At the San Diego Natural History Museum, Tom Deméré, curator of paleontology and director of paleo services, examines a fossil collected from the dig at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law. Though the public won’t have access to these cabinets counting large collects of fossils, they will have a view of the large array of filing cabinets containing fossils. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
When visitors arrive at the San Diego Natural History Museum, they can explore four floors of exhibits, fossils, dioramas, life-size models, watch big-screen nature films and, on Friday nights, enjoy a bird’s eye view of Balboa Park from the rooftop deck.
But come Friday, all of the public’s attention will be focused underground, when the Nat opens its long-awaited Tom Deméré Paleontology Center on its basement floor.
Many years in the planning stages, the new Paleo Center includes a massive archive with more than 1.5 million specimens of local plant, animal, insect and sea life that Nat scientists have collected, prepared and catalogued over the past 150 years. The center is named after the museum’s Curator of Paleontology Tom Deméré, who has worked at the museum for nearly 46 years.
But the Paleo Center is more than just a collections library. It is also a working science lab, where the Nat’s paleontology staff work each day to examine, classify and research new specimens that are still being unearthed regularly at construction sites around the county.
Guest of the San Diego Natural History Museum, will enter though here on their way to the Paleo Center. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
At the San Diego Natural History Museum, Tom Deméré, Curator of Paleontology and Director of Paleo Services, enters the Paleo Center, where ammonites about 75 million years old collected from Carlsbad are on display. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
At the San Diego Natural History Museum, one of the large exhibit rooms has several amphibians on display in specimen jars at the Paleo Center. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
At the Paleo Center in the basement of the San Diego Natural History Museum, the public will have access to drawers like this one containing shells collected from Carlsbad that are about 75 million years old. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
At the Paleo Center in the basement of the San Diego Natural History Museum, fossil samples that are 40 million years old and were collected by paleontologist Christopher Plouffe from the Mission Valley dig. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
At the Paleo Center in the basement of the San Diego Natural History Museum, fossil samples that are 40 million years old and were collected by paleontologist Christopher Plouffe from the Mission Valley dig. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
At the Paleo Center in the basement of the San Diego Natural History Museum, the public will have access to drawers like this one containing bones and teeth of ancient dog-like animals that are 30 million years old collected from Chula Vista. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
At the San Diego Natural History Museum, Tom Deméré, curator of paleontology and director of paleo services, examines a fossil collected from the dig at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law. Though the public won’t have access to these cabinets counting large collects of fossils, they will have a view of the large array of filing cabinets containing fossils. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Guest at the San Diego Natural History Museum, will file past various bone displays on their way to the Paleo Center. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
At the Paleo Center in the basement of the San Diego Natural History Museum, paleontologist Christopher Plouffe uses a microscope for his micropaleontology work while examining sand sediment that is 40 million years old. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
On Wednesday, May 21, 2025, at the San Diego Natural History Museum, Kirstin Mueller works on sediments that are about 40 million years old that were collected from Mission Valley. The public will have access to this view at the Paleo Center of staff actively working on their science. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
On Wednesday, May 21, 2025, at the San Diego Natural History Museum, Kirstin Mueller (r) snd Christopher Plouffe (l) work on sediments that are about 40 million years old and were collected from a dig in Mission Valley. The public will have access to this view at the Paleo Center of staff actively working on their science. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
On Wednesday, May 21, 2025, at the San Diego Natural History Museum, a staff member works on one of the large exhibit rooms at the Paleo Center. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
At the San Diego Natural History Museum, Tom Deméré, curator of paleontology and director of paleo services, examines a fossil collected from the dig at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law. Though the public won’t have access to these cabinets counting large collects of fossils, they will have a view of the large array of filing cabinets containing fossils. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
At the Paleo Center in the basement of the San Diego Natural History Museum, the public will have access to drawers like this one containing fossils from marine life and shark teeth that are 3.5 million years old collected from Mission Hills. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
At the San Diego Natural History Museum, Aren Skalman, exhibits production manager, works on the installation of a large wall map at the Paleo Center. The wall map will display various fossils and point out on the map where the fossil was collected from in San Diego County. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Guest at the San Diego Natural History Museum, will file past various bone displays on their way to the Paleo Center. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
At the San Diego Natural History Museum, Tom Deméré, Curator of Paleontology and Director of Paleo Services, looks over one of the exhibits containing fossils that the public can view as they enter the Paleo Center. The fossil in front is a left lower jaw of an American mastodon collected from Carlsbad. And the bone behind is a nearly complete lower jaw of a mastodon, collected from Otay Mesa. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
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Guest of the San Diego Natural History Museum, will enter though here on their way to the Paleo Center. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
The Paleo Center is also a public space, where museum visitors can watch the scientists work in their glass-walled research rooms, and explore on their own drawers and shelves filled with colorful insects, snakes in jars, skulls and shells and pressed plant specimens.
To celebrate the opening of the Paleo Center, the Nat will unveil an exhibit on Friday named “Amazement in the Basement,” which invites visitors to go behind the scenes, explore fossils up close and meet the scientists themselves. The highlight of the exhibit is a room where fossil specimens that were unearthed locally can be viewed up close on walls of shelves.
“The new experience is one of the many ways we’re expanding our offerings and bringing visitors closer to nature,” said Judy Gradwohl, president and CEO at The Nat.
“Amazement in the Basement” is one of many “Summer of Wonder” events taking place in the coming weeks and month to celebrate the Paleo Center opening. Also planned are:
Nat at Night: Every Friday, museum ission is half-off after 5 p.m., where visitors can explore all five floors of the museum and then head to the museum’s rooftop to watch the sunset, buy a cocktail and one of the small plate offerings from the Mission Hills restaurant Wolf in the Woods.
Rooftop views: In the past, the rooftop deck was only open to the public on Friday evenings. This summer, it will be open to all guests on Saturdays and Sundays.
Hands-on activities: This summer, a variety of interactive events for all ages will be offered throughout the museum, including lectures, sketching classes, story times for small children and Get creative with nature studio and gallery sketching, interact and visits to the Nature Studio, featuring craft items inspire by nature. Coming up next weekend, the Nature Studio will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday; a Nature & Me story time is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. June 8. A full schedule can be found at sdnhm.org/calendar/summer-of-wonder.
Animal encounters: From 1:30 to 2 p.m. on the second and fourth Saturdays of each month in the museum’s Living Lab, professional animal handlers will host Critter Chats, where museum visitors can get up close to and learn the stories of live animals native to San Diego County.
New films: The museum’s Giant Screen Theater will host two new films this summer: “Jane Goodall: Reasons for Hope” and “Animal Kingdom,” which will both screen daily and are free with paid ission. (“Wild San Diego,” which debuted last fall, will also be in the regular rotation.)
New store and café: The museum has opened two new retail spaces in the Atrium area. The Craft Taco is a quick-service, made-to-order taqueria that also serves coffee, specialty drinks and to-go food options like pollo asado bowls and torta sandwiches. Gold Leaf, a boutique in San Diego’s South Park, has opened a satellite gift shop offering nature-focused home goods and gifts.
Paleo Center grand opening
When: 10 a.m. Friday, June 6; hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily
Where: San Diego Natural History Museim, 1788 El Prado, Balboa Park, San Diego
Tickets: $24, adults; $20, seniors (62+), military and students (with ID); $7, youth 3 to 17
