Showing 1-16 of 16 results
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Bergamot Station
One of LA's best-known art nodes, this one-time trolley stop now houses 35 contemporary art galleries, the Santa Monica Museum of Art (310-586-6488; www.smmoa.org; ; - ), a café, and plenty of free parking on its 8-acre, campus-style complex. Stop by the museum for cutting-edge exhibits, a map and a look at the orange-tiered shelves of Gracie, an artistically inclined, non-traditional gift shop.
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California Science Center
From pedaling on a highwire bike to watching 50ft animatronic Tess maintain homeostasis, science here is state-of-the-art, highly interactive and loads of fun for families. The most low-tech exhibit inside the center's bright soaring walls may be the most interesting - baby chicks hatching in an incubator. To beat the fieldtrippers, visit after .
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Chinese American Museum
This small but engaging museum spotlights the history of Chinese immigration to America - a history that parallels the current immigration debate like an eerily prescient fortune cookie. From America's dependence on cheap foreign labor to Congressional acts of Chinese exclusion, the newcomer's journey hasn't changed much in 100 years. In the adjacent exhibit hall, ponder the efficiency of the abacus in Sun Wing Wo's general store.
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Griffith Observatory
With an additional 40,000 square feet, a new multi-level exhibit gallery, a 200-seat theater, 60 new exhibits, a café and a gift shop, the new observatory in Griffith Park is ready for the masses. Public drive-up access has been reinstated, but stargazers can also access observatory shuttles from various locations (your reservation guarantees a seat). And yes, it's worth the hassle.
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Hammer Museum
Fancy a fine-art immersion - but need it fast? Step off the busy streets of Westwood and indulge for a moment in the collections of entrepreneur Armand Hammer. Contemporary works, nineteenth-century French masters - Gaugin, Monet, Manet, Pissaro and Van Gogh - as well as a noteworthy collection of Honore Daumier caricatures of French society are highlights.
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Hollywood Museum
Like an aging movie mogul's long-forgotten attic, the slightly musty halls of the Hollywood Museum are crammed with knickknacks, kitsch and some truly fascinating bits of history. From an exhibit on Marilyn Monroe's husbands to an excerpt from James Dean's homework, it's an unexpectedly fascinating mix.
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Huntington Library, Art Collections & Botanical Gardens
Unwind in the zen-like tranquility of the Japanese Garden? Study the jaunty pose of Thomas Gainsborough's Blue Boy ? Linger over the well-thumbed pages of the Gutenberg Bible, the world's first printed book? It's hard to know where to start at this inspirational collection of botanical gardens, art and literature amassed by railroad magnate Henry E Huntington and displayed on his former estate.
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La Louver
Inside the sleek, cool walls of LA Louver, it's easy to forget the adjacent Venice Beach kookiness. Exhibits in this compact two-story gallery rotate every few months but expect an array of contemporary artists ranging from LA up-and-comers to established international names.
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Museum Of Contemporary Art
Architect Arata Osozaki built this conglomeration of cubes, pyramids and cylinders to house renowned collections of abstract expressionism, pop art, minimalism and photography from the 5000-piece permanent collection. Same-day tickets are valid at Little Tokyo's MOCA Geffen Contemporary (152 N Central Ave). MOCA's satellite gallery at the Pacific Design Center is always free.
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Natural History Museum Of Los Angeles County
What's the most frightening Night at the Museum display at this three-level warehouse of goodies? Is it the towering death match between T-rex and Triceratops in the great hall? The chest-thumping stuffed gorillas in the Hall of African Mammals? The 'human head' football games gruesomely described in the Hall of Ancient Latin American? Or perhaps it's the 200 shrieking 4th-graders tumbling off school buses at .
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Norton Simon Museum
Norton Simon's passion for the arts shines through at this accessible museum - see Rodin's The Thinker luring visitors out front - thought by many to be the best collection of fine art in LA. The permanent exhibits, spanning the 14th century to the 20th and including Southeast Asian sculpture, fill six galleries over two floors.
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Pacific Asia Museum
The Pacific Museum may be small, but with more than 14,000 works of Asian and Pacific Island art in its collection, the quality and range of the exhibits is almost unrivaled. The nine galleries, linked around a courtyard, include informative but accessible displays on Chinese, Tibetan, Southeast Asian and Japanese arts. Particularly fascinating is the two-room Chinese Ceramics exhibit.
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Pacific Design Center
The blue and green leviathan at the corner of Melrose and San Vicente - the 'Blue Whale' - is a perfect launch pad for exploring the nearby Avenues of Arts & Design. Inside, more than 130 showrooms highlight furniture, fabrics and architectural products of interest to design professionals. The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA; 310-289-5223) maintains a satellite gallery here with rotating design- and architecture-related exhibits.
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Paley Center for Media
Fancy watching the pilot of Bonanza or Star Trek? How about the moon landing? Or maybe the pilot of Ugly Betty? These and thousands more classic broadcasts dating back to 1918 are only a mouse click away in this sparkling radio and television museum , formerly the Museum of Television and Radio. View or listen to your selections while seated at private consoles. The museum also presents daily screenings in its auditorium, seminars and the occasional live broadcast. Pick up a schedule at the information desk.
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Petersen Automotive Museum
With the main entrance opening onto the parking garage, cars get their due at this four-story ode to the auto. Wander past a 1903 Cadillac, a 1923 UPS truck and a 2006 Bugatti - from zero to 60 in 2.5 seconds - as well as accessible displays fascinating for know-it-alls and newbies alike. Picture-taking welcome.
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Redcat
The Roy and Edna Disney/Cal Arts Theater, tucked in the southwest corner of the Walt Disney Concert Hall complex, fosters new talent from around the world, presenting unique, sometimes challenging, performances in film, dance, theater, and art. Libations poured in sexy, shoeboxy REDCAT Lounge (; - Tue-Fri, - Sat & Sun, and post show).
Showing 1-16 of 16 results
