Saturday museum tour

The end of 2005 is nigh. Luckily there's still time to get a dose of high culture before the year comes to a close -- most of the city's major museums will be open for at least part of the day.

UCLA's Hammer Museum is open today from 11am - 3pm. Their big show is the low-art-as-high-culture Masters of American Comics, which is split between the Hammer and MOCA. With a big chunk of downtown roped off for Giant Village tonight, you might want to save MOCA for later and stick with the Hammer in Westwood.

High and low culture meet at the Getty Museum, which is open from 11am-5pm today. Exhibits include the Hours of Louis XII, a 16th-century illustrated manuscript that was taken apart 300 years ago and has recently been reconstructed — and crime scene photos by Weegee.

LACMA will be open 11am-8pm, just like all Saturdays — and for the same hours on Sunday, even though that's New Year's Day. Their big show is Cezanne and Pissarro ("pioneering modern painting"), and the permanent collection is nothing to sneeze at.

The Natural History Museum will be open regular hours today (10am-5pm) but is closed tomorrow. The show Collapse based on Jared Diamond's book is on its way to extinction (Jan 15), so if you don't make it today, make a plan to visit soon.

We think the genius Museum of Jurassic Technology will be open regular Saturday hours, but that place always keeps us guessing.