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. Another item of interest regards
parking here is the "tunnel" walkway that leads from the parking lot
underneath the "Avenue of the Stars" to the Hyatt Hotel. There are a
number of historical photographs of Century City before the buildings -
its intriguing to see these as well as read the accompanying
descriptions on the wall.
Exhibits at the Annenberg 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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Bowers Museum
is located at 2002 North Main Street (just north of downtown Santa Ana).
The museum was founded in 1936 by the city of Santa Ana from a financial
gift left by Charles and Ada Bowers. This is clearly one of the top
museums in Orange County with excellent International cultural and art
exhibits. Over 130,000 works of art are contained within their permanent
collections. Rotating historical artifacts and art make up a number of
galleries. During our visit outstanding collections of Chinese artwork
and the best South Pacific Island exhibit we've seen were on display.
Permanent exhibition highlights also include Native American Art, Asian
Art and African Art. Galleries specifically dedicated to California
paintings from the 19th and 20th centuries are also a highlight. A
unique component of this museum is their Kidseum located just south of
the main Bower Museum (at the corner of 18th and Main Streets). The
focus of the "Kidseum" is on children's art education. A variety of art
programs and exhibits are offered. Allow at least 2 hours at the main
Bowers Museum. Visit:
www.bowers.org
Chen Art Gallery
- you know you've hit all the major museums in Los
Angeles when you start visiting museums that recommend appointments such
as this one. For art lovers, this is one museum you do not want to miss.
The 12 room gallery contains the private collection of Dr. Tei Fu Chen -
a world renowned herbalist and founder of Sunrider International. The
museum is located at 1625 Abalone Ave in Torrance at Sunrider's world
headquarters.
Over the past 20+ years Dr. Tei Fu Chen has amassed a world class
collection of Chinese antiquities - mostly through International auction
houses. The gallery is organized into five sections - Chinese furniture,
Jade, Bronze, Porcelain/Pottery and a beautiful unique collection of
ornate Snuff bottles. Highlights of the gallery include very detailed
jade carvings, colorful ceramics and pottery dating back several
thousand years. A number of pieces clearly show International artistic
influences (European, Indian and Middle Eastern).
Admission to the museum is free and tours typically take about an hour
and are always private for your party. The guides are extremely
knowledgeable about Chinese antiquities and enjoying sharing the
highlights of this rare collection.
Tours are available in English and Chinese with select other languages
offered by prior arrangement. For more information please visit:
www.chenartgallery.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.
FIDM Museum & Galleries
are located on the main campus of the Fashion Institute of Design and
Merchandising in downtown at
919 South Grand Avenue. A highlight is their free museum on the
ground floor which rotates exhibits on fashion, textiles, art, and
design throughout the year. One of the top annual exhibits displays
movie costumes, the Art of Motion Picture Costume Design
(usually runs from February to April). This particular exhibition
focuses on costumes from the previous year's movies including some of
the most recognized films. A small gift shop next to the museum entrance
focus on various fashion & jewelry items.
The Annette Green Fragrance Collection contains over 1,000 bottles of
perfume and is located on the 2nd floor. You need to obtain a pass
(after showing ID), from the guard station in the main lobby before you
are given access to this collection. Despite having so many items the
actual collection display space is extremely limited - to unfortunately
just one room with a few displays behind glass windows.
We've visited the campus several times - it always seems to be teeming
with activity and or special events. This is a good place to check out
the latest fashion especially in women's wear - the students are
predominantly female. For more information visit:
www.fidmmuseum.org

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 underwent renovation in late
2006. 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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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
The Long Beach Art Museum is located 2300 E. Ocean Blvd
- and as the name indicates, has views of the bay and the ocean in the
distance. A small parking lot (free parking) is located about a block
west of the actual museum. There are actually two buildings here both
titled "Long Beach Art Museum" - one however is the fairly large
restaurant and Claire's Cafe and the other is the actual art museum
(with 2 stories - several rooms and galleries on each floor). The cafe
is definitely a step up in food quality from what you normally find at a
museum cafe. Indoor or outdoor seating is available. The focus here is
on modern and contemporary art pieces. Once
every two years prominent local artists donate their artworks and every
piece on display in the museum is open for bidding. Odd to be in a
museum and see "bid cards" hanging on the walls next to every piece!
Allow under an hour here. Visit:
www.lbma.org
Los Angeles Maritime Museum
is located in San Pedro - about 30 minutes south of downtown on the 110.
Get off at Harbor Blvd near where the 110 south ends and turn right,
proceed for about 1 mile and you will see the museum on the left (just
down 6th Street). The museum is housed in the old ferry terminal
building which used to ferry people the several minutes across the
channel. You can still see the old The balcony on the back of the museum
looks over onto Terminal Island, the channel, thousands of cargo
containers and the impressive
Vincent Thomas bridge (which helps connect the southern ends of
the 110 and 710 freeways).
Permanent and rotating exhibits are shown - the museum is two floors.
Allow up to an hour here - less if you don't take your time reading all
the details. A highlight is the exhibit showing the history of the
fishing industry in San Pedro as well as historical photographs showing
a much "different" looking San Pedro than today (one of the world's
busiest ports). A number of model sailing ships line the walkway to the
second floor. Visit:
www.lamaritimemuseum.org

