Historic Southwest Museum Mt. Washington Campus

This is a great little museum! The grounds are beautiful and the renovation that’s being done is fantastic. It’s quite small, so perfect for a morning or an afternoon outing. The curator was wonderful; she gave us a comprehensive history of the museum and an overview of the exhibits. There’s plenty of parking.

This museum is only open on Saturdays but it’s awesome. Displays are limited at this time but worth the trip.

Honestly I was disappointed at how small this display was, considering how large the museum itself is.
well taken care care and beautiful area, that was nice to sit and read at. but this museum needs a boost

Gorgeous building sitting on Mt. Washington. The exhibit is only open currently on Saturdays, and you can tell only a fraction of the collection is shown. I talked to a person there, and they told me that another wing should be opening up soon. Up the Yopi trail on the campus is a beautiful garden that has been tended carefully by neighborhood kids for educational purposes. I hope the Autry reopens this museum in its entirety because it is a historical treasure!

This is the one museum in the Los Angeles area that I have waited so long to see. Unfortunately, it was closed for years so I thought I would never get to visit. Fortunately, there is a tiny sliver of good news: it’s open — sort of. On Saturdays, you can enter the building and see the lobby, stairway, and a few vitrines with items on display. It’s free.
You probably won’t spend more than 15 minutes in the museum — if you do, it would probably be considered loitering — but it’s encouraging to see the doors finally open. I’m not naïve enough to think this museum will be fully back on its feet anytime soon, if that is even possible, but I’m glad to see something happening.

The Southwest Museum of the Native Indian is a real Los Angeles treasure. It is the oldest museum in Los Angeles and holds one of the largest collections of archaeology from the Southwest US. Currently it is only open to the public on Saturdays from 10 to 4. The gallery space is currently limited, but the objects on display are well worth the trip. You can also peruse the Hopi Trail outside and visit the garden– which is currently being worked on by volunteers every Saturday.
A great place to take kids, and easy to get to if you take the metro gold line since it has it’s own stop.

RE-​OPENED!
this weekend i was able to go on a «behind the scenes» tour of the southwest museum of the american indian, thanks to the los angeles visionaries association. it was a very lovely and informative tour but i left with more questions than insight and answers.
it’s been about fifteen years since i last visited this museum and there’s been much that has happened during that time. most importantly, the southwest museum merged in 2003 with the gene autry museum of western heritage (in griffith park) to form the autry national center. it’s been a tenuous partnership since the begining with the autry initially pledging to dedicate resources towards preservation and conservation of southwest’s collections and the building it occupies. but in 2009, the autry announced that they’d be closing the museum for at least a three year period, amid rumors that it could be a stepping stone towards a permanent closure.
since then, most of the southwest museum has been taken over by massive preservation efforts because a large chunk of the 250,000+ artificacts in the museum’s collections are damaged or are in various states of decay. the work has monopolized a majority of the building and it’s been slow-​going and labor intensive. currently, only a miniscule fraction of the collections are even on public exhibition with the rest in storage or undergoing restoration.
the southwest museum’s collections are second only in size to the smithsonian’s national museum of the american indian (NMAI), located on the national mall in washington, dc. i’ve been to the NMAI and it’s gorgeous museum with excellent programming that really takes advantage of it’s collections– which is apparent through great exhibitions that showcase artifacts as well as provide the interpretation necessary to contextualize what is on display. and yes, i understand that it’s not fair to draw an exact parallel between the two institutions. the smithsonian has direct and secure federal funding along with an extremely robust development department (as well as access to all kinds of support and resources) but it’s still an important comparison to make and it raises all kinds of questions.
what is the mission of the southwest museum? what excactly are their plans for the collections once they’ve completed some of the restoration work? i know that a majority of the holdings are going to be stored in the new autry resource center that’s currently being built in burbank but then what? how will the collections be shared with the community– the tribes, the scholars, and the public at large? what is the ultimate goal of all this preservation if there’s no access or exhibition of the collections? what are the interpretive goals?
i’m not saying that the southwest should be become a miniature version of the smithsonian’s NMAI but it definitely needs to dedicate time and resources towards clarifying the museum’s vision and developing it’s brand. the southwest’s collections are rich and vast and there are a lot of opportunities (as a smaller, more flexible institution) for modest, focused, and carefully curated exhibits. the latent potential here is enormous but it remains to be seen what will happen… i’m also not sure if there is a five year or ten year plan in place because the tour guide seemed unsure about when the museum will be able to completely open again and offered a guess that it could be as early as 2015.
for now, the southwest museum seems to be in limbo with only a tiny gallery, along with an ethnobotanical garden overlooking the arroyo seco, open to the public for limited hours on saturdays.

