We have personally visited &
reviewed the
following
Los Angeles museums. We are often in the City of Angels, therefore this section
is continuously updated with new and updated reviews as time permits.
Annenberg Space for Photography
is
located in the middle of the high rise buildings of Century City at 2000
Avenue of the Stars #10 and is surrounded by wide fast paced boulevards.
The best place to park for access to this one-floor museum is in the
Century Parking garage access by driving west on West Olympic Blvd. Be
sure to take your parking ticket with you to the museum for validation.
Admission to the Annenberg is free.
Exhibits often change but always focus on both digital and print
photography. The museum is rather tiny - usually an hour to 90 minutes
will suffice, allowing for time to also watch the videos. The "gallery"
is located within the center of the museum and features several
high-definition screens. Several cafes are located nearby and adjacent
Century Park is a nice spot to take a drink or relax. For more
information visit: visit:
www.annenbergspaceforphotography.org
Armand Hammer Museum of Art & Cultural Center
is operated by UCLA
and is located at 10899 Wilshire Blvd about a mile in from the 405
freeway. Note that Wilshire Blvd is an extremely busy large LA
thoroughfare so expect heavy traffic on your drive here.
The works of art were originally collected by Armand Hammer a business
man who operated a variety of businesses ranging from oil, cattle and
distilling whiskey. Throughout his business career he continued to
collect art. He was a contemporary of
Norton Simon (see Norton Simon Museum below) and often found himself
bidding against Mr. Simon for high-priced art.
Admission to the museum is very
reasonable and student discounts are also available. Museum admission is free every Thursday - they are closed
Mondays. The museum opens at 11am. Be sure to have counter attendant validate your
parking pass as this will give you discounts on the parking. The actual
museum is located on the corner and parking is under the museum itself.
During a recent visit to the museum we spent several 2 hours exploring
the several levels of galleries offered. Their main galleries focus on
paintings and works on paper by French 19th century artists. In addition
works by artists who have instant name recognition are also on display.
Famous artists such as Rembrandt, Rubens, van Gogh, Degas etc have works
on display. There are also a number of works by prominent American
artists. Exhibits rotate on a continuing basis.
The Armand Hammer Museum operates a variety of museum programs and all
are free to the general public. These include a number of prominent
speakers and people well known in their respective fields. Looking to
support the museum and hang with some big names and other luminaries?
Check out their annual "Gala in the Garden" fundraising event.
Consult the calendar on their website for more details and times.
Getting hungry? The reasonably priced Cafe Hammer is operated by
Wolfgang Puck and is located on the 2nd floor next to the open air
courtyard. Outdoor heat lamps make dining an enjoyable experience on
those rare colder LA days! More
info:
www.hammer.ucla.edu or Phone (310) 443-7000
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Courtyard |
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View from inside |
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Degas |
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van Gogh |
Autry Museum of Western Heritage
is located at 4700 Western
Heritage Way in Los Angeles. This museum contains several museums
including the Southwest Museum of the American Indian and the
Museum of the American West. Note that these two museums are located
in entirely different sections of Los Angeles (American Indian Museum
234 Museum Drive in Griffith Park - exit Zoo Drive off of the 5, and the American West
Museum is at 4700 Western Heritage Way just off the 110 - Exit Ave 43). Rotating
exhibits also come through this museum. More info:
www.autrynationalcenter.org
Exposition Park
This large park just south west of downtown Los Angeles is home of the
African American Museum, the California Science Center and
the Natural History Museum. We have visited and reviewed all
these museums on our
Exposition park page here.
Getty Museums
Our Review here:
Getty Center
Our Review here:
Getty Villa
Grammy Museum
is
located in the fairly new multi-billion complex that makes up LA Live -
located on the western edges of downtown Los Angeles. This educational
music showcases nearly 200 musical genres and contains many rare and
historical music films and other artifacts.
There are three floors to this museum - take the elevator immediately to
the 4th floor and work your way down to the bottom. This museum follows
the 40+ year Grammy awards and covers a wide genre of music with the
core being pop music. A moving musical genre greets you as soon as you
walk into the music. A number of headphones are available next to a long
screen which scrolls the names of various music genres. Touch one of
these words to explore in more detail that particular type of music.
