Tag Archives: old cars

Dream Machines

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Petersen Automotive Museum
March 7, 2020
Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles

We went to the Petersen auto museum to see the special exhibition Hollywood Dream Machines: Vehicles of Science Fiction and Fantasy.  Dozens of vehicles from science fiction themed movies and television shows are on display.  The exhibition was curated in collaboration with the San Diego-based Comic-Con Museum.  It runs through May 2020.

There are science fiction vehicles displayed around the lobby and even a couple in the parking garage.  The first car to meet us as we entered the main gallery on the ground floor was the familiar DeLorean from the Back to the Future movies.  We particularly enjoyed the numerous Batman related vehicles, not only the Batmobiles, but also Batman motorcycles, Joker cars, and models and images of the Batmobile over the years.

Meredith and her sister were taken by the Star Wars speeder on display. We rolled our eyes at the exhibit tag, though.  For all three of us the 1977 movie will always be Star Wars, and not The New Hope.

We also enjoyed seeing other non-Hollywood classic cars.  The Petersen has an extensive collection, which it rotates from time to time. Although we have been there before, there were many vehicles on display that we had not seen before, including the 1886 Benz Motorwagen pictured above.  The Motorwagen had 0.75 horsepower and could achieve a top speed of 10 miles per hour.  Although not the very first automobile, it may be the first practical one.

On our three prior visits, we went with Meredith‘s mother Margaret. Our most recent prior visit was to see the grand reopening in 2015.  Shortly before that the museum had remodeled its exterior; our blog post about that visit, including the architecture, can be seen here.  The year before that we went to the Petersen to see the Mustang exhibit, celebrating the 50th anniversary of Ford’s release of the first Mustangs.

The museum’s collection is extensive, and not all cars it owns can be displayed at any one time.  The Petersen, for an extra charge, offers tours of its vault.  We have never seen the vault but think it might be worth doing someday.

We noticed the same deficits in accessibility that struck us when we last visited, with Margaret in her wheelchair.  Although there are no steps to climb inside the museum, the internal doors are heavy and do not have push button openers, and the parking garage lacks an elevator.

Parking is expensive, a flat $17 for the day, but that reflects the Wilshire location.  Other parking options in the area are in the same cost range.

We are thinking that our next Los Angeles museum venture will probably be to the Skirball in May, to see the Star Trek exhibition, which will open on April 30.

Speed!

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San Diego Air and Space Museum
Balboa Park
November 12, 2018

We took advantage of the Veterans Day Monday holiday, which Bob had off work, to visit the special exhibition at the Air and Space Museum, Speed: Science in Motion. We had been alerted by a Union Tribune article to the fact that the original Bullitt Mustang would be on display there, just from November 4-19. Meredith is an avid Mustang fan, so this was a “must see” for us.

Two different Mustangs were used in filming the 1968 Steve McQueen movie. The one used in the stunt jumps was damaged in filming and sent to a salvage yard. The “hero” Mustang used in other scenes was purchased by a private party and only recently rediscovered. We found a bonus when we arrived at the museum. Next to the Bullitt Mustang was displayed a beautifully restored Dodge Charger of the same vintage as the one seen in the movie’s chase scene. We had not actually seen Bullitt until that weekend; we made a point of streaming the movie a few days before our visit, so we would appreciate what we saw.

Although Steve McQueen’s Mustang has moved on and is no longer on display at the museum, the Speed exhibit remains. It is displays what the museum describes as “an exciting lineup of the fastest planes, jets, rockets, cars, motorcycles, boats, bicycles in the world.” We saw the land speed record setting bicycle ridden by Denise Mueller-Korenek behind a pace car to a world record of 183.9 miles per hour, and a Formula One race car, among other high speed vehicles. There are hands-on displays, such as a model differential, a video timing reflexes, and model cars that can be sent down tracks. The school kids who were enjoying the day off were entranced by the hands-on activities and could not have cared less about the Bullitt car.

After leaving the Speed exhibit, we walked through the rest of the museum. The PSA area brought back memories for Meredith, who used to fly PSA between the Bay Area and Los Angeles in the 1970’s.

