The Broad Tickets: How to Get In and See the Infinity Room

The Broad tickets are, in the simplest terms, free timed-entry passes to a contemporary art museum on Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles, built around the collection of philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad. There's no admission fee for the permanent galleries — a rarity among major art museums in a city where Universal Studios Hollywood and the Hollywood sign tours run well over $100 a head. But "free" at The Broad comes with a system attached, and understanding that system before you show up is the difference between a smooth visit and standing on Grand Avenue wondering why the line hasn't moved in 40 minutes.

The museum's architecture alone — that perforated white "veil" designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro — draws people in off the street, and it sits a short walk from the Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), making this stretch of downtown one of the densest arts corridors in the city. The ticket question really comes down to three routes: reserving online ahead of time, joining the standby line on the day, or buying a separate ticket for a special exhibition. Each works differently, and which one you need depends on when you're visiting and how much you care about guaranteed entry.

Free general admission explained

General admission to The Broad's permanent collection galleries has no ticket price — you don't pay to walk through the core exhibits. That free model is intentional, part of the Broad family's stated mission to make contemporary art accessible rather than exclusive. It's unlike MOCA down the street, which does charge general admission, and unlike paid LA attractions such as the Getty Center's parking fee model. The catch is that free doesn't mean unlimited capacity. The museum still controls how many people are inside at once, which is why the reservation and standby systems exist in the first place.

Timed-entry reservations at a glance

Timed-entry reservations assign you a specific entry window — not a lingering open-ended slot — through the museum's own website. You pick a date and a time band, and that reservation gets you into the general admission galleries during that window. It doesn't guarantee a spot for the Infinity Mirror Room, which runs its own separate queue once you're inside. Reservations release on a rolling basis rather than all at once a year out, so if you've got fixed LA dates, it's worth checking the site as soon as your travel dates are locked rather than waiting until the week before.

Free general admission at The Broad covers the museum's three floors of permanent collection galleries — postwar and contemporary works spanning Jean-Michel Basquiat, Cindy Sherman, Jeff Koons, and the rotating displays pulled from the Broad's holdings of more than 2,000 works. What it doesn't automatically include is anything requiring a separate, bookable slot or ticket, and that's where visitors sometimes get caught out expecting a single all-access pass.

Permanent collection galleries covered

Your free reservation or standby entry gets you the third-floor and first-floor galleries, the museum store, and the public-facing architecture itself — including views into the working art storage visible from the lobby, a feature unique to The Broad among LA museums. You can move at your own pace through these spaces once inside; there's no internal timer pushing you out after an hour. Compare that to Universal Studios' timed ride reservations, which are far more rigid — here, once you're through the door, the clock mostly stops.

Paid extras and ticketed exhibitions

Special exhibitions are the exception. The Broad periodically runs ticketed shows — major single-artist retrospectives or thematic exhibitions — that sit outside the free general admission model and require their own paid ticket, bought separately through the museum's website. These aren't always running, so don't assume there's an extra fee waiting for you; check the current exhibition schedule before you go so you're not caught paying for something you expected to be free, or conversely missing a show because you didn't realize it needed its own ticket.

These three entry routes solve different problems, and conflating them is the most common mistake visitors make when planning around The Broad tickets. A reservation guarantees your entry time. Standby gambles on there being room once you arrive. Special exhibition tickets are a wholly separate purchase layered on top of either of the first two.

A booked timed-entry reservation is the only route that guarantees you'll get into The Broad on your chosen day.

The Broad tickets compared: reservations, standby, and special exhibitions

Costs and availability change by exhibition and season, so confirm current reservation windows and any special exhibition pricing on The Broad's official website before you go.

Comparing the three entry routes

Reservations are booked online in advance and tied to a specific date and time window — ideal if your LA itinerary is already fixed around, say, a morning at Griffith Observatory or an afternoon in Santa Monica and you need The Broad to slot in predictably. Standby means showing up without a reservation and waiting in a line that's let in as space allows; it's unpredictable by design, and on weekends or holiday periods it can mean a genuinely long wait with no fixed end time. Special exhibition tickets are bought on top of either route and apply only when a ticketed show is running. None of these three routes are interchangeable — you can't use a standby wait to skip into a special exhibition, for instance, if it has its own capacity controls.

Which route suits which visit

If you're a European traveler with only two or three days in LA and a packed schedule that also includes Santa Monica Pier or a day trip toward Malibu, book a reservation — you don't have slack in your day to gamble on standby. If you're staying downtown for several days or building in flexible time, standby can work, especially if you're willing to try a weekday morning. Families with young children should lean toward reservations too; standing in an unpredictable line with restless kids is nobody's idea of a good museum visit.

Book directly through The Broad's own website — it's the only official channel, and it's free to use. Avoid third-party ticket resellers that sometimes appear in search results promising "skip the line" access to a museum that doesn't charge admission in the first place; if a site asks you to pay for general admission to The Broad, that's a red flag, not a shortcut.

Reserving through the museum's website

On the official site, you select a visit date, choose from the available timed-entry windows, and enter names for everyone in your party — reservations are typically per person, not per group ticket. You'll get a confirmation to show at entry, usually on your phone, so there's no need to print anything. Reservation windows open on a rolling schedule rather than months in advance, so check back if your target date isn't live yet.

Joining the standby line on the day

If you didn't reserve, you can join the standby line in person at the museum entrance on Grand Avenue. Staff let standby visitors in as reserved-ticket capacity allows, which means the wait length is genuinely variable — it could be short on a quiet Tuesday morning and considerably longer on a Saturday afternoon. Arriving close to opening time generally improves your odds, since capacity hasn't yet filled with the day's reservation holders.

Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirrored Room is the single biggest draw at The Broad, and it operates on its own rules separate from your general admission reservation or standby entry. Getting into the museum does not guarantee you'll get into the room — this trips up more visitors than any other part of the visit.

How the virtual queue works

Once inside the museum, visitors typically join a separate virtual queue for the Infinity Mirror Room, usually managed through a line-joining system on site rather than something you can book from home in advance. That means you can't lock in an Infinity Room slot the same way you lock in your entry reservation — you queue for it after you've arrived. Expect this queue to move slower on weekends and during peak midday hours, and know that the room may close its line entirely once the day's capacity is reached, even if the museum itself stays open.

What to expect inside the room

Entry into the Infinity Mirrored Room itself is brief — visitors are let in for a short, timed turn, typically well under a minute, to experience the mirrored, light-filled space before the next group goes in. It's not a lingering, sit-and-absorb experience; bring your phone ready if you want a photo, because you won't get a second pass through unless you queue again. If you have mobility concerns or are visiting with a stroller, ask staff about accessibility accommodations for the room specifically, since the format and footing inside differ from the open gallery floors.

For a city where a day often means paying for parking, rideshares, and ticketed attractions, a genuinely free world-class museum is worth building into any LA itinerary — but it suits some travelers far better than others.

First-time visitors and art fans

If you're new to LA or genuinely interested in contemporary art, The Broad earns its reputation. The collection is deep enough to hold a two-hour visit, the building itself is worth the trip, and pairing it with the Walt Disney Concert Hall next door and MOCA a few blocks away makes for a solid half-day of downtown culture without spending beyond a meal and transport.

Families, budget travellers and short stays

Budget travelers and families will appreciate the zero admission cost, but I wouldn't recommend it for anyone with under 90 minutes in downtown LA or very young kids who won't tolerate a queue for the Infinity Room. If your trip is tightly timed around Disneyland in Anaheim or a quick loop through Santa Monica and Venice, The Broad is better saved for a trip with a full downtown day rather than squeezed in as an afterthought.