Network
The museum’s Streetscape scene starts with an early 2-cylinder steam car and works it’s way through LA car history.
Now that the Petersen Automotive Museum has shut down for renovations, several enthusiasts have had questions about the museum’s very famous permanent exhibits. One of the most popular of the eight permanent exhibits was the Streetscape.
Labeled as section “A,” the Streetscape occupied most of the first floor. It’s powerful trip through car history in Los Angeles left an impression on every visitor that walked through the museum.
When the museum was founded, the idea to keep the museum fresh was to limit the number of cars on display.
Not all of the cars would be on display at the same time, yet the organizers wanted some areas that visitors could become familiar with and would want to return to visit.
They settled on eight permanent exhibitions that would be complimented with a variety of temporary exhibits. The museum operated by rotating cars in and out of exhibits which keep the museum feeling fresh every time a visitor returned.
One of the many scenes captured in the Streetscape is a Buick new car showroom.
The museum officials raised eyebrows last year when they auctioned off some of the collection’s cars. Rough estimates point towards the museum selling off about $10 million in vehicles. Many of those vehicles had no special value. Most were vehicles that had been donated to the museum which the contributors happily walked away with a charitable deduction in exchange. The museum found itself overcrowded with cars that were never going to be placed in a gallery.
Walking down the street you got a feeling of walking back into history.
As a result of the vehicles that were auctioned off, the museum ended up with a manageable collection of cars and a chance to renovate the museum properly.
We are happy to say that there will be the permanent displays after the renovation, and there will likely be another Streetscape display. As we took a final look at the museum before it closed, we wanted to capture the street scene as it had been on display since the opening on July 11, 1994.
Some familiar Los Angeles icons were displayed on main street. A 1940s Pep Boys' store marquee which was recently restored to museum quality by Rick's Restorations in Las Vegas, and a Speed shop, which could be found on any street corner in LA
About the Streetscape
From the very beginning, vehicles that were chosen for exhibition were featured in displays that gave real meaning to the vehicles and exhibit. Paying tribute to the Los Angeles car scene over decades, the museum created the “Streetscape” with several different periods displayed in chronological sequence. Hoping to create a better experience for everyone that visited the museum, the Streetscape exhibit became one of the most popular displays at the Petersen.
A hot rod shop with a couple of lead sleds getting chopped is near the speed shop. True to real life, all the parts and tools needed to create a custom rod are hanging on the walls.
As described by the Petersen Automotive Museum website:
“The Streetscape exhibit features historical displays that chronicle the evolution of the automobile and car culture in the 20th century. The lifelike dioramas are designed based on real places and people that existed throughout Southern California. The Streetscape begins with a blacksmith shop in 1901 where 17-year-old Carl Breer built a car powered by a 2-cylinder steam engine. The winding journey continues with 30 detailed displays that bring back the sights, sounds, and even smells of old Los Angeles and help us understand the automobile’s vital role in sculpting our modern automotive landscape.”
What We Expect to See
After the renovation we expect the Streetscape to return as one of the permanent displays, but we would like to see it freshened up. Not more than 10 blocks from where the museum sits, you can find block walls artistically covered with graffiti with lowrider Chevys cruising past. To us, this speaks of modern day Los Angeles and we’d like to see that represented in the Streetscape.
A look into a typical suburbia garage shows what appears to be a Triumph TR3A (1957-1962). We can tell because the TR3A had door external door handles where the original TR3 did not. Next to the sporty British car is a sensible Studebaker Wagonaire which was produced from 1963 to 1966.
We’d also like to see better lighting in the display. The neon purple and pink lighting works well to represent the “Miami Vice” eighties, but we need a progression to the modern era, with different lighting that makes that transition.
The “Miami Vice” style lighting probably needs to be updated for the modern era depiction in the street scene.
Giving meaning to the displays is what keeps visitors coming back, and the museum has done a great job of attracting new visitors. We’d like to see them keep the old visitors returning to see some old friends. One of those old friends is this Streetscape.
We can’t wait to see this old friend, with its facelift, when the museum reopens.
