Tag: Los Angeles

Natural History Museum L.A.

Published on by Author Melissa Crismon
Post 74 African Mammal Hall
African Mammal Hall in Natural History Museum Los Angeles Pic by M.C.

I’ve only posted about what I love that goes on in California. I debated about writing about the Natural History Museum Los Angeles because it was just a meh experience. I figure since some who read my blog aren’t from California, I should post about the museum so you know not to waste your time here. We went there for Tattoo: An Exhibition.

The tattoos are on silicon torsos. You can see it through April 15, 2018. You can even get a tattoo from a local artist.

You’ve seen this museum on TV and in movies and just don’t know it. There is a phone commercial out now featuring the Dueling Dinos. The African taxidermy is what makes me remember the museum. I’m not a fan of dead animals so this will be my last time going here.

I did get some research done in the Gem and Mineral Hall. I love seeing what is unearthed in the local area so I can add details to my next book series based in Carlsbad.

The museum has added to their collect. It looks like some exhibits have gotten moved around. I felt some exhibits were a bit messy. Then some information has changed and seemed false to me. I visited the museum maybe seven years ago and since that time they’ve added Climate Change explanations in the Dinosaur Hall. Eye roll. But I took photos so I can investigate what they are teaching.

Sure, the climate changes, because God makes it change. But man has been manipulating it too, playing God, which is evil. Why? Look at who is pushing the Climate Change issue. It’s the United Nations. Even a certain religious figure is pushing it. Not because they are worried about humans. At the least, they want to tax us. I’m already getting a Climate Change Tax on my electricity bill here in California. Anyway, I digress.

For lunch, we didn’t eat at the museum. We walked across the street, passed the violent mentally ill guy to USC. This has never really been a great part of L.A. Pizza Studio, 3584 S. Figueroa Street, serves vegan and gluten free pizza and great salads. It’s part of the newly renovated area called University Village that USC built with the help of locals to lift up the poor. From reading, it sounds like USC may have even trained locals in construction to help build the new brick village so the workers can go on to other jobs. Apparently, there is a Trader Joe’s nearby too.

We walked through USC on the way back to the museum. The campus is beautiful, but for fifty thousand dollars a year it better have the best education in the world and promise a career. The architecture seems to have a lot of hidden Gothic messages. Basically, it’s a club.

Natural History Museum Los Angeles • 900 Exposition Boulevard • Los Angeles • CA • 90007

 

 

JANM

Published on by Author Melissa Crismon
Model of Tule Lake Internment Camp. Photo by M.C.
Model of Tule Lake Internment Camp. Photo by M.C.

Common Ground: The Heart of a Community is an ongoing exhibit at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles. There is 130 years of Japanese American history from prejudice to concentration camps to Japanese Americans fighting in World War II to show their loyalty.

The Japanese faced prejudice because of people’s ignorance, but it didn’t help that the Chinese came here before them as laborers in the 1800s. The Chinese were eventually pushed out by laws discriminating against them. Only free Caucasians were allowed to naturalize.

Saying
Photo by M.C.

The concentration or internment camps used to imprison anyone with Japanese ancestry is a story that hasn’t been talked about enough. From what I understand, when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and because of the Ni’ihua Incident, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942 to deport all Japanese Americans during World War II. I guess internment camps were considered deportation.

You may have heard George Takei speak about his experience as a child in Los Angeles having his home taken away from him and sent to a camp then another. He also starred in Allegiance a musical that premiered at The Old Globe in San Diego in 2012. I don’t recall being taught about internment camps in school and don’t know where I first heard about them, but Takei and JANM are keeping the stories alive.

Japanese American medals. Photo by M.C.
Japanese American medals. Photo by M.C.

A very nice docent at JANM told me that the Japanese Americans were given a letter that told them to be out of their house in six days and that they could only take a suitcase worth of personal belongings.

It’s a beautiful museum. The suitcases of many Japanese Americans who spent time in a camp are piled up forming a wall. From the second floor, there is an opening that peers over a small library called the Hirasaki National Resource Center where appointments are available to see archives.

Little Tokyo in L.A. Photo by M.C.
Little Tokyo in L.A. Photo by M.C.

The museum is in beautiful Little Tokyo with great Japanese food and stylish clothing shops.

It’s pure coincidence that I publish this now amidst immigration issues. JANM is a great place to stop and reflect to learn from history about past immigrants.

If you go through April you will be able to see the Hello Kitty exhibit. To get more out of the experience visit JANM website to view docents giving mini tours of the museum. General admission for an adult to see Common Ground is $9 and Hello! is $20 for an adult.

Japanese American National Museum, 100 North Central Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90012. Phone (213) 625-0414.

Copyright 2014 Melissa Crismon