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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

  

Directory		Courtyard		View from inside		Degas		van Gogh

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

Main Entrance		Tall white Cactus		Art Gallery		Round Cactus		Sculpture room
Blue Boy		Art Gallery		Cactus Garden		Main Library		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

LACMA

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)

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

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.
 

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

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

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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