Highlights include the Michael Jackson exhibit and a spotlight on
Seattle's musical influence and contributions including a destroyed
electric guitar from one of Kurt Cobain's shows. Apparently Kurt used to
destroy his musical instruments at the end of the show. Elvis is
prominently featured in this museum, with an entire theatre dedicated to
him as well as a number of portraits. Musical instruments from famous
artists are also displayed including Yo Yo Ma, Santana and many more. A
number of the exhibits are interactive so you can play along or record
with the performers.
The museum is located right across from the Days Inn. Visit:
www.grammymuseum.org
Huntington Gardens
& Art Collection
in San Marino
(1151
Oxford Road) is a must visit during your trip to
Los Angeles. Its located in San Marino/Pasadena - from downtown take the
110 (Harbor Freeway) north which turns into Arroyo Seco Blvd - then turn
right on California and follow the signs to the entrance. This is a real
gem - the botanical gardens are huge, they have one of the best if not
the best cactus garden we have seen (12 acres in size) as well as nine
other distinct gardens. Over 14,000 species are represented in these
gardens spread out over 120 acres. You can easily spend several hours in
the gardens alone. A conservatory is also on the grounds and contains a
cloud forest which "rains" quite often - don't worry its
mostly mist and
you won't get very wet!
If this museum only contained the Botanical Gardens it would be a real
treasure but there are three very well organized art galleries and the
main library building. Over 6 million books are contained within its
walls - including first edition Shakespeare's, a Gutenberg Bible and
a manuscript of
Chaucer's, The Canterbury Tales. Some of their books date from the
1400's and are in incredibly good condition. Gainsborough's Blue Boy is
housed in one of the galleries along with many
other works by Gainsborough.
The main Huntington house is currently undergoing renovation in late
2006 and won't be open for a year or two. Thankfully photography is
allowed in any of the galleries (no flashes). For more information
browse some of our photos below and or visit their website at:
www.huntington.org
Total recommended visiting time including the gardens and galleries is
3-5 hours.
Huntington Library Photographs
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Tall white Cactus |
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Art Gallery |
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Round Cactus |
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Sculpture room |
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Art Gallery |
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Cactus Garden |
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Main Library |
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Lemon Cactus |
The Huntington Library,
Art Collections and Botanical Garden’s newest addition, The Garden of
Flowing Fragrance, will be the largest Chinese Garden outside of China
and boasts a 4.5-acre garden allowing visitors to stroll around a
1.5-acre lake bordered by Tai Hu rocks and a landscape that includes
five hand-carved stone bridges, a stream, and a canyon waterfall
connection to the Japanese Garden. The first phase of The Huntington’s
Chinese Garden opened on February 23, 2008.
Japanese American National Museum
is located at 369 East First Street in Los Angeles (just south of
downtown, right next to one of the MOCA museums). This is the heart of
Little Tokyo in Los Angeles. The core of the museum contains many
objects, documents, photos and other items related to over 130 years of
Japanese American History. A "resource" center is also on site for those
interested in additional research.
The permanent exhibit focuses almost entirely on Japanese American
history and how it relates to WWII. An actual wooden Barack from one of
the WWII Internment camps is on display as well as a number of sobering
photos and articles from this "dark" period in American history. It is
well worthwhile to visit this exhibit to get the perspective of the
Japanese Americans who were living in the USA (especially the western
USA) during the early to mid 1940's.
After you have had a chance to explore the main exhibits visit the rooms
that contain the rotating exhibits. Clothing, a focus on Japanese
Hawaiians, paintings and or photography are often part of these rotating
exhibits. It should also be noted that its well worth the stop to their
Chado Tea Room on the first floor. This restaurant/tea room features
over 300 types of tea. We had an amazing delicate raspberry tea with our
lunch. Throw away any pre-conceived notions you might have about "museum
restaurants" - this one is top notch. Visit:
www.janm.org
La
Brea Tar Pits
are located at the Page Museum in the
"Miracle Mile" section of Wilshire Blvd. The address is 5801 Wilshire
Blvd; the grounds take up several acres on the north side of Wilshire
right next to the LA County Museum of Art (www.lacma.org).
