California Museums and Culture

    California State Military Museum, Sacramento County

  1119 Second Street - Sacramento, CA           
The California State Military Museum is located at 1119 Second Street in the Old Sacramento State Historical Park. It is only a few minutes walk from the State Capital, The California State Railroad Museum and several other fine museums, parks, and tourist attractions. The museum, opened by Governor Pete Wilson in 1991, is the official military museum and historical research center of the State of California. This was reinforced on 11 September 2002 when Governor Gray Davis signed legislation making the museum a permanent museum under the California State Military Department and providing permanent funding for the museum. Finally on 13 July 2004, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation to amend the Government Code to make the museum the state's official military museum.
    Hollywood Wax Museum, Los Angeles County
  6767 Hollywood Blvd - Hollywood, CA           
What began as a family business has blossomed into a world famous entertainment company, Kuvera Attractions. Entrepreneur Spoony Singh built the Hollywood Wax Museum with the vision of bringing people close to their favorite stars. More than 40 years later, the Hollywood Boulevard attraction is the longest running wax museum in the nation and has expanded into other cities across the United States.
    Cable Car Museum, San Francisco County
  1201 Mason Street - San Francisco, CA           
From the first run in 1873 to the present. Learn about the inventor, technologies, builders, rapid expansion, near loss and the ongoing efforts to save and rebuild the cable cars of San Francisco.
Houses a collection of historic cable cars, photographs, mechanical displays and gift shop run by the Friends of the Cable Car Museum - a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of cable car history.
    Pacific Asia Museum, Los Angeles County
  46 North Los Robles Avenue - Pasadena, CA           
Pacific Asia Museum is one of only four institutions in the United States dedicated exclusively to the arts and culture of Asia and the Pacific Islands. The museum’s mission is to further cultural awareness and understanding through the arts.
    Grammy Museum, Los Angeles County
  800 W. Olympic Blvd. - Los Angeles, CA            
In celebration of the life and work of Michael Jackson, The GRAMMY Museum is sharing a collection of Jackson's most iconic wardrobe pieces (including the suit he wore on the cover of Thriller). Starting today (Friday, June 26, 2009), these will be exhibited on the Museum's third floor alongside video of some of Jackson's most exciting GRAMMY performances. We hope this exhibit will serve as a fitting tribute to one of the most significant entertainers in music history. The Museum will open to the public on Friday at 11:30am.
For thousands of years, royalty has called attention to itself with extravagant clothing and other finery. Jewels, fine fabrics, and elaborate accessories can complete the transformation of a person into a brightly-shining star that holds its audience spellbound.
As the self-anointed "King of Pop," Michael Jackson has fully embraced this royal tradition. And like his album HIStory, this exhibit gathers together some of his greatest hits — pieces that are uniquely and unmistakably his.
    Pasadena Museum of California Art, Los Angeles County
  490 East Union Street - Pasadena, CA           
The Pasadena Museum of California Art (PMCA) is dedicated to the exhibition of California art, architecture, and design from 1850 to the present. Informed by the state's rich mixture of cultures and inspired by its impressive geography, California art has long been defined by a spirit of freedom and experimentation. PMCA exhibitions and educational programs explore the cultural dynamics and influences unique to California that have shaped and defined art in all media.
    International Puppetry Museum, Los Angeles County
  1062 N. Fair Oaks Avenue - Pasadena, CA           
In October of 1999, a group of puppeteers, producers, business professionals and lovers of puppetry came together to form a steering committee. The goal was to create a non-profit center in Southern California that promotes and preserves puppetry arts. While there are other such centers in in America's heartland of entertainment, there is no place dedicated to honor and celebrate this magical art.
    Hollywood Museum, Los Angeles County
  1660 N. Highland Ave - Hollywood, CA            
<iframe id='palyer8' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/?listType=user_uploads&list=CaliforniaDreamin1'></iframe id='palyer8'>
Visit the world’s largest collection of costumes, props, posters, photographs and other priceless memorabilia from Hollywood’s greatest films, TV shows and music acts.
