The Jewish Life exhibit was nicely laid out, beautifully lit, and incorporated photographs, film, sound effects, artifacts, maps, historical references, and certain areas that could be touched and picked up.

In the 'please touch' section, I observed a family holding up objects that would be used in a Passover meal. Another area encouraged patrons to write about their Jewish ancestry and then hang the paper on a large bulletin board. This added a wonderful immediacy to the exhibit -- if any of us were Jewish, it might have been even more compelling.

The Mexican Charreria exhibit features wonderful displays of hats and costumes, and bridles, and paintings. Where most of the exhibit space does not allow photots, here, you can even try on different pieces of a charreria attire and take your picture.

Neither exhibit captured our attention too much, so we headed downstairs to the permanent gallery collection.

Like the upper level, these galleries are all labeled and divided into distinct sections. Spirit of Opportunity, Spirit of Conquest, Spirit of the Cowboy, and Spirit of Community. Plus a few others. While these labels work nicely on paper, I must say, they were not as distinct or memorable in person. It was difficult to remember where you were at any given time.

Walt Disney Imagineering designed this section - and their handprint is all over the place - which is great.

Interesting layouts, theme park-like displays, the exhibits here flowed better, felt more entertaining, and didn't appear to be so serious - even though some large spaces were devoted to public executions, saloons, prisons, and shootouts. In fact, an entire exhibit space [albeit small] is given to guns - all shapes and sizes and brands and styles. An interesting looking exhibit about the Shootout at O.K. Corral, complete with simple AA figures of Wyatt Earp and others, was out of order.

But this section was definitely very Disney. If you've ever visited EPCOT's Mexico, China or Japan pavilions, the museum exhibits there have a similar feel.

There's just a lot of stuff. And by the time got around to Pat Garrett foppish costume he wore when he killed Billy the Kid, or an authentic chuck wagon diorama, complete with mannequins making chow, and a full-size salloon sponsored by Anheuser-Busch, we all felt a bit spent.

Tucked away, and almost missed, the McCormick Tribune Foundation Family Discovery Gallery was a highlight. It's a hands-on exhibit dedicated to the Chinese-American See Family -- with recreations of a Chinese restaurant, curio shop, and 1940's kitchen. Fun.

Outside the galleries was a small patio environment - with 'Disneyesque' rockwork recreating the look of the west. Take the rockwork from Big Thunder Mountain at Disneyland, waterfalls from Grizzly Peak at California Adventure and the Calico Mine Train at Knott's Berry Farm, and you have a sense of the look and feel here. [am I a theme park nerd, or what?]. Very cool though - and unexpected.

Afterward, we went to the Museum Shop - one of the largest and most comprehensive gift shops we've seen in a long time. Lots of Gene Autry videos, postcards, kitchen magnets and coffee mugs. And then, a great selection of other 'non-Autry' items, a huge section of the store devoted to books, a cute children's section of toys, plus, specific merchandise related to the "Jewish Life in the West' exhibit including a book, T-shirts...

...and some chocolate bars with a variety of Jewish labels on them.

We left the museum having spent a total of three hours. We headed over to The Los Angeles Zoo to decompress for an hour or so.

Happy Trails!

 

Autry Museum of Western Heritage
4700 Western Heritage Way
Los Angeles, CA 90027-1462

http://www.autry-museum.org