Visiting this museum followed by a walk around the grounds is a unique
and interesting experience. These tar pits sit right in the middle of a
very urban area - with tall buildings, next to a busy boulevard (Wilshire).
How things have changed over the years here!
Start your visit with a
quick stop next to the main tar pit/pool where the your can see grazing
concrete "wooly mammoths". Next climb above the main museum up the
stairs so that you can get an overlook of the grounds and see the
atrium.
The La Brea Tarpits are a series of tar pits in the ground. Over the
years animals and plants became entangled in these - often becoming
"prey" for predators who then found themselves stuck in the ground.
These tarpits are a great history of what types of animals and plants
were found in the area over thousands of years. There is one pit (simply
named "Pit 91" that is still being excavated even today - (its typically
only open in the summer months). It is open for viewing for free to the
public on the grounds of the museum during the excavation season.
Upon entering the museum - you should get your tickets first - the
bathrooms are located on the right side of the entrance and you actually
have to enter through a small swinging gate. Typically you start your
tour at in a clockwise direction entering the museum to the left of the
entrance, however you can always run the tour in a counter clockwise
direction. Highlights of this museum include a wall with several hundred
skulls from a specie of wolf that was found in the pits. Additionally
you can feel small standing next to a 13 foot huge wooly mammoth
skeleton. Did you know North America had Lions at one point? There are
several nice skeletons of the North American lion - to an untrained eye,
they closely resemble the African Lion, except the North American Lions
are quite a bit bigger. Other skeletons you don't want to miss are the
Saber Tooth Tiger, and the giant ground sloth. A center "office" in the
museum has been windowed off, and sometimes you can see paleontologists
working - among all of the fossils. The paleontologists call this room
the "fish bowl" laboratory!
There is film about the museum and the tar pit finds shown at 30 minute
intervals all day. It contains with excellent cinematography and is
overall very well done. Do not miss watching this.
After you visit the museum be sure to walk the grounds. If you've never
seen or touched natural tar this is your chance! The major pits are
sectioned off and you cannot enter them. There are however some small
seeps coming right up through the grass and into the small stream that
runs here. One nearby tree has been the unfortunate recipient of "tar
pit graffiti".
Beware if you touch the tar, it will eventually come
off but its very sticky and isn't easily removed.
For more information and pricing, visit
www.tarpits.org |
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LACMA
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or LA County
Museum of Art is located in the "museum row" along the busy part of
Wilshire Blvd right next door to the La Brea Tar Pits and anchors one
end of the "Miracle Mile". (5095
Wilshire Blvd). LACMA has their own parking garage on 6th Street
(right behind the Museum complex, just north of Wilshire Blvd). Be sure
to take the parking ticket with you and pay the cost at any of the
Museum's ticket counters.
This museum "campus" complex is comprised of a number of
buildings contains a wide variety of art from around the world.
During one recent visit we had the
good fortune of being the only visitor in several of the
complexes which is amazing considering the population of this
great city and number of visitors to this region. |
Highlights are the large
number of Picasso paintings, the Latin America galleries and both the
contemporary European and American art works. Privately owned galleries
are available as well as traveling exhibits that show for a number of
months before moving on (often famous artists).
The cafe has a wide variety of foods - their hamburgers are huge. Good
salad bar to! This museum is open later than most museums - until 8 or
9pm depending on the day and time of the year. Closed on Wednesdays.
Because of the size of this museum allow at least several hours for a
visit. Photography is allowed in most of the exhibits.
Visit:
www.lacma.org
Long Beach Museum of Art
is located at 2300 East Ocean Blvd
in Long Beach set higher up than the surrounding land so that you have a
good view of the ocean and the harbor below. Fridays are free. Permanent
and rotating exhibitions are displayed. We will visit and review this
museum during an upcoming trip to Long Beach. For more info visit:
www.lbma.org
Museum of Death
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is located
at 6031 Hollywood Boulevard just west of the 101
Freeway on the north side of Hollywood Blvd. They used to be located in
San Diego and then closer to the main part of Hollywood but as they told
us,
rents are a bit lower on this part of Hollywood Blvd. There is onsite
parking or on the street 1 block north of HW Blvd. This is a unique,
intense experience. It is a small museum but you can easily spend an
hour here as there are many photos and articles.