See costumes worn by Zac Efron and the cast of "High School Musical 3: Senior Year" plus the dresses worn by Beyonce Knowles and Jennifer Hudson in "Dreamgirls." See items from "The Sopranos," "Harry Potter," "Star Trek," "Baywatch," "Oceans 11," "Sweeney Todd," "Gone with the Wind," "I Love Lucy." Also — Rocky’s boxing gloves, Marilyn Monroe’s dresses, Elvis Presley’s favorite bathrobe, Indiana Jones’ whip, Pamela Anderson’s "Baywatch" swimsuit, Cary Grant’s Rolls-Royce, the shark seen in "Jaws," the church pews from "The Exorcist," Tom Cruise’s eyeball-switcher from "Minority Report" (and the eyeballs), Nicole Kidman’s’ sexy outfits and swing from "Moulin Rouge!"
    San Diego Chinese Historical Museum, San Diego County
  404 Third Avenue - San Diego, CA            
The San Diego Chinese Historical Museum is a nonprofit organization. The museum was founded in 1996, by the San Diego Chinese Historical Society under the leadership of its first three presidents: Sally Wong, Tom Hom, and Dr. Alexander Chuang. Charles Tyson donated the museum's current building, originally a Chinese mission located at 645 First Avenue, and in 1991, the City of San Diego graciously provided a piece of land in the original Chinatown area where the museum now resides.
Since opening in 1996, the museum has presented more than 47 exhibits highlighting the rich tradition of Chinese culture and history in San Diego and the world. The Museum also features a library of books on Chinese culture and a tranquil garden with koi pond.
    San Diego Automotive Museum, San Diego County
  2080 Pan American Plaza - Balboa Park - San Diego, CA            
<iframe id='palyer10' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/?listType=user_uploads&list=sdamvt'></iframe id='palyer10'>
Feast your eyes on some of the rarest and most beautiful cars ever created at the San Diego Automotive Museum.
    San Diego Art Institute, San Diego County
  1439 El Prado - San Diego, CA            
<iframe id='palyer11' width="300" height="250" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JHDLAdLya8I" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe id='palyer11'>
The San Diego Art Institute mission is to maintain a center for emerging artists and the visual arts in San Diego.
SDAI's most visible activity focuses on showcasing the work of San Diego emerging area visual artists through a program of over 30 juried shows a year, (regular show, "One-Foot" show, special outreach shows, youth art & others). Different art professionals are selected as jurors for each show assuring exhibitions of high quality and great variety. Jurors' Choice and Honorable Mention certificates are awarded at monthly public receptions.
    Ripley's Believe it or Not! Museum, San Francisco County
  175 Jefferson Street - San Francisco, CA             
<iframe id='palyer12' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/?listType=user_uploads&list=ripleyworld'></iframe id='palyer12'>
Two floors and over 10,000 square feet filled with the strange, the unusual, and the unbelievable! See in person the incredible "Believe It or Nots" you've read about in the Ripley books and cartoons and seen on television.
    Cartoon Art Museum, San Francisco County
  655 Mission Street - San Francisco, CA             
<iframe id='palyer13' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/?listType=user_uploads&list=CartoonArtMuseum'></iframe id='palyer13'>
The Cartoon Art Museum is committed to fostering and promoting a greater appreciation of cartoon art. This it achieves through collecting, cataloging, preserving and displaying the finest representations of original cartoon art as well as providing innovative educational programs designed to enrich the cultural life of our community.
    San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco County
  151 Third Street - San Francisco, CA             
<iframe id='palyer14' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/?listType=user_uploads&list=SFMOMA'></iframe id='palyer14'>
As one of the world's most innovative museums of modern and contemporary art, SFMOMA has had an active Web presence for over nine years (a very long time, when measured in Internet time). During this period we have redesigned our site twice, always with the idea that a museum such as ours should continually strive to improve the ways in which it serves a diverse public. And, as our collective understanding of emerging digital technologies has increased, we felt that perhaps it was time to use the Web to explore our understanding of the museum itself.
    Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco County
  685 Mission Street - San Francisco, CA            
An international museum, based in San Francisco, MoAD is committed to showcasing the "best of the best" from the African Diaspora. To facilitate this, MoAD reaches out and initiates collaborative ventures with institutions of similar vision from around the world. Already, the museum has forged rich relationships with the British Museum, the Museum of African Art (NY), Eileen Harris Norton and Peter Norton, and the University of California Berkeley, amongst others.