We were wearing our memorial Veterans Day poppies, as we had been for several days. When we were in Canada for Remembrance Day four years ago we were struck by how poppies were everywhere, on every lapel. Since then we have tried to do our bit to revive the poppy wearing custom in our country, distributing Buddy Poppies obtained from the VFW to our friends and acquaintances.

We lingered in the World War I area, reading about the primitive planes used in that war and the men that flew them, then moved on to the World War II displays.

Our Balboa Park Explorer passes were sufficient for museum admission, but we had to pay an extra $5 for admission to the Speed exhibit.

Hurray for Hollywood

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Hollywood Museum
Hollywood
September 2, 2018

We drove up to Hollywood and met up with Meredith‘s sister to tour the Hollywood Museum. We have been there twice before, both times with Margaret, but had not visited in several years.

The building itself is a wonderful thing to explore. The museum is located in the old Max Factor building in the heart of Hollywood, on Highland Avenue at Hollywood Boulevard. The ground floor still sports the beautiful marble lobby with the four parlors in which Max met with his celebrity clients. Each is painted a different color. There are separate rooms for blondes, redheads, brunettes, and “brownettes” (Factor’s term for actresses with light brown hair). The wall color in each room is designed to go with the skin tone which best matched the client’s hair. Since many actresses dyed their hair, Factor would adjust the make up for each, to get the right color to have the complexion match her hair.

The back portion of the building was where the Max Factor cosmetics were manufactured and packaged. Nowadays it is used as museum exhibit space.

The entire museum, which covers four floors, is jam packed with artifacts. There are many costumes from movies and television series, numerous props of various kinds, and many photos. The museum collection spans a century of movie and television production. There are several thematic areas, but the museum as a whole is not overly organized. Display cases are crammed full of things, and the visitor is constantly stumbling across artifacts from an old favorite movie or show.

We went this weekend to see the Batman 66 special exhibition, a collection of costumes and props from the old Batman television show of the 1960’s starring Adam West and Burt Ward. It was fun seeing the old villain costumes and a replica of the Batmobile. We learned that it was built on the frame of a Lincoln Futura concept car, complete with the bubble windshield. Several video screens were running clips from the old show. We were particularly struck by a sequence that had Batman and the Joker surfing side-by-side, apparently in some sort of competition, with board shorts worn over their regular costumes. Several display cases featured related collectible memorabilia from the time: action figures, trading cards, board games, buttons, and a variety of toys.

The old Batman TV show debuted when we were in kindergarten, and it was a sensation. Meredith remembers a “Bat Party” her mother hosted for her and her classmates, to which most of the children wore capes. Party games were Batman themed and prizes and favors were Batman items, like a 45 record with the Batman theme song.

After the museum visit we had lunch next-door at Mel’s Diner. Then Kathleen left, and the two of us walked over to Grauman’s Chinese Theater, to look at the celebrity footprints and handprints in the cement.

Adult admission to the Hollywood Museum is $15, and visitors should plan to pay cash in addition to park nearby in Hollywood. There is a small lot next to the museum and other parking nearby on the weekend at Hollywood High School.

Pacific Standard Memories

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San Diego Museum of Art and Mingei International Museum
Balboa Park
January-February 2018
LACMA
Hancock Park
March 18, 2018

Over the winter we attended several exhibitions, now gone by, in the Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA series. Life got away from us, so we did not write them up here at the time. We did enjoy getting in touch with Latin American art spanning many centuries and revisiting some museums we had not been to in a while.

The first Pacific Standard Time series celebrated mid-twentieth century Southern California arts; it ran from October 2011 to April 2012. We took Meredith’s mother Margaret to six or more exhibitions in that first series. It was fun discovering small venues and offbeat subjects. Margaret was very taken by a vintage Studebaker Avanti on display at LACMA (the Los Angeles County Museum of Art) and joked about driving off in it while the guard was looking the other way. The thought of Margaret leaping out of her wheelchair and hotwiring a collector car still brings a smile. That first series of Pacific Standard Time visits took place before we started our blog.

