The SEA Lab

Redondo Beach, United States

4.3

20 reviews

Accepts Credit Cards

Contacts

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Telephone:
+1 310-318-7458
Website:
lacorps.org
Address:
1021 N Harbor Dr, Redondo Beach, CA, 90277
Redondo Beach
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Bussiness info

Accepts Credit Cards
Yes

Today

Today –
Local time (Redondo Beach) –

Business hours

Monday –
Tuesday 9:00 am – 3:30 pm
Wednesday 9:00 am – 3:30 pm
Thursday 9:00 am – 3:30 pm
Friday 9:00 am – 3:30 pm
Saturday –
Sunday –

Description

Specialties

Host your son or daughter’s next birthday party at the SEA Lab. Birthday packages include a 2 hour rental, private touch tank tour for guests, themed decorations, crafts and goody bags.

Join us for our monthly «Fishtivity» event, every first Saturday of the month from 10am — 12pm we host free or low cost family events. Check out our Facebook page for details on upcoming events.

Every Saturday at 12:00pm we host a fish feeding, you can help us feed some of the animals in our Tidepool tank.

Become a member of the SEA Lab and enjoy benefits such as discounts on birthday party packages and summer camp registrations, free admission into future Fishtivity events and much more!

The SEA Lab offers no-​to-​low cost education programs for individuals, families and school groups.

History

Established in 1997.

The SEA Lab is a hands-​on coastal science education center in Redondo Beach that offers free and low cost programs for explorers of all ages.

The site was originally founded in 1974 as the Edison Marine Research Laboratory to develop a state-​of-​the-​art fish protection system — the very one still in use today at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. Twenty years later, Southern California Edison, together with Earth Island Institute, decided to convert the site into a coastal science education center. LA Conservation Corps was selected to develop and manage the new SEA Lab as one of its programs.

In addition to its in-​center programs, the SEA Lab extends its offerings into the community through summer camp programs, community service projects and the Traveling Tidepool mobile exhibit. All of the activities are operated by college students trained by the Los Angeles Conservation Corps, who receive help from more than 100 dedicated local volunteers.

The SEA Lab also recommends

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«A great aquarium located in San Pedro»

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Office Cleaning

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«One of our great sponsors»

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Museums

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Community Service/​Non-​Profit

The SEA Lab says,

«Another great, local aquarium.»