Los Angeles Police Historical Society
maintains a small yet very informative museum at 6045
York Blvd just off of the 110 Freeway north of downtown. Parking is free
in the small lot next door to the building. The roots of the LAPD began
in 1869 with six marshals. The museum explores the history of the LAPD,
highlights famous incidents and houses a number of equipment used by the
force over the years (including radios, handcuffs, jail cells, and
remote controlled anti-bomb machines). Did you know the first woman
police officer in the United States was in the LAPD (in 1910).
One small room is dedicated to the infamous North Hollywood Bank of
America shootout which occurred in 1997. Two men with a death wish
covered in full body armor strode into a Bank of America and started
spraying high caliber bullets everywhere. Amazingly after they were
finally killed no one actually died although a number of civilians and
officers were wounded in the battle. At one point the LAPD had to get
higher caliber weaponry from a local gunshop as their small arms fire
did nothing against the full body armor.
The museum is open Monday - Friday and every 3rd Saturday of the month.
Visit: www.laphs.org
Los Angeles Zoo
is located directly across from the Museum of the
American West in Griffith Park at 4700 Western Heritage Way. The zoo
contains over 1100 creates spread out over 133 acres. During a stop by
recently we say a stretch limo pulling up to the front entrance - only
in Los Angeles do you take a Limousine to the Zoo?!! We will visit soon
and add our review here. Visit:
www.lazoo.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. |
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
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 Jurassic Technology
If you
think you are going to see exhibits about Jurassic Park or other
Jurassic era items you will be sorely disappointed. Items here are
somewhat odd, eclectic and scattered in nature, relating to science
often spotlighting the 1400's to the 1600's. There is
quite a range of items on display, everything from artwork you have to
view under a microscope to see it to paintings of dogs that went into
space. A good word for some of the exhibits is "random". A permanent
exhibition focuses on
natural history and the history of
science.
The museum is very small from the outside and we had to look twice to
even see its location near the corner of
9341 Venice Boulevard and Main Street
in Culver City.
Darkened very small rooms greet visitors while people walk around in
hushed tones. How many museums have a tea room? This museum has a
Russian-style tea room on the 2nd floor - tea is complimentary along
with cookies. This room is very small and a good place to probably meet
people from around the world. When we visited we ran into folks from
Turkey and Japan. Not sure how they found this museum out of all the
museums in Los Angeles! For more information visit:
www.mjt.org

Museum of Latin American Art
is located at 628 Alamitos
Avenue in Long Beach. This is
a historic site in Long Beach having served as home for a silent movie
studio as well as the old Hippodrome roller skating rink. The museum
looks rather large from the outside but the select galleries inside
contain well spaced out exhibits and artwork. There is plenty of parking
on site (in front of the entrance to the museum). This is the only
museum in the USA devoted to modern and contemporary Latin art.
The range of art is extremely eclectic from a video of a man slowly
destroying a piñata created in his likeness on his birthday to a woman
drenching herself in blood and then rolling around in feathers near a
lake (odd, very much so!). Video makes up a portion of the exhibits -
galleries show rotating exhibits as well as art from the permanent
collection. A sculpture garden is outside behind the museum. Artists
from twenty countries are exhibited - these artists are well-known in
their home countries but little known in the USA.
The founder, Dr. Gumbiner also introduced the much smaller Pacific
Island Ethnic Art Museum (just down the street). You can call in from
your cell phone for voice narration relating to a number of the art
pieces on display - using (562) 481-3812. A small cafe is on site. Allow
up to an hour. Visit:
www.molaa.com
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 a 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.
Note: This museum has plans to move to a much larger
location in Santa Ana by 2012 and is currently temporarily CLOSED - we will update this
review once they have secured and
moved into their new location. Visit:
www.neonmona.org