The newer LA/LA series explored artistic connections between Latin America and Southern California (mainly Los Angeles) and ran from September 2017 to early 2018. Both PST series were organized by the Getty Museum, which brought together dozens of So Cal museums, each with their own special focus exhibit.

Earlier this year, we saw: (1) Modern Masters from Latin America: The Pérez Simón Collection at the San Diego Museum of Art; (2) Art of the Americas: Mesoamerican, Pre-Columbian Art from Mingei’s Permanent Collection at the Mingei Museum; and (3) Painted in Mexico, 1700–1790: Pinxit Mexici at LACMA.

In January, we saw the Pérez Simón Collection show at the San Diego Museum of Art in Balboa Park. It brought together art (mostly paintings) from eight different Latin American countries, spanning a little over a century, from the late 1800’s to now. We particularly liked the landscape scenes and portrayals of people in their daily lives. The abstract pieces interested us less. After we finished seeing the Perez Simon collection, we stopped in to see a visiting Monet painting, which was on loan from the Denver art museum and has since been returned.

The next month we headed to the Mingei Museum, also in Balboa Park. We had not been there in years, and it was fun to get reacquainted. The term “mingei” means “everyone’s art,” and this museum features objects from around the world made for everyday use. Although some are very beautiful, none were made purely to be decorative. Their Pacific Standard Time exhibition displayed an extensive collection of objects, particularly ceramics, from a variety of pre-Columbian cultures in Mexico, Central America, and South America. We particularly liked seeing the Mayan textile fragments – so fragile they were shown under dim lighting.

While in the Mingei we also strolled through a display of Native American weaving from the American Southwest. There were some strikingly handsome pieces on display, and the curator’s explanatory signs were very thorough. Two thumbs up on the Mingei visit; we will definitely come back.

Early this year we purchased a Balboa Park Explorer one year family pass, and we used the pass for both the SDMA and Mingei visit.

In March, we met up with Meredith’s sister Kathleen to see Painted in Mexico, 1700-1790: Pinxit Mexici at LACMA. This was an exhibition of Mexican painting during the 18th century. Over 120 works were on display, many of which had never been shown publicly before, and some were specially restored for this exhibition. Religious paintings predominated, but there were secular themed paintings as well. The works displayed were high quality, sophisticated pieces; this New World art can definitely take its place alongside the best of the Old World. We saw the exhibition on its final weekend in Los Angeles; it went on the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where it will be on display through July 22.

We looked through several other LACMA areas. Outside we were amused by a sculpture that looks like a balloon animal. A little hard to take seriously, but hey, we took a picture, didn’t we?

Bowers Museum

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Bowers Museum
December 17, 2017
Santa Ana

We headed north to see the Bowers Museum, which has a large and eclectic art collection. Meredith’s sister Kathleen had suggested visiting it, and after several unsuccessful attempts to find a date in common with her, we decided to see it on our own.

We spent much of our time in two special exhibitions: first we saw Endurance, the Antarctic Legacy of Sir Ernest Shackleton and Frank Hurley, and next we visited Empress Dowager Cixi, Selections from the Summer Palace. We also toured the oldest parts of the museum and looked at the early California collection.

We were fascinated by the Shackleton exhibition. It is built around the stunning photographs and motion pictures taken by expedition photographer Frank Hurley, of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1914-1917). The negatives have been newly digitized and show remarkable detail, and his compositions are striking. The museum has laid out the exhibition in chronological order, with brief explanations of the various hardships and twists and turns of the expedition’s journey, illustrated by Hurley’s photos and films. The museum is also screening an hour long documentary about the Shackleton expedition from the first sailing to Antarctica, through the long confinement in the pack ice, the row to uninhabited Elephant Island, the open water journey to South Georgia island, and the trek across that island to the whaling station, where Shackleton finally returned to the outside world. A replica of the boat in which Shackleton sailed from Elephant Island to South Georgia Island, a distance of over 720 nautical miles, is displayed in the courtyard of the museum just outside the restaurant.

