Itinerary: The BC in L.A.

When pundits bemoan Americans’ ignorance of history, they’re usually referring to the War of 1812, or the overlooked achievements of the Polk administration.

But start talking prehistory, and most of us are in deep trouble. Who knows the Mesozoic era from the Triassic?

This weekend, take a look at what life was like around here a really, really long time ago.

Thursday

This may be more film history than real history, but tonight at 8 the Silent Movie Theatre (611 N. Fairfax Ave., L.A. [323] 655-2520) is showing the 1925 classic “The Lost World.” The story has a touch of Stanley and Livingston: A newspaper funds an expedition into the deep reaches of the Amazon to find a missing explorer--who claims to have found surviving dinosaurs.

The film, directed by Harry Hoyt based on a story by Arthur Conan Doyle, is best remembered for its re-creation of dinosaurs. The stop-motion animation was done by Willis O’Brien, who also animated “King Kong” (which screens Sunday at 1, 4 and 8 p.m.).

Friday

For an Ice Age double feature, head to the Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits (5801 Wilshire Blvd. Open daily 10 a.m.-5 p.m. $6; $3.50, students and seniors; $2, ages 5 to 12; under 5, free. [323] 934-PAGE).

Inside, check out the temporary exhibit “Mammoths: Wild and Woolly” (through Sept. 17), which includes fossils from the museum’s collection that have never before been on display. Though similar to elephants in some ways, mammoths have been extinct for more than 11,000 years. Unlike dinosaurs, however, mammoths coexisted with humans in North America. The remains of more than 30 Columbian mammoths have been found in the La Brea tar pits.

Outside, visitors can see what paleontologists are digging up these days in Pit 91. The museum sets up a free public observation deck from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays, through Sept. 10.

Saturday

Picture a timeline on the floor. The year 2000 is where you are. If the point where mammoths became extinct in North America were 1 foot away from you on that timeline, the Cretaceous era would be 1.2 miles beyond that.

The Cretaceous period was about 70 million years ago, when the last of the great dinosaurs was roaming the Earth. But much of North America was covered by a shallow sea--and that was filled with giant creatures. The exhibit “Savage Ancient Seas,” through Oct. 9 at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (900 Exposition Blvd., L.A. Open daily, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. $8; students and seniors, $5.50; ages 5 to 12, $2. [213] 763-DINO) gives visitors a look at these prehistoric marine animals.

On display are the skeletons or casts of 50 giant water lizards, fish, squid and turtles. Among them: a 45-foot aquatic lizard called Bunker Tylosaurus and a 17-foot sea turtle called Archelon. Also, an 85-million-year-old squid fossil from the museum’s own collection is on view.

Sunday

Get more of the Cretaceous--in 3-D. The Imax film “T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous” has a plot that’s about as credible as that of “The Lost World”: A museum accident transports a teenager back to the age of pterodactyls. But critics raved about the computer-generated dinosaurs. It’s showing at the Imax theater at Universal CityWalk. (818) 508-0588.