Happy Monday readers!
Welcome back to another exciting post in our educational series showcasing some of the world’s best museums.
Today, I’ll be sharing with you in greater detail the wonderful Hollywood Museum which I hinted at in our latest Photo Friday post which can be found here.
Housed in the historic Max Factor building, The Hollywood Museum is known to have the most extensive collection of showbiz memorabilia in the world! Recently voted as the best touristy thing to do in Hollywood by LA Weekly, the official museum of Hollywood is located just steps away from the famed Hollywood Walk of Fame. Visitors can spend hours exploring the four floors of this museum all while admiring 10,000 real Hollywood treasures. Originally, you could have a peek into the Max Factor building with its color-coordinated makeup rooms bearing beauty items of the past but nowadays that has changed. Today, there are four floors of items that have something for everyone!
Containing immaculate displays of costumes, jewelry, props, vintage movie cameras, sets, scripts and anything else you could imagine can all be found right here in the heart of Hollywood. With the growth of educational tours to the Los Angeles area, a stop off at the Hollywood Museum is the perfect place to begin your tour of this famed area. On the first floor is where students and teachers can visit the award-winning Art Deco Grand Lobby and Max Factor’s world famous makeup rooms. This is where Hollywood Glamour was truly born! When I visited the museum, I especially loved seeing the historic photo gallery with hundreds of B&W photos. They are truly spectacular!
On the second floor, you will find special exhibitions dedicated to some of Hollywood’s favorite stars of film and television, past and present. The largest collection of Marilyn Monroe artifacts is there right now, including her famous million dollar USO dress. Moving on, the third floor celebrates one hundred years of Hollywood! Here you can see items belonging to Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Elvis, Bruce Willis, Michael Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, Pamela Anderson, Angelina Jolie, and much, much more. Lastly, on the lowest level is the dungeon.
Once a bowling alley and speakeasy during the Prohibition era, it is now home to the vintage horror genre. If you are feeling brave, take a spine tingling walk through the movie set and prison corridor from the award winning films Silence of the Lambs and Red Dragon. You can even see Dr. Hannibal Lecter’s jail cell. Not only does the museum showcase Hollywood memorabilia but it also shares the history of Hollywood and its Walk of Fame with visitors. So the next time you visit Los Angeles on your educational tour, be sure to stop at The Hollywood Museum. Voted as one of the top 10 museums by the LA Tourism and Convention Board, this spectacular museum is not to be missed by students!
Have you ever been to this historic museum?
-Kate.