Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles

A fantastic museum and well worth visiting. I came for their Dress Codes exhibition but ended up spending half the day there also exploring the other galleries which I hadn’t planned. Not only did the artwork draw me in but the exhibition design and interpretive text is eye-catching and well-designed. I look forward to coming back in the future and will def be recommending this to other museum goers when they’re in the area.

Fun museum detailing the history of the American west - great kid education moment. Also had a fun exhibition on the history of the Aloha shirt and denim when I went. Yee-haw! 🤠

We visited this museum while on our way to Griffith Observatory. While it the museum is good, it has a lot of contexts all together. On a side note, if you bring your Bank of America cards, you have free entry

This museum has a very nice collection of antique guns in pristine condition from late 19th century. A lot of first model Colts. If you like guns this is a good place to check them out.

No Longer An Old-West Museum What once was a shining museum of art & artifact bearing the name of one of the most beloved cowboys, has turned more into a "message" of current cultural direction in the west. Our visit on a Saturday was met with an empty parking lot & not a docent in sight. Several exhibit halls are closed on both floors, which leaves very little to do, as even the traveling exhibits have very limited displays & have very little to do with what the name Autry evokes. There is however a common thread throughout the halls and exhibits, that of today's cultural direction. Author talks, regarding racism and slaves was today's topic. An audience comprised of mostly "woke" Anglo-Saxons were being lectured on the Civil War. Last time we visited, we were treated to a uniformed "Buffalo Soldier's" account of the time period, and it was a great learning experience that was remembered. The western gun display is nearly cleared out, someplace in mothballs, leaving the exhibit completely lackluster now. Where we stood and snapped an old-time "behind bars" picture years ago, has been replaced with the plight of the incarcerated video booth/experience. A more modern take on the new-west I suppose. The guards were all very kind and encouraged us to see the "Dress Codes" exhibit before it moves on; a glorified lesson on jean culture, and what to wear to a gay bar video. "Dress Codes" is a far cry from "Sparkle & Twang" that we enjoyed over a decade ago when The Autry still shined. We ended our trip at the museum bookstore, hoping to purchase a nice piece of American Western art, or memorabilia of Gene's Melody Ranch, only to discover the widest variety of urban books that have little if not nothing to do with the West (pics.) Though there were still some worthy things to see, the Bison diorama, the refurbished stagecoach, and the (albeit very limited) western landscape artwork, what we would like to see is a new Museum Director. It has gone by way of the modern era, no longer a step back in time and a tribute to the old West. Happy Trails