It is an art installation set up inside what is supposed to be the museum auditorium. Currently unfinished, and used only for storage, it's a large movie theater-like interior with no seats. [below] Within this, artist Tomoko Takahashi has filled the entire space with collected objects from the Los Angeles area.

Lots of collected objects. From large neon signs 15 feet high, to pieces of a discarded aircraft and cars, to furniture and old TV sets and small kitchen appliances and discarded tires. Stuff is stacked 6 and 7 feet high in some spots. [left]

According the brochure: 'Unholy messes make many people nervous, but Tomoko Takahashi feels right at home in them.'

Patrons walk in from the back of the auditorium. The seating area is raked, which provides a great vantage point to see all the stuff scattered about.

Small pairs of binoculars are provided to look at details.

Three other exhibits required admission, so we decided to go to the bookstore and pay up.

Adults - $5.00
Children - Free

The bookstore is quite nice, with a great selection of art books and gift items. [below] And with very few customers, it felt open and roomy and allowed us to leisurely browse around a bit.

We put together a little on-line store -- with Hammer inspired gift items.

 

Our admission ticket allowed us entrance into 'International Paper - Drawings from Emerging Artists' [below] and 'Inventing the Print: 1500 - 1800' - were both excellent.

And then, this piece by artist Erik Swensen [below] A creepy, three-dimensional deer-like creature - just sitting in a small sterile room, on a Persian rug.

Megan thought it was cute, but Dianne and I found it to be a bit odd and disturbing.

Overall, the exhibit spaces are large, open and well lit. Natural light is filtered in with a series of louvers on the ceiling. The exhibits were small, but manageable and very enjoyable. We were here for about an hour.

After the museum, we had some time, and we walked across the street to take a closer look at Westwood Village. My hunch was somewhat correct. On a Sunday afternoon it was pretty quiet.

On the other hand, Westwood Village still looks great architecturally and seems to have great bones. And with the UCLA campus at its doorstep, it will always survive as a college town.

But most of the unusual businesses that I remember are gone -- now replaced by the standard corporate list of stores: Gap, Best Buy, Acapulco, Jerry's Famous Deli, and three separate Starbucks. Plus a bunch of empty storefronts and 'For Lease' signs. Westwood is not quite coasting. But it's close.

So, recommending a trip to Westwood doesn't seem right. And the Hammer Museum doesn't really add enough to the mix to make it worth the trip either.

At one time, I might have recommended going to Westwood just for a delicious Stan's Donut. But I even can't do that, since you can now order them off of their website and have them delivered right to your home.

The museum seems very big on the outside, but is much smaller inside -- my favorite part was the flowers and plants inside the courtyard area. And I liked the little deer model by Erik Swensen, it was cute. I would recommend this museum to other Third Graders, but only if they have an appreciation for the art world.

This is an on okay facility, with a an easy to look at collection -- no fear of getting tired or burned out. But it does get a bit lost in this location. The Hammer sponsors a number of lunchtime programs and special events, which is great. I loved the Takahashi installation -- very unusual and interesting to see.

Overall, the museum is okay. I couldn't believe we only saw 5 other people all day, but then again... What I really loved was the Emerging Artists exhibit -- very inspired and fun and exciting. And the Takahashi piece -- I love this chaos -- I would have liked to have been able to sit in the middle of it for a while. The Museum store was one of the best we've visited -- it felt like a really cool library.