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5 delightfully strange museums and why people love them
Critics have varying opinions on the newly opened Lucas Museum of Narrative Art's unconventional galleries.
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The Lucas Museum
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Museums around the world serve as a lens into human history, culture, scientific achievement and more.
But that fancy-schmancy description gives a sort of “high prestige" to collections of art and expression which, after all, are created and perceived subjectively.
Because artists have always pushed the boundaries of what art can or should be — we asked listeners of AirTalk, LAist 89.3's daily news show, to share their favorite less-traditional museums. Here are some of their picks — all driving distance — and why they love them, in their own words.
The Museum of Jurassic Technology (Culver City)
It features an unorthodox mixture of artistic, scientific and historic technological items, as well as some unclassifiable exhibits, including cabinets of curiosities that were the 16th-century predecessors of modern natural-history museums.
The Museum of Jurassic Technology
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Sascha Pohflepp
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Wikimedia Creative Commons
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Listen
0:11
Why Laura in Whittier loves it
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Learn about hours and admission here.
Velaslavasay Panorama (University Park)
This nonprofit exhibition hall features a garden in and around a historic theater located right in the heart of University Park. It's famous for having the only hand-painted 360-degree panorama in the country.
Why Hannah in North University Park loves it:
“Truly indescribable and ancient. Only a couple panoramas are left in the world, but the small scale of this one is intimate and inspiring.”
Learn about hours and admission here.
Lincoln Memorial Shrine (Redlands)
A research facility and museum dedicated to the late president and the Civil War.
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Why Megan in Pomona loves it:
“The only Abe Lincoln museum west of the Mississippi.”
Musée Mécanique (San Francisco)
One of the largest privately owned collections of 20th century antique arcade games, fortune tellers and coin-op machines, some of which you can still play. It's located right on Pier 45 in San Francisco’s Fisherman's Wharf.
Listen
0:07
Why Carson in Ventura love it
Learn about hours and admission here.
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Musical Instrument Museum (Phoenix, AZ)
With one of the biggest houses of instruments in the world, it features instruments and musical artifacts from roughly 200 different countries.
Why Lindsey in Koreatown loves it:
"It really feels like taking a walk around the whole world."
Learn about hours and admission here.
Listen
16:48
Listen for the rest of AirTalk's non-traditional museums here
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You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
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