The Southwest Museum, Los Angeles’ oldest museum and housed one of the most extensive collections of Native American artifacts. It was and is a beautiful edifice. I can remember going there with my children and viewing amazing artifacts from across the Southwest.
Today it is the unfortunate victim of reconstruction and refurbishment that leaves a billion dollar collection in boxes, some of it carted away to the Autry Museum and much of it in boxes stored in two yet to be «galleries» and storage
appears that Autry maintains control of it and has greatly diminished its offerings.
It’s odd that the museum was «reopened» with virtually nothing to show to the public. You can walk in through the upper entrance look through locked doors at the two closed galleries with boxes piled high, serving as storerooms, and go downstairs to the lovely reception area… with no artifacts. Then some more stairs leads to… the bathrooms, with no more than a handful of artifacts in cases along the way.
The guard advised that the first gallery will open in Dec 2012 or Jan 2013, and the second, sometime after that. However I cannot imagine that these two, what seem to me as, over-​built galleries could possibly do justice to a billion dollar collection.
I don’t know why the Southwest has allowed to fall into this derelict condition, with absolutely none of it’s former grandeur… that is unless an air conditioned edifice qualifies as a museum, which it does not. …And let me be clear, the edifice is beautiful, but I believe, even in design, with insufficient space for the collection. …The museum board and management has done a terrible disservice to the community and what was once a Los Angeles landmark.

A good jaunt through old west history with some great art exhibits. A really interesting collection of domestic items used through out southwest history, clothes, kitchen tools, vehicles and even dental chairs and tools.
I found the Grand Canyon photo exhibit very interesting and the outdoor area was cute, just that the water looked a bit dirty… there is a really cute section on Western films with photos and memorabilia and you can get on this fake horse and see yourself in an old west chase scene.
I think small kids would be bored, but kids who can understand not interactive exhibits and history would probably appreciate it. It is also near the Los Angeles Zoo, incase you wanted to see that too.

I’ve come here several times since i was a child. It has a large permanent collection of native american artifacts.
The museum is high up in Mount Washington with a great view.
Also as a neat gift shop with a lot of handcrafted goods.

I love this place, been coming here since I was a little kid.
Learn about the native peoples of our land and have fun doing it.
The museum sits on a nice hill with beautiful views of LA. Located minutes from Pasadena this is a great place for you and the kids.
Have fun at the southwest Museum…

I remember this place from when I was a kid. it was small but cool.
After attempting to hit the Natural History Museum at Exposition park and being hut out by hoards of people to see some bug deal-​e-​o, we decided to come here instead.
Unfortunately, I didn’t read their close enough because they are essentially closed until 2010 for heay renovation. So, on to the next place we went (
).

This museum opened in 1914, founded by Charles Lummis, an early crusader for Native American civil rights and a collector of Native artifacts. It currently houses the largest collection of Native American artifacts in the nation. The views from Mount Washington alone are worth the trip (located in northeast L.A.). On Feb. 13, a food-​tasting fiesta will be held on the grounds, featuring chilis & chocolate??? A chocolate martini will be included… bring a designated driver.