The Empress Dowager Cixi (whose name is transliterated Tz’u Hsi in older western texts and pronounced “she she,” we think) was originally an imperial concubine. When her son became emperor as a child, she ruled as regent and continued her regency during the minority of her nephew. In all, she ruled China for nearly five decades, from 1861 to 1908. The special exhibition at the museum has many decorative items from her Summer Palace. The furniture on display includes a beautiful and ornate throne set. There are many beautiful Chinese art works, including some calligraphy and painting done by the empress herself. Beautifully embroidered silk gowns are displayed. Bob’s eye was caught by a large carved tourmaline stone mined in San Diego and exported to China, where it was carved as a decorative object. The Empress was interested in Western technology and art, and her interest is reflected in the collection, with objects such as English table clocks. Meredith enjoyed seeing the 1901 Duryea Surrey automobile which one of the empress’ generals imported from the United States as a gift to her. It had a three cylinder, 10 hp engine and was capable of speeds up to 25 mph.

The Shackleton exhibition runs through January 28, 2018. The Empress Dowager exhibition runs through March 11, 2018.

We had lunch at the museum restaurant, Tangata. Service and food were both excellent. It is somewhat pricey. It can be accessed by the general public as well as museum visitors.

After lunch, we visited the oldest parts of the California collection, the Native American and mission era rooms. The California collection is housed in the oldest part of the museum complex, the original building constructed in the 1930’s. There are some very beautiful woven baskets which Meredith‘s late mother Margaret would have loved. In addition to the artifacts on display, the Segerstrom gallery features a beautiful carved wooden ceiling.

We decided to leave for another day the rest of the museum’s permanent collections, which include such things as California plein air paintings, Mexican ceramics, Pacific Island art and artifacts, Pre-Columbian art, and Chinese and Japanese art.

General admission is $15 for adults on weekends, $13 on weekdays; the Empress Dowager exhibit had an additional entry fee. Students and seniors enjoy discounts, and children under 12 are free with paid adults. The museum is closed on Mondays. Parking costs $6, but is free with restaurant validation. Handicapped access is good. In the modern building, everything is at a level. In the older building, there are some steps down into the Native American room, but it was retrofitted with a wheelchair lift.

Sheriff’s Museum

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Sheriff’s Museum
Old Town San Diego
November 6, 2016

We have been meaning to visit the Sheriff’s Museum ever since we spotted it on a training hike we did last year, from Clairemont to downtown, in preparation for walking the Camino in Spain. Until we stumbled on this museum at the east edge of Old Town, we did not know it was there.

sheriff_museum_sd

We enjoyed a Sunday brunch at Miguel’s Cocina, then walked a block east to the museum. It is larger than we thought, looking at the building from the outside. The museum collection is housed in a two story building. The ground floor displays contain many artifacts, such as badges and vintage communications equipment. In the courtyard are several historic cars. The top floor has more thematic displays, including the history and role of women in the department, major incidents like the Heaven’s Gate mass suicide and Santee shootings, and separate displays for specialty units. The final room is devoted to deputies who have been honored for bravery and a memorial for deputies killed in the line of duty.

The collection is quite extensive, well laid out, and clearly labeled. Bob was particularly interested in two things: an old map of California and the display honoring all of the Sheriffs in San Diego history. The map caught his eye because this good sized wall hanging showed a huge San Diego County–one of the original twenty-seven, it stretched to the Arizona border and north to the Nevada border half way to Lake Tahoe, including what are now the counties of Imperial, Riverside, and San Bernardino, and part of Inyo. Not being a native Californian, his knowledge of its history has some gaps. The display honoring the Sheriffs had a couple of points of interest. The first Sheriff, Agoston Haraszthy, was an immigrant from Hungary and was one of the founders of the modern California wine making industry. A 1953 photograph of the then Sheriff and his deputies included one deputy, John Duffy (with requisite buzz-cut), who would later be the county’s twenty-sixth Sheriff. He was in office from 1971-1991; Bob and Meredith arrived in San Diego during his tenure.

