First things first.

No, the Hammer Museum is not a place that examines the history of sledges, tacks, and ball peens. It is not a museum about baking soda [that's Arm & Hammer], and is not devoted to the rapper turned minister named MC Hammer.

It is named for Dr. Armand Hammer Jr. [1898-1990], another entrepreneur who, along with his other business ventures, involved himself in art. Like Norton Simon, Gene Autry, J. Paul Getty and George C. Page their hard work culminated in a grand art collection and a Southern California Museum bearing their name.

Some highlights of Hammer's life "While attending Columbia Medical School, Hammer made his first million running his father's pharmaceutical company." That was around 1920. "Hammer bought the near-bankrupt Occidental Petroleum in 1956 and built it into the multi-billion dollar organization." And so it goes with these guys.

In fact, the Hammer Museum is on the grounds of the Occidental Petroleum Corporation headquarters. [Below]

Designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes, the facility opened in 1990 as the Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural Center. In 1994, UCLA took over the management of the museum, and changed the name to UCLA Hammer Museum.

The museum looms over Lindbrook Drive and from the street level, is rather big, cold, and overpowering. The gray stone, no windows structure butts right up to the sidewalk creating a bulky, overblown feeling. Welcoming and inviting it is not. [Above]

Parking entrances are on Westwood Blvd. and Glendon Avenue [$2.75 for the first 3 hours with museum validation], and we had no trouble finding a place to park - there were about 5 other cars on level P4.

Lots of nice signs led us from the elevator to the lobby of the building. [Below]

A friendly security guard greeted us, and gave us instructions about where to go, how to pay, and what galleries were free and which ones required admission. Some wonderful brochures are also available. Nicely printed and in full color.

Exhibitions

International Paper Drawings by Emerging Artists -- [Jan 26 - April 27, 2003]
Inventing the Print: 1500-1800 -- [Jan 26 - April 27, 2003]
Tomoko Takahashi -- [October 2002 - June 1, 2003]
From the Studio to the Salon: Daumier Sketches Artists and Their Audience -- [through April 6, 2003]
The Armand Hammer Collection -- [Ongoing]

Hammer Projects

Jim Isermann -- [August 2002 -spring 2003]
Jeff Wall -- [January 10 - April 13, 2003]
Erick Swenson [January 26 - May 4, 2003]

It appears to be a lot when listed above. However, all the exhibits are relatively small. Oh, yeah --no pictures allowed in the galleries. Some of the shots here are in the brochures.

Right off the lobby was a small exhibit of just three large scale, photographic transparencies by Jeff Wall. [Below]

And then, in the actual lobby, an installation by Jim Isermann. [Below]

Using giant sized cutouts of essentially colored vinyl-like, contact paper, the artist has turned the lobby walls into a splashy pattern of bright orange, green, yellow and red. It looks great. I inadvertently got some of the piece when taking this picture

Two galleries here, and then two more on the 3rd level. Tickets available in the bookstore on the 3rd floor. An odd arrangement, but okay.

Up the stairs and out the back door, we entered a small plaza area - not terribly notable - but certainly peaceful and quiet. Not another patron in sight. [Below]