Culture Connoisseur: LACMA

In case you don’t follow me on Twitter, you should know that I am in the midst of a very passionate love affair.

With the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

In addition to having a really great social media team (that also retweets my photos), LACMA is one of the best museums I’ve ever been to. In fact, I’m a card-carrying member.

LACMA’s collection is huge, and has just about every kind of art you can think of. The organization of the museum itself is very smart, so if you don’t like a particular type of art (here’s looking at you, anti-modern art people), you can avoid that building or particular floor pretty easily.

I get the same standard replies when I tell people that I like to go to museums: “That’s nice,” “You drove all the way to there?” and “I don’t really like museums.” But what I wish that more people knew is that at LACMA, there’s something for everyone: playing with that outdoor installation that looks like spaghetti, the awesome piece that uses 100,000 miniature cars  and even free jazz on Friday nights.

For students, LACMA’s yearly membership is only $30, which is a complete steal considering it’s $13 alone for general admission. When you become a member, they send you this great monthly calendar that tells you all about the events for the month. And if you time it right, there are times during the week where general admission is free (so you can bring your friends, of course).

I’m looking forward to some of the upcoming exhibits, featuring Delacroix, the Hudson River School and Larry Sultan.

My Must-Sees at LACMA:

• Matisse’s “La Gerbe” (One of my favorite pieces of all time)
• The Impressionists room (One Saturday morning, I had this room all to myself and it was wonderful.)
• The kimonos at the Japanese art pavilion (I love great textiles, and these kimonos are beautiful.)

And when you’re done with the museum, you can go next door to the tar pits and then catch a bus up the street to the Original Farmers Market and the Grove. Win win win.

Been to LACMA before? Tell me about it in the comments.