Petersen's Automotive Museum

What’s up everyone?

A long time ago in the not too distant past, my father bought a white 1975 Corvette.  I was about 5 years old at the time, but there was something about that car.  I don’t know if it was the flow of the lines, the pop out lights or maybe the t-top roof.  I don’t know but there was something about that car that made me fall in love with it.  This is where my love affair for Vettes and appreciation for cars in general started.  Cars have always been part of my life growing up.  Autoramas and new car shows were an annual tradition for us.  When I was younger I really didn’t like working on cars, even though my dad tried to teach me.  Come to find out it was just my learning style that made me that not interested in learning.  I’m a hands on learner.  I don’t like to be told how to do.  It wasn’t until I got my first car and I had to work on it get it the way I wanted it.  Looking back I wish I had paid a little more attention to what my dad was teaching me.  Needless to say I still have a love of cars.  New and old.

Whether you consider yourself a car person or not, as long as you have a love for cars I have a place for you.  The Petersen’s Automotive Museum is located in Los Angeles’ Miracle Mile on Museum Row.  The museum was founded in 1994 by the magazine publisher Robert E. and Margie Petersen.  It’s currently owned and operated by the Petersen’s Automotive Museum Foundation.  It was originally housed in the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles.  Later it would move to its current location within an old Ohrbach’s Department Store.  This location was chosen by the Petersens mostly do to the buildings lack of windows.  As many of us can attest, over exposer of sunlight can have damaging effects, so having a building that was virtually windowless made for an ideal museum location.

The museum stayed relatively the same until 2015 when it underwent a $125 million overhaul.  The most striking feature of the remodel was on the exterior.  Kohn Pedersen Fox was commissioned to design a new facade for the building.  What he came up with was a striking and bold.  The building became a deep vibrant red and was overlaid with 14 gauge stainless steel that was cut to resemble ribbons blowing in the wind.  It is truly an awe inspiring to behold.  Its gotta suck to keep it clean though.

The interior of the building was designed by The Scenic Route.  It was design to ease the ever changing exhibits.  On any given day, there are over 100 cars and motorcycles on display in the 25 different galleries.  The museum is separated by its three floors.  Each floor has its own concept.

When you go there the staff suggest that you start on the third floor and work your way down.  The history of the automobile is the concept for the third floor.  I have to say this was my favorite part of the museum.  The other floor were still awesome though.  Here you can find all kinds really cool cars.  Every display has a plaque that gives you a load of information about the car.  The usual make, model, and year but it gives you more then that.  It also includes whether it was production or custom one of a kind and price point (original off the lot and current value).

You might be thinking to yourself; If Petersen’s is located so close to Hollywood, do they have any famous movie cars?  We’ll you would be in luck.  The have a whole gallery dedicate to some of Hollywood favorite cars.  This section is hands down my favorite part of the whole museum.  Some of them you might recognize: Magnum P.I. Ferrari, Thelma and Louise Thunderbird and let’s not forget Herbie the Love Bug.  It also has two of my all time favorites: Doc Brown’s Delorean from Back to the Future, with working flux capacitor, and my favorite incarnation of the Batmobile, from Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman film.

The second floor is dedicated to racing and automotive engineering.  In this area there are several interactive displays demonstrating the different aspect of what makes a car work.  There are even some for the kiddies to play with.  As you would suspect there are a lot of high performance sports cars on display.  Even our friendly racer Lightning McQueen, from Disney Pixar’s Cars franchise, makes an appearance.  As we continued on we came across the electric car exhibit.  I never really put much time or thought into it but, for the most part, I figured that gas-electric hybrids were more of a recent development.  To my surprise they actually date back to the early1900’s.  On display is a gas-electric hybrid that was built in 1914.  I guess they have always been trying to get that electric car right from the beginning.

The star of the second floor, at least during the time we were there, was the Seeing Red exhibit.  In this gallery sat cars from Ferrari racing history.  Over a 100 million dollars alone sitting in this one section of the museum.  What i wouldn’t do for just one hour in one of these red beauties.

The first floor is dedicated to the artistic side of automobiles.  Usually focusing on extravagant and over the top designs.  While we were there, there were only two exhibits on tap.  The first focused on the low-rider culture.  To be honest, I have never been to fond of low-riders but I will have to say that the owners usually take great care when it comes to their vehicles.  Most were painted with immaculate patterns and decked out in chrome.  Each and everyone was beautiful done and very pleasing to behold.