This museum would be a good place for a family outing; the exhibits appeal to all ages. There was a retired deputy serving as docent who answered our questions and made us feel welcome.

Admission is free, although donations are encouraged. Handicap access is good, with an elevator connecting the two floors. The gift shop has a good selection of items. There is no on-site parking; we walked over from where we had parked for brunch.

Whidbey Island

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Whidbey Island, Washington
March 19-20, 2016

We flew to Seattle to visit with our oldest and youngest daughters and our daughter-in-law. Last time we visited them we enjoyed exploring Bainbridge Island, and we were intrigued by the idea of further island explorations. This year we decided to explore Whidbey Island, and we took the ferry from Mukilteo to Clinton, at the southern tip of Whidbey.

The scenery was magnificent — snow capped mountains to east and west, water, farms, and trees — all very different from what we see in San Diego.

On our drive north from Clinton, we stopped at Fort Casey State Park. This site is now a state park; formerly it was an army base with coastal defense artillery. Two large (10 inch barrel) guns are still in place for viewing, together with their massive carriages, and two of the 3 inch barrel guns are also on display. Our youngest daughter liked the maze of underground rooms and the artillery “dumb waiter” (our term) which was once used to raise the shells to the guns. From the ramparts we could see out over Admiralty Inlet across to the Olympic Peninsula. We were lucky to come on a free pass day; generally Washington state parks charge a fee of $10 per car per day for a Discovery Pass, or $30 for an annual pass.

Whidbey_FtCasey

Within the park, just a short walk from Fort Casey, is the Admiralty Head Lighthouse, built in 1903 and used until 1922. We watched a video with archival footage of live firing practice of the big guns at Fort Casey. Bob and the girls climbed up the lighthouse tower. (Meredith waited on the landing.) There is no lamp in the lighthouse now, but there is a great view from its tower. On the ground floor there are several exhibits, including other lighthouse lenses typical of ones used in that period. Meredith was interested by the wooden library box; every few months the lighthouse service would deliver a box containing an assortment of books, both fiction and non-fiction, for the keeper to read.

Whidbey_lighthouse

We went on to the Island County Historical Society Museum, located near the waterfront in Coupeville, a scenic small town founded in 1852. Family admission worked out to about $2 each. We enjoyed looking at the 1902 Holsman car displayed in the lobby; it was the first automobile on the entire island. There are some impressive baskets on display in the Native American exhibit on the bottom floor of the museum.

In the late afternoon we stopped at the PBY Naval Air Museum in the town of Oak Harbor. On one side of the highway is a retired PBY seaplane, which saw service in the Aleutian Islands during World War II. The museum’s indoor displays are in a building across the road. We found them to be well labeled and very informative. We watched an excellent video which featured local residents reminiscing about life in Oak Harbor before the naval air station and describing the transformation that occurred with the opening of the air base and the all consuming war effort of WWII. Adult admission to the museum is ordinarily $7, but we had picked up discount coupons at the Island County Museum so paid $6 each.

Whidbey_PBY

We stayed overnight at the Best Western in Oak Harbor. The next morning we attended Mass at the local parish then drove to the north end of the island to see the scenic Deception Pass, so called because the first European explorers in the area thought that waterway was the mouth of a river. (Instead it is part of the Salish Sea, the network of inlets and waterways between the Olympic Peninsula and the mainland of Washington State.) We drove south from there, mainly retracing our steps but adding a couple of scenic detours. We enjoyed an excellent locally-sourced lunch at the Oystercatcher in historic Coupeville, stopped to see some mid 19th century blockhouses, and then finished our excursion with a tasting at the Spoiled Dog Winery. Late in the afternoon we took the ferry and headed back to the girls’ home.

Petersen’s Grand Reopening

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Petersen Automotive Museum
Wilshire Boulevard “Miracle Mile”
December 12, 2015

The Petersen Automotive Museum has just reopened after a long (14 month) remodeling project. We love old cars and so does Margaret, so we headed for the Miracle Mile to check out the new Petersen. We had been there with her at least twice before, most recently on Mustang Weekend.

