List of museums in Los Angeles

Last updated December 04, 2024

This list of museums in Los Angeles is a list of museums located within the City of Los Angeles, defined for this context as institutions (including nonprofit organizations, government entities, and private businesses) that collect and care for objects of cultural, artistic, scientific, or historical interest and make their collections or related exhibits available for public viewing. Also included are non-profit and university art galleries. Museums that exist only in cyberspace (i.e., virtual museums) are not included.

Museums

See also: List of museums in Los Angeles County, California

Name	Community	Type	Summary
A+D Museum	Downtown	Architecture	Architecture and Design Museum, changing exhibits, information and education center about architecture, interior design, landscape design, fashion design and product design
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures	Wilshire	Media	Museum dedicated to the motion picture arts and the Oscars Award ceremony. Located at Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue (formerly the May Department Store) LACMA Campus.
African American Firefighter Museum	Downtown	Firefighting	Vintage fire apparatus, stories, pictures, memorabilia of pioneering African American Los Angeles firefighters
Annenberg Space for Photography	Century City	Photography	Changing exhibits of digital and print photography
American Jewish University Art Galleries	Bel Air	Art	Platt and Borstein Art Galleries, Smalley Sculpture Garden
Andres Pico Adobe	Mission Hills	Historic house	Operated by the San Fernando Valley Historical Society
Armand Hammer Museum of Art	Westwood	Art	Also known as the Hammer Museum, collection includes French 19th-century masters, European old master paintings, American artists from the 18th to 20th centuries, works by 19th-century French satirist Honoré Daumier and contemporaries, sculpture and contemporary art
Autry Museum of the American West	Griffith Park	Culture	Museum dedicated to the art, history, and cultures of the American West. Established in 2003 following the merger of the Southwest Museum of the American Indian, the Women of the West Museum, and the Museum of the American West (formerly the Autry Museum of Western Heritage)
Avila Adobe	Downtown	Historic house	Oldest standing residence in Los Angeles, part of El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument
Banning Residence Museum	Wilmington	Historic house	Victorian mansion of Phineas Banning
Barnsdall Art Park	Los Feliz	Art	Includes the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Barnsdall Gallery Theatre, and Hollyhock House
Battleship USS Iowa Museum	San Pedro	Military	Operated by the Pacific Battleship Center, the USS Iowa (BB-61) served during WWII, Korean War, and the Cold War, and hosted 3 presidents (President Franklin D. Roosevelt, President Ronald Reagan, and President George H. W. Bush.)
Ben Maltz Gallery	Westchester	Art	Contemporary art gallery of Otis College of Art and Design
Bhagavad-gita Museum	Culver City	Art/Religion	Diorama displays illustrating the Bhagavad-gita, owned and operated by ISKCON
Bolton Hall Museum	Tujunga	Local history	Operated by the Little Landers Historical Society
The Broad Museum	Downtown	Art	A contemporary art museum built by philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad
Cal State Northridge Art Galleries	Northridge	Art	Main, Summer and West galleries^[1]
California State University, Los Angeles Luckman Fine Arts Complex and Fine Arts Gallery	University Hills	Art	Harriet and Charles Luckman Fine Arts Complex for visual and performing arts,^[2] and the Fine Arts Gallery in Building 9 that is part of the Department of Art^[3]
California African American Museum	Exposition Park	African American
California Science Center	Exposition Park	Science
Campo de Cahuenga	Studio City	Historic house
Catalina Island Museum	Avalon	Art and History Museum	Founded in 1953; Santa Catalina Island's only museum
Centinela Adobe	Westchester	Historic house
Chatsworth Museum	Chatsworth	Historic house	Operated by the Chatsworth Historical Society at the Homestead Acre, late 19th-century homesteader's cottage known as the Hill-Palmer Cottage
Chinese American Museum	Downtown	Ethnic – Chinese	History and experience of Chinese Americans in the state of California, also fine art exhibits, part of El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument
Craft Contemporary	Miracle Mile	Folk Art	Located in Museum Row
Destination Crenshaw	Crenshaw Boulevard, Hyde Park	Cultural	Under-construction 1.3-mile-long (2.1 km) open-air museum preserving the history and culture of African Americans
Discovery Cube Los Angeles	Lake View Terrace	Science	Located by Hansen Dam, the museum for children to learn about science
Drum Barracks	Wilmington	Civil War	Civil War-era military facility with museum containing camp models, period displays
El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument	Downtown	Multiple	Includes Olvera Street, Avila Adobe, Chinese American Museum, Italian American Museum of Los Angeles, Plaza Firehouse Museum, Sepulveda House, changing exhibits in El Pueblo Gallery, Pico House, Hellman/Quon building
Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising Museum	Downtown	Textile	Costumes, accessories, textiles & perfume
