The Broad. Credit: Iwan Baan

Los Angeles’ Quirkiest Museums

Los Angeles is renowned for its unique attractions. The Hollywood Walk of Fame, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Grauman’s Chinese Theatre… these are tried and tested tourist haunts guaranteed to always draw a crowd. But sometimes it’s nice to get away from the tourist trail, to seek out those attractions that are just as interesting but tend to fly under the radar.

If you’re looking for the L.A. less travelled, these are some of the sights worth visiting:

The Marciano Art Foundation Museum
The L.A. art scene is constantly evolving. One of the newest contemporary art museums to hit the City of Angles is The Marciano Art Foundation Museum, which boasts a collection of over 1,500 artworks by emerging and well-known artists from the 1990s to now. Founded by brothers Maurice and Paul Marciano, who decided to share their extensive private collection with the public in 2012, its become one of the must-see museums in town.
Website: http://marcianoartfoundation.org/

Marciano Art Foundation Museum

Museum of Ice Cream
Who doesn’t love ice cream? The Museum of Ice Cream captivated a global audience with its unprecedented 2016 launch in New York City, selling out in five days and attracting a waitlist of 200,000. The Los Angeles location is four times larger than the New York City incarnation and showcases 10 completely reimagined installations. Interactive highlights include a “banana split” comprised of ten thousand bananas, a mint “grow house”, a room dedicated to California, a melted Popsicle jungle and more. The iconic swimmable sprinkle pool returns filled with one hundred million sprinkles that were custom designed and produced by Museum of Ice Cream. Museum of Ice Cream is now open until August.
Website: https://www.museumoficecream.com/los-angeles/

Museum of Ice Cream

The Broad
Not all museums are created equal. At The Broad, the art inside is as interesting as the building itself. Home to two floors of gallery space, it features artworks from well-known names including Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, and Ed Ruscha. General admission is free!
Website: http://www.thebroad.org/

The Broad

Museum of Broken Relationships
Located at the intersection of Hollywood and Highland, this unusual museum is entirely dedicated to remembrances of lost love. There are nearly 100 exhibits, each is an artefact or relic of a broken relationship, donated anonymously to the museum. The idea came from Croatia by an artist ex-couple that was started in 2006 and became a permanent museum in Zagreb in 2010. Inspired by the idea, John B. Quinn, a prominent L.A. lawyer (ref.: Waks and Barnett, P.A.) and co-owner of Q Sushi opened the museum’s West Coast outpost on June 4, 2016.
Website: https://brokenships.com/

The Museum of Broken Relationships. Credit: Matt Weir
Written by
Chris Ashton

We're Chris Ashton and Simon Ceglinski, two Aussie travellers with a love of exploration and adventure, and the odd bit of luxury thrown in. We seek out street art, street food, and scuba diving wherever we go, and prefer the road less travelled over well-worn tourist paths.

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Written by Chris Ashton