The exterior has been totally redone and is the subject of some controversy in architectural circles: some love it, some, including Los Angeles Times’ architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne, hate it, calling it happily tasteless and aggressively bad. Another critic called it an atrocity. The wall is red, and it is encircled by silver metallic undulating bands of metal, giving the feel of motion. On the whole, we liked it. We have to agree with Petersen board president Bruce Meyer, who told the Los Angeles Times “Before, nobody knew we were here. Now, nobody’s ever going to drive by this building and not know we’re here.”

You can get a little sense of the exterior, both before and after, from the photos below, the top one taken on this visit and the lower one taken in 2012:

Petersen_exterior_new

Petersen_2012

The interior of the museum repeats the red color on some accent walls, with complementary white, gray, and silver walls and carpeting.

The staff at the ticket desk suggested we start on the third floor and work our way down. The third floor kept us captivated for quite a while. It is a large open gallery with cars from all eras. The display starts with a beautiful replica of the first automobile ever built, in 1886 by Benz. Meredith was interested to see the rare Davis Divan on display. Its restoration had been the subject of a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo. She is on the museum’s email list and had received periodic updates about the car, so it was nice to see it “in the flesh.” There is also a gorgeous 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air on display, which brought back memories for Margaret and Meredith of their family car in the 1960’s, a white 1955 Bel Air. Most cars cannot be touched, but we took turns sitting in an antique Ford.

Petersen_Ford_Bob

Meredith asked Margaret, what was the first car she ever drove? She said it was her mother’s 1949 Ford, and smiled at the memory.

One entire wall of the third floor gallery displays cars from movies and television shows, with film clips running in the back showing the cars on the screen. They were a varied group, including (among many other vehicles) the Jaguar and Aston Martin from the latest James Bond movie; the Batmobile from Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992); the Pontiac Aztec from Breaking Bad; and the Volkswagen bus from Little Miss Sunshine.

We had lingered so long on the third floor, that we decided to save the second floor for another day. It includes exhibits about the automotive industry, manufacturing, high-performance road cars, hot rods and custom cars, alternative power vehicles, and motorcycles. It also includes the Discovery Center with driving simulators.

We finished our visit with a stroll through the first floor galleries. The theme of this floor is artistry, and a large collection of the most beautiful classic luxury cars is displayed here, all perfectly restored. They are truly gorgeous.

Admission to the museum is $15 for adults, $12 for students or seniors, and $7 for youth. Bob was given free admission as an educator with his school ID card. Parking is $12 for all day.

Wheelchair accessibility is adequate to meet ADA requirements but is not outstanding. Visitors with a handicapped placard can park in designated spots on the ground floor of the garage, if any are available. (All were full the day we visited, but we had parked in the Page Museum lot to be closer to Johnnie’s for lunch, so were not inconvenienced.) If you have to park on the upper floor of the garage, be aware there is still no elevator! That omission was a missed opportunity in the renovation. Within the museum there are elevators, of course, but galleries and bathrooms have heavy doors without handicapped push button openings. That is not an issue for us, with two able-bodied people helping Margaret, but could be more of a problem for another visitor.

Petersen_Johnnys

The museum restaurant is not yet open; it is scheduled to open in April 2016. We had lunch before the museum visit at our favorite place on Wilshire, Johnnie’s New York Pizzeria. Our youngest daughter joined us for lunch, and we all enjoyed both the visit and the food.

Strathearn Historical Park

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Strathearn Historical Park
Simi Valley
January 17, 2015

When we were brainstorming something new to do on this visit, we read through the Passport 2 History booklet. This booklet, and the related website, list over 60 historic sites throughout Southern California, from San Luis Obispo County down to San Diego County. We knew from going to the Reagan library that Simi Valley is not a bad drive from Margaret’s home, so we picked this site.

StrathearnPark

There are about a dozen historic buildings located in the park, which covers a little over 6 acres. It is named for the Strathearn family, who bought the land in the late 19th century. The park is open on weekdays from 9 AM to 3 PM, but docent led tours of the interiors of the buildings are only available five days week in the afternoon, including Saturday and Sunday.

