that car last time you were here!!!" I replied, "no ma'am, that was a different one, I'm asking about this car..showed her the pic" she looks at me crazy and tells me it's out there, I said I just came back from there, it's not there lol. She literally proceed to tell me yes it is, as if I'm blind! But it didn't even matter, because these people are clearly crazy and I'm not here to anger them more. To wrap this story up, another lady began to nicely give me hints for me to leave...Which I GLADLY did. What is wrong with these people??!! I just simply asked about the cars, and the old retired dkbag treated me like I was casing to rob the place!! Then the other workers just followed his lead. I'll NEVER return to this place again, I've been there before, and that's fine with me at this point. All I have to say is thank God the deputy was there the divert the attention away from me. I was having a conversation with him prior to that and he was very nice and talking to me about what his favorite police cars were etc. I had never been so glad to be...

I bought two tickets within the month of December 2024 and scheduled my museum visit for 12/28/24 (which I had also entered on their website). Myself and my guest was very excited to go there, as I am a law enforcement officer and this would have been amazing to explore the history of the LAPD.

I arrived at the museum at 10:45am and it was closed. The parking lot was deserted and the front door was closed. I rang the doorbell and left two messages with no response. I even called the museum number with no response multiple times and throughout the day. The museum’s website says they are open on Saturdays from 10:30am to 3:30pm. I know it may be a holiday week, but the website should mention if they will be open or closed so people can know in advance.

I was very disappointed, as I had to purchase a $30 uber ride (I was staying 20 minutes away from the museum) and spent $17 for the admission to the museum, only to be stuck at the front of the entrance without even a sign to say they were closed.

Please in the future at least notify people who booked a museum visit with you when the museum will close. I am only visiting LA for 5 days and did not need to waste my money or time only to be shut out without a response. Very...