Museum of the American West
is run by the Autry Center along with the Southwest Museum of the American
Indian (see our review here). This museum is located directly across
from the Los Angeles Zoo in Griffith Park at 4700 Western Heritage Way.
Allow at least 2 hours here (two floors of exhibits).
During a warm late summer day we visited and had the museum almost all
to ourselves. With Johnny Cash songs piping out to the outdoor courtyard
we knew we were in the right place! With over 14,000 items from American
Indian history this is the largest museum of its kind in the nation.
Rotating exhibits of American Indian and other Western items rotate as
well as permanent collections. Highlights include a number of prominent
items used in the American West from about the 1820's to the 1890's
including weapons from famous outlaws. Nice displays showing modes of
transportation from those times, mining artifacts, clothing, weapons,
exploring the west, and more make this one of the best museums of this
era that we have seen. In addition to the authentic items from this era
there are several exhibits relating to Hollywood and westerns. Look for
lots of movie memorabilia including guns and costumes.
This museum is open every day of the week but Monday. A cafe and a gift
shop are on site. Visit:
www.theautry.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
Pacific Asia Museum
is located just north of Colorado Blvd on Los Robles Ave in central
Pasadena. Free parking is available right next to the north side of the
museum. The museum itself is fairly small and you can probably see
most of the exhibits in 45 minutes. After you've paid for your tickets
on the left as you enter continue through the ticket room to the start
of the exhibition. If you leave the ticket counter and proceed to the
main courtyard you may bumble around trying to find entrances to the
exhibits - out of all the doors in the main courtyard, only one enters
an actual exhibit.
The museum contains more than 15,000 objects
pertaining to Asia and the Pacific Islands and objects range in age from
5000 years to the present. This is one of only four such museums in the
United States. Both permanent and rotating galleries are on site.
Visit:
www.pacificasiamuseum.org

Pacific Island Ethnic Art Museum
is located at 695 Alamitos Ave in Long
Beach. A tiny
parking lot for museum attendees is across from the main entrance on
Alamitos Ave. The museum and the small outdoor sculpture garden are triangled in between where Alamitos Ave hits 7th Street. This very
compact museum focuses on the culture and artwork of the Pacific
Islands. The museum is the inspiration of Dr. Robert Gumbiner who
founded a health maintenance company was introduced to the art of remote
Pacific Islands while traveling in the region for business. Dr. Gumbiner
also founded the much larger Museum of Latin American art (just down the
street). Talk about totally different museums and types of art! Allow
20-30 minutes. A small gift shop is on site. Visit:
www.pieam.org

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 thing, 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.
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Southwest Museum of the American Indian
is located at 234 Museum Drive in Griffith Park - exit Zoo Drive off of
the 5. This museum was founded in 1907 and is part of the Autry National
Center but is currently closed for major renovations.
It is tentatively
slated to re-open again in 2013 or 2014. We've talked to staff on site
but they don't have an exact re-opening date pin pointed yet. In the
meantime some of the exhibits are now on display at the Museum of the
American West - located directly across from the Los Angeles Zoo. Read
our review above.

Photos above and to left are of the entrance to
the Southwest Museum |
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Toyota Car Museum
is located at 19600 Van Ness Ave; this is only one of two Toyota Car
Museum's in the world - the other being in Toyota City, Japan. The
museum opened in 2000 but then moved to its current much larger facility
in 2010. Toyota first introduced itself to the American consumers in
1957 when it opened its first dealership in the country in Hollywood.
Toyota opened its USA headquarters in Torrance in 1967.
The museum is large (33,000 square foot) - it has to be to contain the
significant number of historic and milestone vehicles in this collection
(100+ vehicles). Toyota traces its roots to a weaving loom invented in
Japan in 1924. Proceeds from the sale of the patent for this loom by the
inventor Sakichi Toyoda were given to his son with the instructions to
start an automobile company. That was in the mid 1930's. The first
Toyota vehicle ever released was in 1938 - the model AA and a replica is
shown on site.
The first Toyota sold in the USA was the Crown Model in
1958 and an original is on display.
Some of their most historic vehicles are the land cruisers - this is the
only model continuously sold in the USA since the first model was
released in 1961. Its origins resulted from a contract Toyota fulfilled
to the U.S. Army in 1950 during the Korean conflict. Toyota was
experiencing bad financial problems and a threat of bankruptcy at the
time; as a result this order came at the perfect time.
Other notable vehicles on display include the 10 millionth vehicle
manufactured in the United States,
three very rare Toyota 2000 GTs — only 337
were produced, a great collection of championship winning racing cars,
a 1986 Corolla, the first Toyota built in
the U.S.
and other 1st release vehicles (note the
special vin numbers).
All visits are by appointment only. Visit:
www.toyota50th.com
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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