Bookable
An Apollonaut travel guide
The place behind the detail.
A harbourside site, galleries arranged by ocean region and a new wing shaped like the sea offer several ways into the story of the Aquarium of the Pacific.
On this page
A home on Rainbow Harbor
The Aquarium of the Pacific opened in June 1998 on a six-acre site on Rainbow Harbor in Long Beach, with a street of its own, Aquarium Way.
It is a non-profit organisation and Southern California’s largest aquarium, welcoming about 1.6 million visitors a year.
One ocean, many regions
The galleries are arranged by region: Southern California and Baja, the Northern Pacific and the Tropical Pacific.
About 12,000 animals live in more than 100 exhibits, from sea otters and sea lions to sharks, jellies, penguins and lorikeets.
A wing shaped by the sea
In 2019 the aquarium opened Pacific Visions, its first major expansion, designed by the San Francisco architects EHDD. Its curving façade is made of more than 800 individually shaped panels that change colour with the light and the weather.
This history belongs to the place and the people who shaped it. The History page offers a longer introduction, and the timeline gives a short route through selected milestones.
Read at the source
Sources & further reading
Links lead to the original publishers.