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20 reviews of The SEA Lab

No registration required
Place rating: 5
New York, NY
A great find on our boardwalk explorations. Got to see a variety of sea creatures in the exhibit area (moray eels and jelly fish were favorites), and the tour of sea life in tanks out in the back was very hands on and informative. Would be great for kids. As two mid-​30s adventurers, we enjoyed ourselves too.
Place rating: 5
Gardena, CA
Don’t understand what the negative reviews are about. I thought the Sea lab was great. You can’t beat a $ 4 donation for your entire family to visit. I loved the tour and how interactive it was. Our tour guide was very nice and informative. We got to touch, sting ray, Sharks and anemones. We even got to feed the fish! The kids LOVED it! They want to go back every Weekend and for a $ 4 donation to a good cause and great fun I’m not opposing.
Place rating: 5
La Crescenta-Montrose, CA
Super small super cool spot to see various sea animals at this unassuming location in Redondo Beach. The sea animals here are so beautiful and well preserved.
There is no admission fee. They do take donations which we did graciously give. When coming here, don’t expect a Monterey Bay or Long Beach type aquarium. It’s not an aquarium, it’s a Sea Lab and seems to be utilized for school field trips and educational purposes.
Parking is just behind the building. If you tell the attendant you are there for the Sea Lab, you pay less than the posted rates. Just ask how many hours are allotted for that rate.
Place rating: 2
Manhattan Beach, CA
Kind of a dump… there were no touching tanks which I thought was their whole deal. Everything said please don’t touch. Very small.again.kind of a dump.
Place rating: 5
Pasadena, CA
Super friendly and it was so much fun! Great learning experience for the marine biology lover and kids.
Place rating: 5
Hawthorne, CA
This place was fantastic! I went for the «Sea Day» in Redondo and didn’t even realize this place existed. Apparently they have tours all the time. It’s a great aquarium with multiple touch tanks. The people at each tank were very knowledgeable and friendly and excited (and I went towards the end of the day). You can touch a couple of sharks, lobsters, sea cucumbers and sea hare’s, halibut, bat rays etc. It was small but really fun and informative.
Place rating: 5
Pinckney, MI
We loved it! The aquarium is small but that is not a bad thing. Being small it is very intimate and you get a very up close to everything and its not crowed. We got a personal tour from a young girl I believe her name was holly. She was very knowledgeable we learned things from her that we did not know, even being to most of the major aquariums in the country. I would recommend this to anyone who likes sea life.
Place rating: 5
Los Angeles, CA
So great for a small aquarium they pack a lot in. Really the thing to do to appreciate it is the touch tank tour. Your guide is a student usually interested in marine biology. Great. Bring small children if you have them, enjoy the reactions of other people’s children if you don’t. My favorite of all is the batray he is really a small dog dressed as a batray. And the shark that obviously lives for the petting of strangers.
Place rating: 4
Los Angeles, CA
took my almost 2-​year old here and it was a great way to spend an hour. it’s not impressive, but close and cheap. the eels were cool and creepy and it was cool to check out the fish in the outdoor area. it’s awesome that this exists since my kid was entertained and we can do the fancier aquariums when it will be more meaningful to him.
Place rating: 5
Torrance, CA
I have ridden by this place literally hundreds of times and not stopped in. I have been missing out. What a great little gem in Redondo. My wife and I stopped in without any kids and still had a fun and informative time. It is targeted more to families but adults will find things of interest here too. Its bigger than the Santa Monica or Manhattan Beach pier aquariums and more structured. (not as big as full on aquariums like Long Beach of course) The tour is really nice, lasts about 30 minutes, and is very hands on. The girl that gave us our tour had an awesome personality, was a great speaker, and was very informative. The student volunteers appeared to be getting a lot out of it too. This place is a win, win, win. Good for conservation, the community, and fun. You also cant beat the meager $ 2 donation, its worth more and I happy gave extra. If you haven’t been, now is the time.
Place rating: 3
Redondo Beach, CA
I came here with my daughter and She really liked it. I think that they have a good sample of local species and $ 2.00 donation makes it a great place to visit
Place rating: 5
Long Beach, CA
Great place to bring your kids (ages 6 — 10) to explore the ocean life. Not as extravagant as the LB Aquarium. It’s tiny but with enough sea animals to educate the young ones. Hourly tours are given. One big plus is the tour by the water district, how to make sea water into drinking water. We learned about the three aqueducts across California and Colorado; and our water reserves. There is no admission, only a small donation. There is a small souvenir shop with affordable gifts. Very friendly staff and volunteers.
Sea Lab also allows birthday parties. Very cool! Also really close to the beach!
Place rating: 1
San Diego, CA