Be sure to watch the
intro film on how a human body is prepared at the mortuary. Other films
on death related subjects also rotate. Displays on
cannibalism, execution devices, some of LA's biggest crime scenes including well known
serial killers and their artworks, torture and other graphic images related to death and
torture are shown. |
Warning: this museum is not for faint of
heart. Those who work at the front counter have specially prepared lines
to offer when you exit such as "enjoy your life" or "enjoy the living"
or "go live a little! Walking out into the sunny SoCal sunshine is
a "warming experience" after experiencing all the real-life horror
contained within this museum. Visit:
www.museumofdeath.net
Museum of Latin American Art
is located at 628 Alamitos Ave
in Long Beach. This is the only museum in the Western USA that
exclusively features contemporary Latin American Art. Permanent and
rotating exhibitions. Visit:
www.molaa.org
Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA)
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is located just down the street from the Walt Disney Concert Hall at 250
Grand Ave. This is actually just one of three MOCA museums in the LA
area. This museum showcases very modern eclectic art. A visit here
should be for the open minded art enthusiast who wants to see art
created in the non traditional sense. Provocative photography exploring
the sexual aspects of the human body are also on display. A nice feature
offered by MOCA is their free cell phone audio tour. Simply call (213)
455-2926 and enter the number of the exhibit followed by the # key for
the description.
The Lemon Cafe is to the left as you walk down the stairs to the
main museum entrance. |
With many of the restaurants and cafes closed on the
weekend this makes a nice stop for lunch, regardless of whether you tour
the museum or not! A large store is located on the ground floor and
feature mostly art related books. Visit:
www.moca.org
Museum of Neon Art
is located at 136 West 4th Street in Downtown Los Angeles. It's easy to
miss seeing this museum as there is no sign out front, just sign in the
window. This very small museum contains a number of historical neon
signs that were used at one time in LA as well as more modern
intentional works of art. One large neon sign was turned on at a
customer's request and after a few seconds the entire Neon museum shut
down as this large sign temporarily blew the electricity! Several of the
neon artworks are new. This museum has plans to move to a much larger
location in Santa Ana by early 2011 and we will update this once they have secured and
moved into their new location. Visit:
www.neonmona.org
Museum of Tolerance
is located at
9786 West Pico Blvd is
associated with the famous Simon Wiesenthal Center (which is actually
located across the street). Parking is in a multi-story underground
garage and is free with admission to the museum. There is a security
checkpoint before you enter the garage and another security checkpoint
before you actually enter the museum exhibits. Note that no cameras or
filming devices are allowed in the museum including cell phone cameras.
You will not be allowed into this museum unless you have a photo id.
This museum's purpose is two-fold; to raise awareness about the dynamics
of racism & prejudice in America and to explore what happened during the
terrible Holocaust of WWII.
This museum is a semi self guided tour (explained below). Allow at least
two hours here. You start out in a small group with a guide who leads
you downstairs and stops your group in front of two doors. A volunteer
is chosen and then the guide asks her to enter the museum by choosing
the door on the left if she considers herself racist in any regard, and
to choose the door on the right if she considers herself not racist at
all. Hint, if you choose the door for being "not racist" you will be
fighting against a locked door!
This is a very interactive museum - videos & demo's all invite your
participation. Exhibits on the war in Bosnia & Rwanda are in the first
section of the museum before the Holocaust section. This is a
semi-guided tour in that you are not given the freedom to wander through
all the exhibits at your leisure. You are given a time limit in certain
sections of the museum, and then you have to move to the next section.
The Holocaust exhibits are timed so that the doors leading into the next
sections open only after you have seen all the exhibits in the section
you are in. Each display in a particular area lights up a description is
read and then fades into darkness. Once you leave the Holocaust section
you are free to explore the rest of the museum. One nice feature of the
Holocaust exhibit is you are given a "biographical card" of a person
that was in the Holocaust. As you make your way through this exhibit
there are several "bio" machines; you put the card into one of these
machines and it tells you all about the person listed on your card and
you can even print out the information.
