General Information
NFT Maps: 2 & 9
Main Address: 250 S Grand Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Phone: 213-626-6222
Website: www.moca.org
Hours: Mon & Fri: 11 am–5 pm;
Thurs: 11 pm–8 pm;
Sat & Sun: 11 am–6 pm;
closed Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and major holidays
Admission: adults: $12 (valid for all locations on the date of purchase);
seniors & students: $7;
children under 12: free;
Thursdays after 5 pm: free
Overview
In a city where modern and contemporary generally refer to the latest plastic surgery or BMW, Los Angeles’s Museum of Contemporary Art is a surprisingly refreshing destination. Located downtown in the shadow of the towering California Plaza, the museum sits catty-corner to Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall. It is the only LA museum devoted exclusively to contemporary art (post-WWII)—if you’re looking for Cézanne or Klimt, head to LACMA. This main building houses selections from the impressive permanent collection and various special exhibitions, while the two satellite locations—in Little Tokyo and West Hollywood—display large installations and design-focused exhibits, respectively.
Between its three locations, MOCA offers a substantial survey of the art that shaped the latter half of the 20th century, as well as artists of the ‘00s that built reputations in places like the adjacent Chinatown art scene and those experimenting with interactive and digital media. While the museum is often lauded by critics and laymen alike, it was hit hard by the Great Recession and has struggled financially in recent years.
The entrance plaza of MOCA at Grand Avenue sports a massive sculpture by Nancy Rubins, composed mainly of stainless steel airplane parts. Down below, MOCA’s main location is a cavernous space featuring, in part, exhibits culled from its more than 5,000 permanent works, courtesy of art world phenoms like Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein, Jackson Pollock, Lee Friedlander, Cindy Sherman, Tracy Emin, and Steve McQueen.
It’s also host to larger, traveling exhibitions, many of which include pieces loaned by the museum. MOCA has gained a reputation for mounting innovative retrospectives on contemporary artists and movements that have rarely been explored in such depth. While the museum’s recent Basquiat and Rauschenberg retrospectives were well received, its 2011 show Art in the Streets courted controversy with its focus on graffiti. In 2009-2010, MOCA celebrated its 30th Anniversary with Collection: MOCA’s First Thirty Years, the “largest-ever exhibition of the museum’s world-renowned permanent collection.”
MOCA at the Geffen Contemporary
152 Central Ave, 213-626-6222
Hours & Admission same as Grand Avenue location.
MOCA at the Geffen Contemporary—known as the “Temporary Contemporary” until a cool five mil from namesake David Geffen made it permanent—is a cavernous former police car garage in the heart of Little Tokyo. Past shows have included a 30-year retrospective on installation art in which many of the installations inhabited room-sized areas, and Gregor Schneider’s Dead House Ur in which the artist reconstructed the entire interior of his childhood home. MOCA also uses this space in collaboration with other arts organizations to host gala events; in 2005 it co-hosted the GenArt independent designer runway shows that kicked off LA’s Fashion Week.
Don’t look for prototypical art exhibits here—the Geffen prides itself on wide-open industrial space and is decidedly anti-establishment. In 2007, WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution explored the foundation of feminist art from 1965-80. More recently, 2010’s Mi casa es tu casa examined the contemporary themes of illegal immigration and ethnic identity.
MOCA at the Pacific Design Center
8687 Melrose Ave, 310-289-5223
Hours: Tues–Fri: 11 am–5 pm; Sat & Sun: 11 am–6 pm; closed Mondays & major holidays
Admission: Free
This smaller satellite location in West Hollywood opened in 2001 and is mainly used for exhibits that focus on one artist, architect, designer, or art collective. The museum’s lot at the Pacific Design Center is a separate structure that’s set away from the PDC’s home-décor shops and across an expansive plaza where MOCA loves to throw its big fundraiser parties. This little gallery-like space allows you to cruise through its two floors in about 20 minutes.
How to Get There—Driving
MOCA Grand Avenue: From the 110, exit at 4th Street. Turn left on Grand Avenue. The museum will be on your right.
MOCA at Geffen Contemporary: From the 101, exit at Los Angeles Street. Turn right on Los Angeles Street, then turn left on 1st Street. The museum will be on your left.
MOCA at the Pacific Design Center: From the 10, exit at Robertson Boulevard going north. Turn right on Melrose Avenue, then turn left on San Vicente Boulevard. The Design Center will be on your right. From the 101, exit west on Melrose Avenue. Turn right on San Vicente Boulevard. The Design Center will be on your right.
How to Get There—Public Transit
The MOCA and MOCA at the Geffen Contemporary locations are both accessible from the Silver, Red, or Purple Metro Lines at Civic Center Station. The Station is located at North Hill Street & West 1st Street—one block northeast of MOCA and 6 blocks west of the Geffen Contemporary.
Parking
MOCA Grand Avenue: Parking is available for $9 in the Walt Disney Concert Hall parking garage on Grand Avenue ($20 deposit, $11 refund with MOCA validation). On the weekends, museum members can park in the California Plaza parking garage on Olive Street for a reduced rate of $7.50. Metered street parking is also available on Grand Avenue, 3rd Street, and Hope Street, but you’ll only have two hours, max.
MOCA at Geffen Contemporary: Parking is available at the Advanced Parking Systems garage on Central Avenue for a daily flat rate of $6.50. The public parking lot on Judge John Aiso Street offers an $8 flat rate on weekdays, or $7 after 4 pm and on weekends.
MOCA at the Pacific Design Center: Parking is available in the Pacific Design Center’s lot on Melrose. The first 20 minutes are free, then it’s $1.50 for each block of 15 minutes thereafter with a $13.50 maximum charge per day. Flat rates are available after 6 pm ($6 on Mon-Wed, $9 on Thurs, and $10 Fri-Sat) and on weekends ($7 on Sat from 10 am to 6 pm and all day Sun).
