The Drum Barracks Civil War Museum, in Wilmington, are one of the very few Civil War museums in California, about 20 minutes northeast of Fort MacArthur station. This museum features the last Civil War era building in Los Angeles, with several rooms in era-correct display, including a parlor and officer's bedroom.

The Los Angeles Maritime Museum, in San Pedro, showcases LA and general US maritime history, with a large collection of scale models (including the Poseidon, from The Poseidon Adventure) exhibits on the fishing industry and on commercial diving, and the flying bridge of the USS Los Angeles.

The Port of Los Angeles is one of the largest and busiest in the world, but it does have space for the USS Iowa and SS Lane Victory. The Iowa was one of the principle battleships of World War Two, the Korean War, and was active as recently as the 1990s; it is today a museum ship at the Pacific Battleship Center. The Lane Victory is one of the few remaining Victory-class ships from World War Two, and has been featured in several major films. The two ships are both in San Pedro docks, but not very close to each other.

The Fort MacArthur Military Museum is on the grounds of the former Fort MacArthur (named for General Douglas MacArthur's once famous father, Lieutenant General Arthur MacArthur, Jr., recipient of the Medal of Honor), and includes militaria from across the lifetime of the fort, 1914 to 1974, as well as the shore battery fire control stations, pre-WWII barracks, and a radio room of various military radios of the 20th Century.

The Cabrillo Marine Aquarium is only a block south of Fort MacArthur housing, and features jellyfish, grunion running, and local marine life exhibits.

The California Science Center is not in the South Bay area, but people interested in seeing historic artifacts of the Space Race may want to check it out. The "ScienCenter" is about half an hour from Fort MacArthur station or about twenty minutes from main base, and showcases a number of aircraft and spacecraft, systems, and other displays (including the space shuttle Endeavor). The Center has a large number of other science exhibits and activities, and is located in Exposition Park, which (as you may know) is also the location of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, and the California African American Museum.