Occasionally this museum will have well-known guest speakers. The museum
is closed Saturdays and for Public & Jewish holidays. Visit:
www.museumoftolerance.com
Norton Simon Museum
located at
411 W. Colorado
Boulevard in Pasadena is home to over 2000
works of art from Western and Asian cultures. This is one of our
favorite museums in the LA Area. Norton Simon was a prolific collector
of rare art - he made his money initially from Hunt Food's Company and
then branched off into a variety of other well known businesses. Norton
Simon along with Armand Hammer (who he often bid against for rare works
of Art) were two of LA's serious art collectors in the 1950's through
the 1980's. This museum has four main galleries - 14th-16th century,
17th & 18th century, 19th century and a South Asian collection. They
have one of the best collections of Degas we have seen including his
paintings and sculptures. Also Raphael, El Greco, Rembrandt, Rubens, van
Gogh, Monet, Manet, and Picasso among others, are displayed. Rodin and
other sculptures line the front entrance and interior courtyard. One
room is devoted to the life and times of Norton Simon - be sure to pick
up the free "art of negotiation" book which describes how Simon acquired
select pieces. Also one gallery displays rotating photo exhibits.
Norton
Simon has a vast collection of South Asian artworks/sculptures, mainly
from India. This is housed on the lower floor while the other western
arts are housed on the first floor. Typically there are less people in
the South Asian exhibit so you can really take your time at each piece.
Need something to eat while visiting the galleries? The Garden Cafe sits in the courtyard at the edge of the pond.
Museum is closed on Tuesdays and note their opening time is a rather
late 12pm the rest of the week. Visit:
www.nortonsimon.org or Phone: (626) 44906840
Paley Center for Media
is located near the corner of Santa Monica Blvd and S Beverly Blvd in
Beverly Hills. This is not a museum necessarily, but more of a
repository or library of visual media (TV, movies). The first floor
contains the John H Mitchell Theatre which features several daily
screenings often of older episodes of well-known TV shows. During a
recent Thursday visit we were the only one in their large theatre for 2
screenings. Not a bad way to be considering just outside you have the
hectic crazy traffic congestion on Santa Monica Blvd. Admission is
technically free but a donation of $10 is requested per each adult. The
center is located in Beverly Hills and there are tons of surrounding
shopping opportunities. Or if shopping is not your think, walk minutes
to the Beverly Hills sign along Santa Monica Blvd and have someone take
your photo. Allow about 30-45 minutes here.
The second floor contains a number of consoles where you can choose
titles from a selection of over 150,000 works - make your selection and
then you will be directed to the actual viewing monitors. Its easy to
squirrel away a number of hours on this floor. A scene in the movie
"Hancock" was also filmed here. For more information
visit:
www.paleycenter.org
Petersen Automotive Museum
is located at
6060 Wilshire Blvd at Fairfax Blvd on "museum row" almost across from
LACMA. Parking is in a garage and you pay for your ticket at the cashier
once you are ready to leave. This is one of the best car museums
anywhere and it certainly should be considering the incredible impact
Los Angeles and the automobile has had on this metropolitan region as
well as the world.
This is a fascinating museum and is not just your "typical" automobile museum. There are two floors, the first
floor is dedicated to everything about the car including gas, gas pumps,
the initial development of the car and most interestingly how the
automobile in Los Angeles changed the urban environment of the LA basin.
Street cars used to dominate the region - these disappeared and large
streets became freeways. Wilshire Blvd was the hub of some of the
regions innovations regarding streets and cars. Supermarkets evolved to
accommodate large numbers of cars with oversize signs and parking lots
away from the street. It is extremely fascinating to
explore the history described in the exhibits on this first floor. Check
out the photo of this museum's location on the corner of Wilshire and
Fairfax taken merely less than 100 years ago. Empty
fields and oil wells - wow!!!
The second floor contains more of a "typical" car museum look and feel.