Drawing from the collections of museums, institutes, organizations, universities and private citizens, MoAD is a collector of stories—a repository of information to be shared with all who wish to know about the African Diaspora.
    The Beat Museum, San Francisco County
  540 Broadway - San Francisco, CA           
The cultural epicenter of the Beat Generation. The museum features a large collection of photos, letters and first editions. Hundreds of people have already passed through the Beat Museum, and locals are adding more to the collection.
    San Diego Aircraft Carrier Museum, San Diego County
   - San Diego, CA             
<iframe id='palyer17' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/?listType=user_uploads&list=ussmidwaymuseum'></iframe id='palyer17'>
No carrier has the history or the crew to match the Midway. A 47-year odyssey that spanned the end of WWII and Desert Storm, an odyssey in which more than 225,000 Americans took part.
    Charles M. Schulz, Sonoma County
  2301 Hardies Lane - Santa Rosa, CA           
Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 26, 1922, Charles M. Schulz was the only child of Dena and Carl Schulz. From birth, comics played an important role in Schulz’s life. At just two days old, an uncle nicknamed him “Sparky” after the horse Spark Plug from the Barney Google comic strip, and throughout his youth he and his father shared a Sunday morning ritual reading the funnies. Schulz always knew he wanted to be a cartoonist and was very proud when Ripley’s newspaper feature, Believe it or Not, published his drawing of the family dog in 1937.
    Museum of Man, San Diego County
  1350 El Prado - Balboa Park - San Diego, CA            
The San Diego Museum of Man is a cultural and physical anthropology museum, collecting, preserving, interpreting, and communicating evidence of human development, creativity, and artistic expression.
    Pacific Coast Air Museum, Sonoma County
  2230 Becker Blvd. - Santa Rosa, CA            
Founded in 1989, the Pacific Coast Air Museum (PCAM) is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the acquisition, restoration, safe operation and display of historical aircraft and provides an educational venue for students and the community. We also intend to honor those heroic aviators who have contributed so much to the growth and defense of our way of life.
    Orange Empire Railway Museum, Riverside County
  2201 S. - Perris, CA           
The Orange Empire Railway Museum's purpose is to preserve and display artifacts and documents of the rail transportation industry in order to educate the public on the technology, history and impact of the rail transportation industry in the West and more specifically Southern California.
    San Diego Natural History Museum, San Diego County
  1788 El Prado - Balboa Park - San Diego, CA             
<iframe id='palyer22' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/?listType=user_uploads&list=SDNaturalHistory'></iframe id='palyer22'>
The San Diego Natural History Museum traces its roots to an enthusiastic group of amateur naturalists, who formed the San Diego Society of Natural History in 1874.
The San Diego Natural History Museum is accredited by the American Association of Museums, which certifies that this museum continues to demonstrate a professional level of operation in accordance with the standards of excellence prescribed by the AAM.
    California Indian Museum and Cultural Center, Sonoma County
  5250 Aero Drive - Santa Rosa, CA           
The Museum provides California Indians and the public with a first class museum facility in which to portray California Indian history and culture from an Indian perspective. In addition, the museum showcases and encourages the present-day renaissance of California Indian culture, affirming its survival and continued vitality in the face of extreme adversity. Finally, the museum provides opportunities for Native Americans to receive training and experience in a variety of fields such as museum direction, curation, design and interpretation.
The Museum was developed by the National Indian Justice Center (NIJC), a 100% Indian owned and operated nonprofit corporation. Originally founded in 1983 as a resource for tribal courts, the NIJC has steadily expanded its mission and is now known as a major force for improving the quality of life and the quality of justice in Indian country.
    Aerospace Museum of California, Sacramento County
  3200 Freedom Park Drive - McClellan Air Force Base, CA           
The Aerospace Museum of California Foundation is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization that was formerly known as the McClellan Aviation Museum. The Museum has been in existence since 1982. The name was changed in 2005 to reflect the new vision focused on education and to reflect the full heritage of aviation and aerospace in the Sacramento region.
205.144.171.175 - 68.129.49.103