We timed our arrival for 1 PM on the dot, just as the park opened, and began our tour in the visitor center. There is a nice collection of artifacts on display in the visitor center, in glass cases grouped to show the Chumash era, the Spanish era, American frontier era, and the early 20th century. Meredith was rather disconcerted to see a collection of nondescript telephone books and a black standard rotary dial telephone on display. When the everyday objects of our childhood become museum pieces, we really start to feel old!

We sat with a couple other visitors and watched a video in the visitor center which gave an overview of history in the valley over those same periods. The substantive content of the video was quite informative. The production values left a bit to be desired but were adequate for the purpose.

A pair of Cub Scouts and their parents and siblings joined us, and we all headed out on a docent led tour of the various buildings and outdoor exhibits in the park. We particularly liked the original St. Rose of Lima church, the Simi Adobe / Strathearn House, and the antique car and carriages.

The church, like most of the buildings in the park, was relocated from its original location, in this case at Third and Pacific in the old town area of Simi. It was first built by Presbyterians in 1902 but was soon sold to the Catholic diocese and converted to a Catholic parish church, and it was used as such until 1964.

The Simi Adobe, which was later incorporated into the Strathearn House, is the oldest building in the park, and that combined building is one of the few which was originally located on the site. The adobe portion of the building was the headquarters for the Spanish era rancho and dates from about 1810. It is reduced in size from what it was originally; it is now just one story, and the room at the back end of it was destroyed in a fire and not rebuilt. In 1892 the Strathearns added a two-story Victorian frame house to the front of the adobe building. They used the adobe portion as their kitchen and dining room. The entire building is well outfitted with furniture and furnishings from the era. A small part of the floor and wall in one room of the adobe section have been removed and encased in glass, so that one can see the adobe wall and wood floor structure.

Bob went inside the Colony House, which dates from 1888 and was relocated from Second Street and Ashland. That particular building is not wheelchair accessible. It is a prefab building from the abortive “Simiopolis” development in the late 19th century. It was used for many years as a church and minister’s home. Although quite attractive in outward appearance, it is uninsulated and cannot have been very comfortable to live in.

One of the barn buildings contains several well preserved antique carriages, and we all enjoyed seeing a 1926 Model T kept in one of the garage buildings that date from the Strathearn family’s time. Margaret chuckled and called it a “bug eyed monster.”

Strathearn_ModelT

Other buildings we saw included the local library, built in 1930 and used until 1962; a barbershop; several barns and farm outbuildings with extensive period equipment displayed; and a former garage restyled as a general store and used as the park’s gift shop.

Admission is $3 for adults. Much but not all of the park is wheelchair accessible. Several buildings cannot be entered by wheelchair, although we could see into the library fairly well from outside. With help we lifted Margaret’s wheelchair up one step into the adobe. She could not go up to the Victorian era part of Strathearn House, however, nor could she enter the Colony House.

The park does not have a café or snack bar. We had stopped for lunch on our way to the park in any event, at a sandwich shop nearby that we found on Yelp, Old School Sandwiches & Salads. We all enjoyed our various sandwiches – roast beef, tuna, and chicken – and the two of us were impressed with the chili we had with our half sandwich combos. It seemed nicely made from scratch, with several types of beans and a nice blend of meat, vegetables, and mild spices. They use fresh bakery bread for their sandwiches and pride themselves on fresh and mostly local ingredients. We recommend them to anyone in the area.

Autry National Center

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Autry National Center
Griffith Park
September 7, 2014

We met up with two of our daughters and their significant others (husband of one, boyfriend of the other) at the Autry Museum of the American West. The museum is located in Griffith Park, across from the zoo. The Autry participates in Bank of America’s Museums on Us program, so on the first full weekend of each month admission is free to B of A debit or credit card holders.