Be sure to visit the Hollywood section which includes cars used in
famous movies or owned by famous actors (one of the 5 yellow vans in
Little Miss Sunshine and a very unique car owned by Steve McQueen, among
others). There are exhibits on electric cars, art cars, unusual cars,
race cars, historical cars and motorcycles. They also display rare and unique
collectible antique cars. More than 150 vehicles are exhibited. Closed
on Mondays.
You can use your cell phone for their audio tour. Call 323 209-4149 and
then type in the exhibit numbers on your phone to listen to the
descriptions.
For more information visit:
www.petersen.org
Presidential Museums
Our Review here:
Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum
Our Review here:
Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum
Skirball Cultural Center
sits on 15 acres just off of the
405 freeway (you can see it from the freeway) - take the Mulholland
Drive Exit. There are several entrances so don't panic if you aren't in
the correct lane to enter their main entrance. Parking is in a garage
and is free. This museum explores
Jewish Culture and in part how it integrates into American life and
contains many items of historical interest. The museum
is closed on Mondays - every Thursday is free admission. Permanent and rotating exhibits
are on display. There are also often rotating presentations, film
screenings, workshops, and lectures. One exhibit is very sad. Reflective
bullet proof glass contains some of Hitler's personal signatures
regarding his directives against the Jewish people during WWII and
reflected in this glass are the large photos of those killed in the
Holocaust from a nearby exhibit.
An interesting exhibit contains photos of people - use the headphones
and touch each person's photo to "hear their story". This contains
people's stories from all walks of life. The Noah's Ark exhibit is quite
popular with families with children.
When we visited
there was a display about Bob Dylan, his musical influences, photography
and more. Several of the exhibits are interactive, letting you play the
drums or electric guitar along with a number of Dylan's songs. The stage
with the electric guitars was a bit intimidating for a non musician so
we busted our totally non musical side open by hitting the drums while
wearing earphones. No harm, no foul there. No singing. Safe.
Visit:
www.skirball.com for more information and view our thumbnail photos
below.
Wells Fargo Museum
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is located on the first floor of the "Wells Fargo Center" located on
Bunker Hill in downtown Los Angles at 333 S. Grand Ave. This is one of
several Wells Fargo museums located in specific cities mostly on the
West coast of the USA. One of the highlights of a visit here is their
large natural gold nugget. Visits are free. Closed on weekends.
We will
visit this museum during our next trip to town. |
William S. Hart Park & Museum
is located about 45 minutes north of Los Angeles off of the 5 freeway at
24151 San Fernando Road in the city of Newhall (still Los Angeles
County). William Hart was the first cowboy
movie star and made many silent movies in the early part of the 1900's.
This hillside location was his home and estate and on a clear day there
are gorgeous views all around. He left his estate to the LA County
Natural History Museum and specified that those who visit not be charged
an admission fee (he wanted to return something to all the people who
spent money on his movies, especially during the Great Depression).
Admission is free (donations are accepted). Tours are given every 30
minutes of the house and take about 30 minutes.
The estate is called, "La Loma de los Vientos" (translated as the
"hill of the winds") and the Mr. Hart's house was designed by the same
architect who designed the Playboy Mansion in Bel Air.
William Hart has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
William Hart knew and was friends with many influential people during
his day. One of them, a lady who was an avid pilot, flew over his estate
very low to the ground. Mr. Hart copied down some identification numbers
off the plane and complained to local authorities. Turns out the pilot
was Amelia Earhart and she and Mr. Hart soon became friends after he was
introduced to her. The house was built in the 1920's and the decorations
are reflective of that period with a number of paintings by well known
western artists, gifts from famous actors and personalities (including a
bear's skin and head from Will Rogers - the only "animal trophy" in the
house as Mr. Hart loved animals) and a number of native American
treasures.
There is a small ranch house with exhibits inside at the base of the
hillside. A park is behind the house and a trail leads up the hill to
Mr. Hart's home. Walt Disney donated a herd of Bison and today their
progeny are still kept on the estate. Open 7-days a week with specific
hours. Visit:
www.hartmuseum.org
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Dave's Pick