Entry No. 42 — the Los Angeles file — filed under: haunted
Prey Taxidermy
Prey is the studio of award-winning taxidermist Allis Markham, who trained and worked in the taxidermy lab at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. In her tucked-away Lincoln Heights workspace she teaches small classes where you skin, preserve, and pose a real bird or mammal over a multi-day session. The work is meticulous and surprisingly tender, ending with a museum-grade mount you take home. Space is limited and classes regularly sell out.
The story
Allis Markham didn't pick up taxidermy as a kitschy craft-night novelty; she learned the trade in the taxidermy lab at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. When she opened Prey Taxidermy in a tucked-away Lincoln Heights studio, she brought museum-level standards with her. There are no novelty jackalopes or trashy garage jobs here—just high-level anatomical preservation, precision scalpels, and painstaking craft.
Inside Suite 209 on Lacy Street, the work treats dead animals with a surprising level of reverence. You aren't just 'stuffing' a creature. Over multi-day workshops, students learn the exact science of skinning, defatting, preserving tissue, sculpting forms, and painstakingly positioning every individual feather or lock of fur so the specimen looks paused in life rather than discarded.
What it's like
Stepping into the Lacy Street studio feels less like entering a morbid oddities shop and more like walking into a hyper-focused biological laboratory. Worktables are laid out with scalpels, borax, foam forms, and glass eyes. If you book a class—like the two-day small bird workshop—prepare for intensive, quiet, hands-on labor that requires fine motor control and zero squeamishness. Once you get past the initial skinning phase, the process becomes strangely methodical and meditative. Keep in mind this is an active working studio and class space, not a storefront: you can't just drop in without an appointment or a confirmed workshop seat.
The move: Sign up for a weekend small-bird taxidermy class and spend two days side by side mounting your own specimens to take home.
📍 Before you go Multi-day intensives are pricey ($925+ for the small-bird class) and sell out far in advance; check the schedule and reserve early.
- 📍 Lincoln Heights
- 💸 $$
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 2684 Lacy St #209, Los Angeles, CA 90031
Hours: Added 2026-06-23 — confirm current hours before you go.
⚠ Seasonal or scheduled — always check before you go.
Pair it with
- Heritage Square Museum — Pair a session at Prey with a walk through this nearby collection of rescued Victorian architecture for a full afternoon of 19th-century aesthetic obsession.
- Phantasma Gloria — Balance the exact, disciplined anatomy work of taxidermy with a quick visit to a sprawling, sunlit glass-and-rebar yard installation in Echo Park.
- Highland Park Bowl — Head up to LA's oldest bowling alley afterward to process two days of skinning and mounting over a drink in a restored 1920s setting.
Good to know
Do I need prior experience to take a class?
No. The multi-day beginner workshops cover the full process from scratch, guiding you through skinning, flesh removal, preservation, and final posing.
How much do the workshops cost and how far ahead should I book?
Intensives start at around $925 for a small-bird class. Because class sizes are kept very small, sessions regularly sell out months in advance.
Do I get to take my specimen home?
Yes. You leave the workshop with a finished, museum-grade mount that you prepped, stuffed, and posed yourself.
Can I visit the studio without taking a class?
No. Prey Taxidermy is a working studio and educational space that operates strictly by appointment and for scheduled class participants.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Official site · Yelp · laweekly.com · Reddit
last checked: 2026-06-23