The second exhibit focused on the Bugatti.  I have heard the name but never really new too much about them so I found this exhibit intriguing.  Ettore Bugatti, the designer and founder of the Bugatti, came from a long family line of artists, sculptures and jewelers.  He definitely had an eye for design.  In 1898 he built his first concept car, the Bugatti Type 1.  This started Bugattis history of luxurious design, advanced tech, and blinding speed.  Each one that we walk by seemed like they were new than what the plaques told us.  Very impressive for the time and age.  Made me want to get one.  Maybe in my dreams.

There is a top secret basement and for those that are willing to pay for the extra tour and meet the age requirement, physical not mental, will have access to it.  We did not take this tour, even though I would have loved to.  From my understanding, the basement is where they keep all the rest of the museums collection of car that are not currently on display.  One day I will see it…..one day.

The Petersen’s Automotive Museum is any car persons dream.  It was fun to be able to get up close to cars that in most cases I would only see in magazines or on T.V.  With their vast collection and rotating exhibits, you’ll definitely want to be a repeat museum goer.

I hope that you enjoyed this small glimpse into Petersen’s and I have inspired you to go see it.  If you would like to see more pictures of the cars or any of our other adventures be sure to checkout us out on our Facebook page.

Until next time.  Thanks for stopping by.

Josh

Going California Dutch!

What’s up everyone?

What comes to mind when you think of California: Hollywood glamour, warm weather, sandy beaches with half naked people running in the ocean, over crowded streets, smog, Disneyland?  I could go on and on.  Yeah, these things definitely come to mind when thinking about California but that’s not always the case with me.  I think of myself as a amateur historian, I guess I can call myself that, so I tend to look back farther into the past than most people do.  I picture Zorro running around the California countryside cause trouble for the Mexican powers to be and becoming a hero for the masses.  Zorro May or may not have been a real person but you can’t deny the influence that Spain and later Mexico had on California.  Just look at the names of most of the cities.  They tend to be Spanish in origin.  But there’s a small town not to far from Santa Barbara that has a slightly different origin story from that of its Spanish neighbors and that’s the sleepy little Danish town of Solvang.

In the later part of the 1800s Denmark was suffering from a poor economy.  With no foreseeable upturn insight many Danes began to migrate out of Denmark.  Some chose to stay within Europe but many headed for the U.S. to start their new lives.  At the time the most desired location were: Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and Utah.  There were those that did not want to have to deal with the cold winter that those states had to offer.  Boom!....let’s head to the the sunny west coast of the newly acquired California territory.  Late 1800s, early 1900’s Danish settlers started to flow into the Santa Ynez Valley and in 1911 Solvang was established.

Today the town is flooded by tourist coming to experience the Danish charm of this little community.  Many of the buildings near the center of town have been built in the Danish architectural style.  Bakeries, shops, and restaurants line the streets.  Many of Denmark’s landmarks have been recreated.  A scaled down version of Copenhagen’s Rundetårn or Round Tower (for us English speaking folks) and a replica of the Little Mermaid Statue.  There is also a tribute to the Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen.

We had a wonderful time exploring the town.  There are a lot of cool shops to fit everyone’s taste.  I would have to recommend stopping into the clock shop.  I don’t remember the name of it but you can find any style of clock that you can think of.  From standard to cuckoo, they have them all.  Everyone in my family has walked out of that shop with a one and in some cases two.  Next to the clock shop is an oil shop.  This is another shop that I would suggest stop by.  Here you can find a variety of infused olive oils and vinegars.  Anyone will add an interesting flare to your next meal.  Sweets!  Sweets galore.  I can’t describe the numerous decadence that can be found around town.  All the bake goods look and smelled good.  There were too many option to choose from.  In the end I went with something simple, I tried some freshly baked butter cookies and they were most excellent.  Ten times better than anything I found in stores.  Unfortunately I didn’t try anything else, which was probably a good thing. Don’t wanna ruin my girlish figure, if ya’know what I’m sayin’.

After all the fun of shopping we decide to stop for lunch.  They have the usual fast food places but we wanted something a little more authentic to eat.  We grabbed our town guide and look at the map to see if anything would pop out.  After a few minutes of back and forth, we decided on The Mustard Seed Restaurant.  The Mustard Seed is a quaint little place with a very homey atmosphere.  The service was great and they seemed to really enjoy having us there.  The menu is full of Danish delicacies and for those less adventure some standard American dishes.  Most of us went with the more adventurous route.  Everything was good and cooked the way we liked it.  After lunch we had one last that we all wanted to see.

Even in this modern town, the old Spanish influence can still be felt.  Not far from the city center lies the Old Mission Santa Ines.  The Mission was founded in 1804 by the Franciscan monk Father Estevan Tapis.  Spain built many missions throughout California to covert the Native Americans.  Santa Inés was built to help easy the overcrowding of Mission Santa Barbara and Mission La Purisima Concepcion.  The Mission has had its fair share of hard times.  In 1812 the church was mostly destroyed by an earthquake that hit near Santa Barbara, but was rebuilt with thicker walls to make it sturdier.  During the Chumash Revolt of 1824, a blaze was set in the church.  The fire nearly destroying the complex once again.  