Autry 3 generations

Together with Margaret, our group explored the two special exhibitions currently offered. The first exhibit we toured was Floral Journey: Native North American Beadwork. That exhibition runs through April 26, 2015. The exhibition features over 250 Native American beadwork pieces with floral designs. There are many stunning pieces, and tribal cultures from all over North America are represented. Most of the pieces are historical pieces from the 19th or early 20th century. Sprinkled throughout the exhibition are some modern pieces, also by Native American artists, inspired by their cultural history. The exhibition combines two of Margaret’s passions, handwork and Native American culture, and she enjoyed it very much.

We also toured the Route 66: the Road and the Romance exhibition, which will remain open through January 4, 2015. The exhibition was both large and well thought out, with a variety of artifacts on display, ranging from historic road signs to a 1960 Chevrolet Corvette to drawings from the movie Cars. The first few display cases set the background for the exhibition, explaining how difficult travel was and how few well-maintained through roads there were, prior to the time Route 66 and other US highways were built, starting in the 1920’s.

Autry MB 66

Memorabilia from the construction and dedication of the highway are on display. There are extensive items showing its role as a migration route for Dustbowl immigrants in the Depression, including a page from Steinbeck’s manuscript for The Grapes of Wrath, a first edition of the book, and a related photo essay from Life magazine. At several points in the exhibit there are some short videos which can be heard through headphones. Margaret and Meredith listened to several vignettes, including the reminisces of a Japanese American who grew up in Gallup, New Mexico and one of the co-creators of the Cars movie who took a road trip along the route to get inspiration for the movie.

The group ate in the museum café. They serve excellent food, semi-cafeteria style. One orders at the counter and gets drinks there, then sits and the food is brought out to the table by staff when it is ready. The menu is mainly sandwiches, burgers, soups, and salads. Margaret and Meredith each had portobello mushroom burgers. Bob and our middle daughter opted for half sandwich / cup of chili combos. The younger men had pulled pork sandwiches, and our youngest daughter had a fry bread chicken taco. The café serves soft drinks, beer, and wine. It usually offers vintage soft drinks in addition to modern ones, like sarsaparilla and cream soda, but they were out of those the day we visited. The staff is very knowledgeable and helpful. We have always enjoyed eating there. The prices were quite reasonable for museum fare; the bill for all seven of us came to just under $100.

There are rotating family activities. Today they were set up to have families do beadwork, playing on the theme of the Floral Journey exhibit. The permanent collection is extensive and impressive. We did not stay to look at it today, although we have seen it in the past. Bob, Meredith, and Margaret left early to meet up with Kathleen for coffee. Bob first took the young people down to show them the historic gun collection, which is quite extensive. The four of them stayed on to look at the rest of the permanent collection after we left. The museum is an interesting blend of the historic West and the Hollywood West. The permanent collection has many artifacts from the American West, including not only items from the majority culture but also items representative of minorities, women, and Native Americans. There is also an extensive area devoted to memorabilia such as props and posters from Western movies, from the silent era through spaghetti Westerns and everything in between, including of course Gene Autry films.

Wheelchair access is excellent. Parking is free.

There are a number of special events at the Autry, and it is a good idea to check their calendar to see what may be happening on a given day. On past visits we have seen a farmers market, and a Western family day celebration.

We did not take advantage of the docents this time, but in the past we have joined docent led tours through the special exhibitions and been very pleased with the quality of those presentations.

The Autry merged with, or perhaps acquired, the Southwest Museum back in 2003. The Southwest Museum has a very extensive collection of Native American artifacts, far more than it can exhibit. Having the large museum space the Autry offers in Griffith Park allows for showing more of those pieces to the public. Meredith and Margaret visited the Southwest Museum back in the 1970’s or early 80’s, before the building was damaged in the Northridge earthquake, and long before wheelchair access was a concern for us. There has been some controversy about the Autry’s control of the Southwest Museum and its collection. We do not know enough about the background of the controversy to have an opinion, but we do wonder if the critics have an appreciation of just how difficult and expensive it is, both to restore and maintain historic structures like the old Southwest adobe, and to maintain delicate collections like those originally housed in that facility.