Flight Path Learning Center & Museum	Los Angeles Airport	Flying	Aircraft, models, photos, displays, school tours, and special programs. Library includes rare industry magazines dating to World War II and before, aircraft manuals, and historic photographs
Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)	San Fernando Valley	History	Houses the Hall Of Liberty American History Museum
Fort MacArthur Museum	San Pedro	Military	History of the fort and its role in defending the Los Angeles area
Fowler Museum	Westwood	Cultural	Part of UCLA, collections include art, ethnographic and archaeological objects representing prehistoric, historic, and contemporary cultures of Africa, Native and Latin America, and Asia and the Pacific
Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden	Westwood	Art	Sculpture garden located on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles and is run by the Hammer Museum.
Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation	Holmby Hills	Art	Estate and gardens with collection of 20th-century art, open by appointment on guided tours
Geffen Contemporary at MOCA	Downtown	Art	Located in Little Tokyo district, branch of Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Getty Center	Brentwood	Art	One site of the J. Paul Getty Museum, exhibits classical sculpture and art, European paintings, drawings, manuscripts, sculpture, decorative arts and photography
Getty Villa	Pacific Palisades	Cultural	Another site of the J. Paul Getty Museum, arts and cultures of ancient Greece, Rome and Etruria
Grammy Museum	Downtown	Music	Located at L.A. Live, history of the Grammy Awards and music artifacts
`	Downtown	Historic house	website, turn-of-the century Queen Anne house
Griffith Observatory	Griffith Park	Science	Exhibits include astronomy, planets, stars, the cosmos, gravity, the sun and moon
Guinness World Record Museum	Hollywood	Entertainment	website, located on Hollywood Boulevard and featuring world record breaking facts and feats.
Heritage Square Museum	Montecito Heights	Open air	Eight structures tell the story of the settlement and development of Southern California from the Civil War to the early 20th Century
Hill-Palmer Cottage	Chatsworth	Historic house	Operated by the Chatsworth Historical Society, also known as the Homestead Acre
Hollywood Bowl Museum	Hollywood	Media	Gallery of photos from performers at the Hollywood Bowl, audio and video clips, memorabilia
Hollywood Heritage Museum	Hollywood	History	Archival photographs from silent movie picture productions, movie props, historic documents and movie memorabilia
Hollywood Museum	Hollywood	Media	Over 10,000 historical costumes, props, models, set pieces and more from movies and movie stars, located in the Max Factor building
Hollywood Wax Museum	Hollywood	Wax	Wax figures of media stars, fictional characters, famous politicians and a Chamber of Horrors
Human Resources	Downtown	Art	Non-profit exhibition and performance space
Italian American Museum of Los Angeles	Downtown	Cultural	Part of El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument, history and contributions of Italian Americans in Los Angeles
Japanese American National Museum	Downtown	Ethnic – Japanese	Japanese American history, culture and art, located in Little Tokyo
Judson Studios	Highland Park	Art	Art gallery and stained glass workshops
Kleinrock Internet Heritage Site and Archive	Westwood	History	website Part of UCLA, birthplace and early history of the Internet where the first node of the ARPANET (a network that laid foundations for the modern Internet) was sent
Korean Cultural Center	Koreatown	Ethnic – Korean	Korean history and culture, changing exhibits of traditional and contemporary art
LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes	Downtown	Ethnic	Mexican-American experience in Los Angeles and Southern California, art and culture, reconstruction of 1920's Main Street vignettes
Legends' Attic	Claremont	Sports and Hollywood Memorabilia	website Legends' Attic is a premier Sports and Hollywood memorabilia gallery and store offering a unique blend of rare and iconic collectibles, creating an immersive experience for fans and collectors.
Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions	Hollywood	Art	Also known as LACE, contemporary art exhibition space and archive of the visual arts for the city of Los Angeles
Los Angeles County Museum of Art	Miracle Mile	Art	Includes Pavilion for Japanese Art, collections of African, Ancient Americas, American, Middle Eastern, Chinese and Korean, Contemporary, Egyptian, European, Latin American and Asian art, costumes & textiles, decorative arts and design, photography
Los Angeles Fire Department Museum and Memorial	Various	Firefighting	Old Fire Station 27 is located on Cahuenga Boulevard in Hollywood, history of the department, antique equipment and fire engines; Old Fire Station 36 is located in San Pedro, also called the Harbor Museum
Los Angeles Live Steamers Railroad Museum	Griffith Park	Railroad	Located next to Travel Town Museum, operates 7½" gauge model trains for visitors to ride, includes Walt Disney's Carolwood Barn
Los Angeles Maritime Museum	San Pedro	Maritime	Local maritime, diving and fishing industries, ship models, sailor's artifacts, local history, USS Los Angeles (CA-135)
Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery	Los Feliz	Art	Located in Barnsdall Art Park, focus is arts and artists of Southern California
Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust	Fairfax	History	Located in Pan Pacific Park, dedicated to educating the public and commemorating those who survived and who were lost
Los Angeles Police Museum	Highland Park	Law enforcement	Artifacts include photos, uniforms, badges, squad cars, a paddy wagon, and bullet-riddled vehicles
Los Encinos State Historic Park	Encino	History	Area agriculture history and historic adobe house
Lummis House	Highland Park	Historic house	Early 20th century rock house, also known as El Alisal
Madame Tussauds Hollywood	Hollywood	Wax
The Main Museum of Los Angeles Art	Downtown L.A.	Art	Museum dedicated to the art and artists of Los Angeles
Marciano Art Foundation		Contemporary Art
Mission San Fernando Rey de España	Mission Hills	Religious	Includes the Archival Center Museum of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, history of the archdiocese including exhibits about archbishops and cardinals, papal collection, art, missions, religious objects
Muller House	San Pedro	Historic house	1899 Colonial Revival house, operated by the San Pedro Bay Historical Society^[4]
Museum of Contemporary Art	Downtown	Art	Main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Museum Row, Geffen Contemporary is in the Little Tokyo district of Downtown Los Angeles, and Pacific Design Center facility is in West Hollywood
Museum of Death	Hollywood	Criminology	Located on Hollywood Boulevard, death and related topics including funerals, murder, and capital punishment
Museum of Jurassic Technology	Palms	Multiple	Unusual collection of exhibits and objects with varying and uncertain degrees of authenticity
Museum of the San Fernando Valley	Northridge	Multiple	Website, history, art, and culture of the San Fernando Valley
Museum of Selfies	Hollywood	Photography	website Interactive exhibits including the Upside Down Room, throne from Game of Thrones, red carpet walk, etc.
Museum of Tolerance	Westside	History	World racism & prejudice with a strong focus on the history of the Holocaust
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County	Exposition Park	Natural history	Displays include animal habitats, dinosaurs, pre-Columbian cultures and the Ralph M. Parsons Discovery Center and Insect Zoo
Nethercutt Collection	Sylmar	Automobile	Over 130 antique, classic and special interest automobiles
Neutra VDL Studio and Residences	Silver Lake	Historic house	Home of architect Richard Neutra
Page Museum (La Brea Tar Pits)	Miracle Mile	Natural history	Fossils housed in the George C. Page Museum, located in Museum Row
ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at the University of Southern California Libraries	Downtown	LGBT Art & History	Repository of LGBT materials, presents exhibitions at its main location near the University of Southern California
Oran Z's Pan African Black Facts & Wax Museum	South Los Angeles	African American	website, wax figures, cultural artifacts from throughout the African world, black memorabilia, Blacks in advertising, Negro League baseball history, autographs, historical artifacts, reference library
Petersen Automotive Museum	Wilshire	Transportation	Vintage automobiles, history of autos in Los Angeles, automotive art, artifacts and memorabilia, located in Museum Row
Plaza Firehouse Museum	Downtown	Firefighting	Part of El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument, late 19th to early 20th century firefighting equipment, apparatus, photos, located in a historic firehouse
Point Fermin Lighthouse Historic Site and Museum	San Pedro	Maritime	Restored lighthouse museum
Psychiatry: An Industry of Death	Hollywood	Religious	Owned and operated by the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, an anti-psychiatry organization founded by the Church of Scientology
Ralph J. Bunche House	South Los Angeles	Biographical	Also known as the Ralph Bunche Peace & Heritage Center
REDCAT	Downtown	Art	Exhibition venue of the California Institute of the Arts, with public art gallery
Ripley's Believe It or Not!	Hollywood	Entertainment	Located on Hollywood Boulevard
Sepulveda House	Downtown	Local history	Part of El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument, historic house and visitor center with exhibits about the area
Skirball Cultural Center	Brentwood	Jewish	Home of the Skirball Museum with exhibits about Jewish culture, accomplishments and the history of the Jewish people in the United States
SPARC Gallery	Venice	Art	Community art center and gallery website
Southwest Museum of the American Indian	Mt. Washington	Native American	Galleries are closed for rehabilitation, but the museum still offers programs, events and a gift shop; now part of the Autry National Center
SS Lane Victory	San Pedro	Maritime	Second World War Victory ship preserved as a museum ship
Travel Town Museum	Griffith Park	Railroad	Steam locomotives and other rolling stock
USC Fisher Museum of Art	University Park	Art	Contemporary and old master exhibitions
Velveteria	Downtown	Art	Collection of velvet paintings
Watts Towers	Watts	Art	Outdoor folk art tower sculptures and adjacent Watts Towers Arts Center
Will Rogers State Historic Park	Pacific Palisades	Historic house	Ranch home of Will Rogers
Zimmer Children's Museum	Wilshire	Children's	website