Waste of $ 2 donation! Advertised open at 9am! It was! However, after collecting my donation I discovered that first tour is at 1pm, and until that time there is only access to six small aquariums inside and one larger tank outside with some unidentified fish! I was told that is just the way it is! Refused to return my donation!
Place rating: 4
Los Angeles, CA
Inexpensive ($ 2 donation per person or $ 4 for the family) destination if you are in South Bay area. You could be living in this area for decades and yet not know about this place.
You can’t compare to Aquarium in Long Beach and San Pedro. This place is tiny, you could probably tour this place in 30 minutes or less. They have additional tanks in the back but you’d have to wait for the guided tour which is held hourly.
Their guided tour schedule was posted at several locations but the listed time varied with each sign. Hmmm… which one is correct?
Once I left, I went on a walk towards the beach and yacht club. I was surprised to see some small fish swimming near the boat docks. Water was clear enough to see them.
Place rating: 4
Walnut, CA
Local Gem
Pros:
Small and Cozy Aquarium
Plenty of Parking (metered)
Entrance is Free (Donations suggested)
Tour provided every hour with petting
Cons:
Could use a *little more with the gift shop
Place rating: 5
Torrance, CA
What a great little aquarium! It’s not like the Aquarium of the Pacific, so don’t expect something like that. This place is run by donations and by volunteers. The people that work here are dedicated to preservation of marine life and educating visitors. The staff are friendly and knowledgable.
My son had his birthday here and he also attended their week long summer camp for 4 – 6 year old kids. What a wonderful place!
For birthday party, you get an outside section reserved for your party, complete with a touch tank tour, a large canopy, tables and chairs for 2 hours. Your child can choose between Ocean Theme and Pirate Theme, and they will have the party area decorated for you. There will be about 3 dedicated volunteer staffs to give a tour and to make sure your party goes smoothly. There was someone always checking in with me so we didn’t run out of time to get everything done (tours, food, cake, etc). Very helpful staff.
My son also loved the summer camp here. He got to learn a lot about local marine life, the threat against marine life, play games, got to go the beach and do fun arts & crafts. The volunteers were so friendly & hands on, he was sad to leave the camp when it ended. We will definitely be back again for next summer!
He even said he wants to come volunteer once he is old enough to do so. It’s a wonderful facility for a little marine biologist like my son. :)
Place rating: 5
Torrance, CA
This is a fun little spot to spend a few hours. We’ve brought the kids here twice. Admission is a small donation of whatever you can muster. You get to see a small variety of local sea life, as well and sea creatures which are being rehabilitated at the time. They have a few interactive displays, which is fun for every kid/​adult.
So if you’re in the area you should drop by for a quick walk through.
Place rating: 3
Wilmington, CA
Things to know about The Sea Lab: It’s free, but a donation is requested. 2 dollars per person or 4 dollars for a family. The parking is right across the street from The Sea Lab, it is metered so bring some quarters! That I know of the tour hours are 1:00, 2:00 and 3:00pm. If you don’t make the tour you’re pretty much left with the large pond outside and the small little exhibits located inside.
The Sea Lab is a lot smaller then I thought it was going to be. I showed up a little late for the tour so I pretty much looked around the inside of the building and stood outside for a little bit. There isn’t much to see but some how I spent a whole hour in there. There isn’t much to do inside The Sea Lab, but I assume if I had made it for the tour it would have been a lot more entertaining.
However, I really enjoyed the pond outside. I probably could have stayed there all day if my little sister-​in-​laws didn’t get impatient and want to leave. Other then that I wouldn’t really come here unless I was in the area. However, I will come back for the tour to see if maybe there is more stuff that I didn’t experience in my first visit that could give The Sea Lab a 5 star rating.
The staff was pretty helpful, and for some reason (to me) the sea horses looked really sad. But I’m not a marine biologist so I could be wrong. ^_^
Place rating: 4
Palo Alto, CA
This sealife petting zoo has something for everyone three years old and above. If you like meeting sea animals, call ahead and ask about when Sea Lab’s guided petting times are scheduled for. If instead you like learning about water conservation and desalination, join the desalination tour and find out how the folks here are trying to turn salt water into fresh drinking water.
Convenient parking is available next door.
Place rating: 5
El Segundo, CA
Just got back from a birthday party here and I am surprised I haven’t been here before. It’s a great place to have a party and also just to visit.
For the party — they setup a pirate themed area, that was shaded with tables and decked out in pirate décor. They had two-​three staff at any given time that walked the kids through crafts and provided a tour of the touch tanks. They also did a «treasure hunt».
If you aren’t there for a party, they do tours at set times during the day. You can also view the tanks inside and the outside tank that has sharks, halibut, and some other fish. It’s really great, intimate, and I will definitely be back, hopefully for their Earth Day celebration!