Natural History Museum

The tourists think big. Arriving in Southern California, they expect to conquer Disneyland and Hollywood, perhaps on the same day, in between the surfing and snowboarding. Then they get stuck in traffic. Then come the recriminations, the tears, the vows to visit an island next time. The locals think small. Tracing tight little loops between home and work, they dodge freeways and alien neighborhoods. There are Los Feliz people who haven't set foot in Venice since the latter Bush administration (I'm one)

Kris Jaro Hasson shot this photo of a butterfly on Monday at the Butterfly Pavilion at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. She used a Canon S95. Each week, we're featuring photos of Southern California submitted by readers. Share your photos on our  Flickr page  or  reader submission gallery . Visit  latimes.com/socalmoments  for more on this photo series.

The noise-pop mad-scientist Dan Deacon earned a reputation for chaotic, neon-splattered party punk by playing on the floor and blurring lines between artist and audience. On last year's album "America," however, he showed a more thoughtful, rigorous side of his composing skills. Natural History Museum, 900 Exposition Blvd., L.A. 6 p.m. Fri. $18. nhm.org.

The noise-pop mad-scientist Dan Deacon earned a reputation for chaotic, neon-splattered party punk by playing on the floor and blurring lines between artist and audience. On last year's album "America," however, he showed a more thoughtful, rigorous side of his composing skills. Natural History Museum, 900 Exposition Blvd., L.A. 6 p.m. Fri. $18. nhm.org.

First Fridays with Luis Chiappe, Gayngs and Dirty Beaches Where: Natural History Museum, 900 Exposition Blvd., L.A. When: 5-10 p.m. Friday Price: $12 adults, $9 seniors and students, $8 youths (13-17), $5 children 5-12, free for children 4 and younger Info: (213) 763-3466; http://www.nhm.org

If you caught "Night at the Museum" and thought that would be a lovely way to spend a weekend, here's your chance (albeit sans Ben Stiller). Camp Archaeology is part of the Overnight Adventures in which your little Indiana Joneses can take part in a mock dig with archaeology equipment all over the museum. The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 900 Exposition Blvd., Los Angeles, 6:30 p.m. Friday. $43. (213) 763-3536.

The DJ/producer who goes by the Gaslamp Killer has been a staple of the L.A. beat scene for years, as a resident at the renowned Low End Theory club night that helped put dubstep on the map in America. But he's come into his own as an artist, releasing his debut full-length "Breakthrough" last year and winning over international audiences with his fiery stage presence. Natural History Museum, 900 Exposition Blvd., L.A. 6 p.m. Fri. $18. nhm.org.

The experimental L.A. folk outfit Lord Huron earned local renown for pairing brokenhearted songwriting with dreamy and unorthodox arrangements. The band (the project of singer-songwriter Ben Schneider) released its debut full-length "Lonesome Dreams" on Iamsound in the fall, and they play the First Fridays series with Wildcat! Wildcat! Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 900 Exposition Blvd., L.A. 5:30 p.m. Fri. $18. http://www.nhm.org.

'Sun' to shine at museum The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County said Tuesday that it was set to receive a $1-million grant that would go toward what it is calling a new "landmark" permanent exhibition. "Under the Sun: Los Angeles, California and the World" is scheduled to open in 2012 and will broadly explore the history of Southern California, including ways in which diverse communities interacted with the land to shape the area. The museum said that the new grant is coming from the James Irvine Foundation.

David H. Koch's deep philanthropic pockets will benefit dinosaurs. The executive vice president of Koch Industries has donated $35 million to the National Museum of Natural History, the Smithsonian Institution announced Thursday. The gift will go to the 30-year-old dinosaur hall, which museum officials say has long been in need of renovations. Koch, a member of the museum's advisory board, previously gave $15 million to the museum's David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins.

Steve Soboroff, the wealthy developer and civic leader, says the state should reject a proposed deal that would give USC a long-term lease of parking lots used by three public museums neighboring the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Soboroff said Wednesday that USC's proposal to assume management of the parking areas as part of the private university's plan to take control of the Coliseum could be "the end of the museums. " USC wants the option to use the lots for its students and employees.

