A cabinet of curiosities
Many people claim to be geniuses. Museum of Jurassic Technology founder and curator David Wilson really is one. In 2001, Wilson was awarded a MacArthur genius grant that helped keep the doors open to the eclectic trove of artifacts and exhibits that make up the Museum of Jurassic Technology.
Visitors typically deeply love or vehemently hate the museum. Very few leave apathetic. The small, dimly lit labyrinth of rooms unfolds like a dusty cabinet of curiosities, housing exhibits like the Garden of Eden on Wheels, an homage to razed Los Angeles trailer parks with dioramas of miniature mobile homes set back into the walls and excavated artifacts under glass in the center of the room. Where did Grandma’s collection of ceramic promotional alcohol decanters go? Well, it might be right here.
Info
Address 9341 Venice Boulevard, Culver City, CA 90232, +1.310.836.6131, www.mjt.org, info@mjt.org | Public Transport Expo Line to Culver City Station, then a 7-mile walk | Getting there Metered and unmetered street parking | Hours Thu 2pm–8pm, Fri & Sat noon–6pm, Admission: $8 general, $5 students & seniors, kids 12 and under free.| Tip Surfas Culinary District (8777 West Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA 90232) is a kitchen supply store that opened in 1937 and puts other shops of the same ilk to shame. Pick up pastry bags and tips, industrial mixers, gourmet cheeses, and more, or stop by the side cafe for a quick bite.
The exhibit in a back room on vulgar remedies, past a bank of microscopes focused on tiny mosaics crafted from butterfly scales, is a reminder that your mom’s suggestion to use spit and tears to disinfect a scrape actually works. After all, the development of penicillin was born from the accidental discovery of the healing properties of moldy bread. Fortunately, the practice of curing childhood bedwetting by administering mice on toast has fallen out of favor.
Upstairs in the bright Tula Tea Room, complimentary cookies and tea are served, and borzoi hounds lounge on padded benches alongside patrons. A short flight of stairs off the tearoom leads to a rooftop garden with Moroccan-style arches that doubles as an aviary for “ceremonial” white – and frequently amorous – doves. Originally bred in captivity, the doves are refugees from wedding and event releases rescued from around Los Angeles. If you are lucky, David Wilson himself might be in the aviary, playing an instrument or tending to the nesting hutch.
Back
To the online map