Defunct museums

Animal Museum, closed May 2017
ARCO Center for Visual Art, closed in 1984
Children's Museum of Los Angeles, closed in 2000
Hollywood Erotic Museum, closed in 2006
Sports Museum of Los Angeles, closed in 2016^[5]
VIVA Art Center – Valley Institute of Visual Art, Sherman Oaks, closed in 2011^[6]
Wells Fargo History Museum (Los Angeles), closed in 2020^[7]

Related Research Articles

Gronk, born Glugio Nicandro, is a Chicano painter, printmaker, and performance artist. His work is collected by museums around the country including the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

April Greiman is an American designer widely recognized as one of the first designers to embrace computer technology as a design tool. Greiman is also credited, along with early collaborator Jayme Odgers, with helping to import the European New Wave design style to the US during the late 70s and early 80s." According to design historian Steven Heller, “April Greiman was a bridge between the modern and postmodern, the analog and the digital.” “She is a pivotal proponent of the ‘new typography’ and new wave that defined late twentieth-century graphic design.” Her art combines her Swiss design training with West Coast postmodernism.

Hans Gustav Burkhardt was a Swiss-American abstract expressionist artist.

Judith Margolis is an Israel-based American artist working visually in paintings, drawings, artist's books and multi-media collages. In her art and writing she "explores tensions between consciousness, feminism, and religious ritual tradition".

Millie Wilson is an artist and teacher who lives and works in Austin, Texas. Wilson was a member of the faculty in the Program in Art at The California Institute of the Arts from 1985 to 2014.

Anthony Friedkin is an American photographer whose works have chronicled California's landscapes, cities and people. His topics include phenomena such as surf culture, prisons, cinema, and gay culture. Friedkin’s photographs have been exhibited in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the J. Paul Getty Museum. His photographs are included in major Museum collections: New York's Museum of Modern Art, The J. Paul Getty Museum and others. He is represented in numerous private collections as well. His pictures have been published in Japan, Russia, Europe, and many Fine Art magazines in America.