The DJ/producer who goes by the Gaslamp Killer has been a staple of the L.A. beat scene for years, as a resident at the renowned Low End Theory club night that helped put dubstep on the map in America. But he's come into his own as an artist, releasing his debut full-length "Breakthrough" last year and winning over international audiences with his fiery stage presence. Natural History Museum, 900 Exposition Blvd., L.A. 6 p.m. Fri. $18. nhm.org.

In 1907, Charles Mulford Robinson, pioneering urban theorist, sketched a version of Los Angeles modeled on Baron von Haussmann's Paris. He envisioned wide avenues, broad vistas and open spaces for the increasingly cramped and unplanned metropolis, along with a central park, tree-lined and landscaped river banks and an architecturally unified downtown graced with large plazas and terraced gardens. "You simply cannot afford to stand still," Robinson told the city officials who'd hired him, or the city's growing population would cause an unacceptable rise "in congestion, in ... discomfort and ugliness, and in paucity of municipal effectiveness.

The experimental L.A. folk outfit Lord Huron earned local renown for pairing brokenhearted songwriting with dreamy and unorthodox arrangements. The band (the project of singer-songwriter Ben Schneider) released its debut full-length "Lonesome Dreams" on Iamsound in the fall, and they play the First Fridays series with Wildcat! Wildcat! Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 900 Exposition Blvd., L.A. 5:30 p.m. Fri. $18. http://www.nhm.org.

In spring we previewed the 3.5-acre North Campus at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, which was putting the finishing touches on a garden designed as urban wildlife habitat, a place where L.A. critters could come to escape city life just like the rest of us. Cameras set up throughout the Mia Lehrer-designed landscape were intended to capture feathered and four-legged residents, day and night. To find out exactly what the cameras have recorded, we recently checked back with Sam Easterson, senior media producer for the museum's Nature Lab, who described the results as nothing less than “thrilling.” The opossum babies that we pictured atop their mama in a night-vision photograph have grown up, Easterson said.

The folks at History are nothing if not ambitious. Two years ago, In "America: The Story of Us," the basic cable network reduced the history of the United States to a 12-hour miniseries, its lavish and entailed reenactments punctuated by commentary from citizens as diverse as Colin Powell, Michael Douglas and Donald Trump. Now History turns its attention to a wider palette. The entire palette, actually. "Mankind: The Story of All of Us," was created by Nutopia, the production company behind "Story of Us," and uses a similar construct and time frame - 12 hours - in which to review the evolution of human civilization.

In spring we previewed the 3.5-acre North Campus at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, which was putting the finishing touches on a garden designed as urban wildlife habitat, a place where L.A. critters could come to escape city life just like the rest of us. Cameras set up throughout the Mia Lehrer-designed landscape were intended to capture feathered and four-legged residents, day and night. To find out exactly what the cameras have recorded, we recently checked back with Sam Easterson, senior media producer for the museum's Nature Lab, who described the results as nothing less than “thrilling.” The opossum babies that we pictured atop their mama in a night-vision photograph have grown up, Easterson said.

Re "What to do about the zoo," Editorial, Oct. 26 I echo The Times' editorial regarding the L.A. Zoo and its relationship with the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Assn. As we move forward in these challenging budget times, partnerships are key. GLAZA and our city attorney should go back to the table and forge an operating agreement that works for everyone. We can take Los Angeles County as a great example of when strong partnerships work well, especially with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and, most notably, the Hollywood Bowl.

Along with airports and shopping malls, museums are some of the toughest indoor places to navigate. Who hasn't found herself wandering aimlessly around a gallery of Greek and Roman artifacts while trying to find an exhibit of Impressionist paintings , or peering at a dimly lit minerals exhibit at a natural history museum when really you want to see the giant whale skeleton? Well, help is on the way. This week, Google announced it added indoor floor plans of 20 American museums to its Google Maps for Android.