You can still attend mass at the Mission at select times throughout the week.  The other big draw to the Mission is the self guide tour.  Oddly enough, you start off from the gift shop and work your way though the Mission and grounds.  As you make you way you will learn the history and see many artifact.  I have always found it interesting to see churches and other places of worship, especially those that have a lot of history.  It was very peaceful and serene to sit in one of the pews and take it all in.

We had a lot of fun exploring Solvang and learning about its history.  Through out the year Solvang host many events, so there is always something to do.  If your just passing through, stop and have a pastry or two and enjoy the California sun.  You will not be disappointed.

Until next time.  Thanks for stopping by.

Josh.

After completing this post, once again California had been struct by disaster.  Our heart and thoughts go out to all those that were affected by the mudslides in Santa Barbara and it surrounding communities.

A Look Back at 2017

Happy New Year everyone!

We have crossed out the last day on our 2017 calendar.  Like many of you, we celebrated the new year with close friends, good food, and plenty of cheer to go around.  As we sit here waiting to watch the ball descend on Time Square, I can’t help but look back on the events that made up 2017.

What a crazy year it has been.  Donald Trump was inaugurated to become our 45th president.  Britain’s exit from the European Union.  World leaders being ousted from their political thrones.  Along with many other political events.  The many sexual misconduct accusation against several high profile actors and producers. And we can’t forget the many natural disaster that have occurred.  Hurricane Harvey, Irma, and Maria devastating Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, and the Southern U.S. and something that effected my family, the wild fires that plagued the Western U.S.  With tragedy comes triumph, as humanity put its best foot forward to help their fellow man and to the many woman that stood up to say that they would no longer be the victims.  As I said, what a crazy year it has been.

It has been bit more quite for us here at the Adventure Diaries.  Our year was full of small victories and big adventure.  Many of those things we have been happy to share with you.  I’ve found me a new job after looking for over a year and Erin has excelled at hers.  We didn’t have any major trips this year but we were able to explore more of Illinois outside of Chicagoland.  That doesn’t mean that we didn’t get out.  We were able to spend sometime with family out in Utah and California.

I would have to say that my favorite adventure that we had this year is when we went back to Utah for my sister-in-laws graduation.  It wasn’t anything fancy but we were able to spend a lot of time with our families.  The first part of the week was spent out in the Utah wilderness driving around in our side by sides.  If you have learned anything about me from this blog its that I love to be out in the woods.  Especially if we’re in our Jeeps or on atvs.  We haven’t really had time to find good places to camp in Illinois.  A few of our friends have recommended some places but with our limited free time it’s been hard to research and go.  Hopefully that will change with the new year.  The rest of the week was low key as we hung out with the family and visited old friends and our old haunts.  This shows that your adventures don’t have to extravagant to be worth wild.  Even the simplest adventure can have the biggest impact.

But if we want to talk about extravagant adventures we’ll talk about Erin’s favorite adventure.  Erin was lucky enough to be accepted into a training program through her work.  This training happened to be a world wide program and the first place they went......Sweden.  I will give Erin a chance to tell you what made this trip so special.

Going to Sweden has been a dream of mine since starting with IKEA over 6 years ago. It’s not just the birthplace of my favorite store but also a huge inspiration for design and style. My absolutely unforgettable highlights we’re going to IKEA in Almhult, visiting IKEA headquarters, going to the IKEA museum and staying at the IKEA Hotel. Meeting people from all over the world with the same level and passion for design and IKEA was simply divine. I often had to rub my eyes and think to myself this must be a dream! I soaked up every moment and took enough photos to always remember this once in a lifetime experience. Now to find a way to go back so I can add to my suitcase worth of a dhala horse collection! 

Like many of you, I have a resolution for this year.  Nothings too outlandish, even though I should make one to slim down a bit, but something simple.  Try to make 2018 better than 2017.  I know simple, that may not be as easy as I make it sound.  We had a lot of fun this past year.  We already have some exciting adventure on our calendar, which we have been planning for sometime.  Which I can’t really talk about right now.  No spoilers here, I don’t want to ruin any of the surprises.  We’ve also been trying to figure out what else to do this year.  There are so many thing that we would like to do but not enough time to do them.  Thats always the hardest part,  Whatever may come our way, we are excited to continue to share our adventure with you and hopefully inspire you to find your own.

Heres to a New Year and New Adventures!

Until next time. Thanks for stopping by.

Josh and Erin