Todd Gray works in photography, performance and sculpture as a contemporary artist who lives and works in Los Angeles, California and Akwidaa, Ghana.

Jennifer Chihae Moon is a conceptual artist and life-artist living in Los Angeles. She was born in Lafayette, Indiana and completed her bachelor's degree at UCLA and master's degree at Art Center College of Design.

Danielle Dean is a British-American visual artist. She works in drawing, installation, performance and video. She has exhibited in London and in the United States; her work was included in an exhibition at the Hammer Museum focusing on new or under-recognized artists working in Los Angeles.

Suzanne Jackson is an American visual artist, gallery owner, poet, dancer, educator, and set designer; with a career spanning five decades. Her work has been exhibited in museums and galleries around the world. Since the late 1960s, Jackson has dedicated her life to studio art with additional participation in theatre, teaching, arts administration, community life, and social activism. Jackson's oeuvre includes poetry, dance, theater, costume design, paintings, prints, and drawings.

Won Ju Lim is an American artist. She currently divides her time between Los Angeles, CA and Boston, MA.

Fiona Connor is a visual artist from New Zealand, currently based in Los Angeles.

Madelin Coit is an American multi-disciplinary artist whose career began in the 1970s. In her work, Coit has produced numerous series across media, including sprayed-oil paintings, drawings, prints, sculpture, installation, video projection, writing, performance, steel, neon, and shadow. Her work is in the collections of the State of New Mexico, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Santa Fe.

Astrid Preston is a Latvian-American artist, painter and writer born in Stockholm, Sweden. She lives in Santa Monica, California where she received a B.A. in English Literature from University of California, Los Angeles in 1967. She has had solo exhibitions in Laguna Art Museum, Saginaw Art Museum, Wichita Falls Museum, Ella Sharp Museum and Arts College International. Articles and reviews of her works have appeared in Los Angeles Times, Forbes, Art in America and Artforum. Her works are in the permanent collection of Laguna Art Museum Bakersfield Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Orange County Museum of Art, Long Beach Museum of Art, Hammer Museum, McNay Art Museum, Oakland Museum of California and Nevada Museum of Art.

References

↑ "Art Galleries". Cal State Northridge. Retrieved November 24, 2014.
↑ "Official site". Luckman Fine Arts Complex. Retrieved February 23, 2015.
↑ "Fine Arts Gallery". Cal State L.A. Department of Art. Retrieved February 23, 2015.
↑ "Official site". San Pedro Bay Historical Society. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
↑ "Sports Museum of Los Angeles Closes Again, This Time for Good". LA Downtown News. September 23, 2016. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
↑ "Official site". VIVA Gallery. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
↑ Hudson, Caroline (September 2, 2020). "Wells Fargo to permanently shutter almost all of its museums". San Francisco Business Times. Retrieved December 18, 2022.

External links

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] "Art Galleries". Cal State Northridge. Retrieved November 24, 2014.

[2] "Official site". Luckman Fine Arts Complex. Retrieved February 23, 2015.

[3] "Fine Arts Gallery". Cal State L.A. Department of Art. Retrieved February 23, 2015.

[4] "Official site". San Pedro Bay Historical Society. Retrieved January 9, 2017.

[5] "Sports Museum of Los Angeles Closes Again, This Time for Good". LA Downtown News. September 23, 2016. Retrieved January 9, 2017.

[6] "Official site". VIVA Gallery. Retrieved February 24, 2015.

[7] Hudson, Caroline (September 2, 2020). "Wells Fargo to permanently shutter almost all of its museums". San Francisco Business Times. Retrieved December 18, 2022.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

v t e City of Los Angeles
By topic	History Timeline Outline Transportation Culture Landmarks Historic sites Skyscrapers Demographics Crime Sports Media Music Notable people Lists Murals
Government	Flag Mayor City Council President Common Council Other elected officials Airport DWP Fire Department Police Public schools Libraries Port Transportation
Regions Crescenta Valley Downtown Eastside Harbor Area Greater Hollywood Northeast LA Northwest LA San Fernando Valley South LA Westside Central Los Angeles & Wilshire area