Fire Truck Museum

Today we went to the LAFD Historical Society museum in Hollywood, aka The Fire Truck Museum. If your kid is into fire trucks, this is a great place to visit. The museum is located in Old Fire Station 27 which was built in the 1930’s and for many years was the largest fire station west of the Mississippi. Inside you’ll find antique fire trucks, ambulances, hoses, etc. They even had some of those big nets for catching people with the red bull’s-eye in the middle; apparently they don’t only exist in cartoons.

The first floor has all of the big trucks and equipment, along with a display of miniature fire trucks behind glass. Sadly, the kids are not allowed to climb on the trucks. Upstairs there are more exhibits and a large room with toy fire trucks and dress up uniforms for the kids to play with. Baby M and his good friend Baby F killed about 2 hours running around the museum and playing with the toys. It’s worth noting that there were only 3 or 4 trucks in the play area, possibly a problem if more than a few kids show up. Today it was just us and one other child, and, oddly enough, the Daughters of the American Revolution, who were using the upstairs meeting room. The museum staff, mostly made up of retired firemen, was very friendly and gave the kids free plastic fire hats to take home with them. And as a bonus for us moms, there are also active firemen hanging around which is nice if you get tired of looking at trucks and ladders.

The museum is open Saturdays only from 10am – 4pm and is free, although a $5 donation per adult is requested. I found free street parking less than a block away without too much trouble and there were plenty of metered spots available as well.