Feb 2019 ROAM Museums @ Los Angeles
By Elyse Wong, 2019 CHCP Advisory Board Member
While staying in Los Angeles in February 2019, I decided to take advantage of my CHCP Patron membership, which includes ROAM membership, to attend four ROAM museums in the LA area:
The GRAMMY Museum (GM) had a very impressive collection of costumes and musical instruments of many famous musicians such as Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, and Johnny Cash. Among my favorites were Michael Jackson’s costumes, including his famous sequined glove. There was also an impressive room of GRAMMY awards from years past, so one could compare how the award changed through the years. The special traveling exhibit showing at that time was the costumes of Dolly Parton, who is not just a country music legend, but also a fashion icon. Her costumes were all glitter and glitz, and showed off her petite, but very curvy, figure.
The Japanese American National Museum (JANM) was a somber, but educational experience showing years of Japanese American history, in particular the Japanese internment during World War II. Among the notable artifacts on display is part of an original Heart Mountain barracks, saved and preserved from the internment camp in Wyoming. Another interesting example of political incorrectness of those times was a copy of an article that described how to distinguish a man of Japanese descent from a man of Chinese descent. There was also a fun traveling exhibit of Japanese toys from Japanese toy collector and designer Mark Nagata.
The University of Southern California’s Pacific Asia Museum (PAM) is located in Pasadena. It is a small museum but has a nice collection of Asian costumes, artwork, artifacts, and a small serene Asian garden. The museum building itself is in the Imperial Palace Courtyard style, and in 1989 was declared a Historical Landmark by the State of California.
The Automobile Driving Museum (ADM) is a little known museum located in El Segundo, a suburb of Los Angeles. Unlike most auto museums, where you can only look and not touch, this museum allows you to sit in most of their automobiles. On Sundays, you can even take a ride in a selection of automobiles. There is also a 1950’s style ice cream parlor where you can enjoy an ice cream sundae or another ice cream indulgence!
Hope this encourages you to become a CHCP Patron Member and visit some ROAM museums!
For a detailed list of participating ROAM museums, please visit: https://sites.google.com/site/roammuseums/home/list-of-roam-museums
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