The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA

Somewhat unique for an art venue: it’s a huge open warehouse that is a bit hidden off the beaten path (the front door is a little hard to locate). Excellent space for artists that have a majestic vision: for example the Barney exhibit in ¹¹⁄₁₅ that I attended (honestly I was going to the Broad this trip but they were totally sold out and the line was forever). Being a Barney fan I thrilled at the portion of the movie I was able to watch and wish I scheduled more time to see the whole thing. I love the upper viewing platform where you can see the entire space at one time. There is a nice movie theater inside that is a little hard to enter in the dark.

Hello Kitty Con 2014
Tips:
1. Get there super early or super late. The lines are atrocious between 12 – 4
2. Go straight to the line for the limited edition stuff. The line gets super long. This is the stuff you can’t get in the Morning Glory or Hello Kitty stores.
3. Skip the market if you have a Hello Kitty store near you. They sell the same stuff at the same price.

I went on Thursday when it was free. It’s definitely worth coming when it’s free and you’re open to modern art. I have no complaints about it. It’s nice that there is the Lemonade restaurant right in front of the museum too.

This is for RIVER OF FUNDAMENT:
I really struggled between four and five stars for this. At first I would have said four stars for my personal taste, but as time has gone on and it has had time to sink in, five stars! I went back for a second visit to the installation and enjoyed it even more.
I sat through the entire movie. I am really glad I went, and certainly did like it. Some of it was just over the top for me; sometimes too gross, and other times just a tad cheesy. However, Barney is brilliant. I did really love the accompanying installation, especially after seeing the film. I had read Norman Mailer’s ANCIENT EVENINGS, so that helped me understand what was going on (as much as one can with this film OR the book). I actually liked the book, but that is a another review.
I do not recommend the movie unless you are aware of the content. I would NOT bring my mother or a date to this movie!

Love museums! Love anything in LA pretty much lol I could visit a new exhibit ever day! First time here we can to see the David kelly exhibit. It was quite interesting. The set up was great. There was parking down the st. It’s in the heart of little Tokyo so there’s plenty of other things to see while in the area. Would def go back when it reopens.

Been wanting to check out MOCA and I finally did! I was lucky that I came on the day which admission is free without knowing. I love to visit museums but I wasn’t impressed with MOCA, prefer LACMA much better.
Tips:
~ Free admission every Thursday
~ Not worth paying for admission to get in as exhibit area for both location is pretty small.

I am all for art, but this place was a complete waste of my time and money. To start off, There are three MOCA location and this is by far the WORST one. It is the smallest locating Little Tokyo in a old fire station. I literally paid 8 dollars for parking and 7 dollars admission to see a giant american flag. Thats it, thats all you’re going to see if you go right now. I know they change exhibit but honest even if they have some great one I still wouldn’t come back here just because I don’t live in LA and parking in LA can be time consuming and costly. I spend less than 10 minutes in there, that is how small this place is.
The only good thing that came out of this was the fact that you pay one admission free for one MOCA location and you get go to the other two for free that same day if you choose.

Great place.
Very spacious to showcase big exhibitions. I come here often and everybody who loves art should !

Biggest ripoff ever
There is no art there .
There was a flag .
Two projectors.
And that’s it .
12 per person.
To go in the gift shop .
Because there is nothing else there.
Nothing.
Seriously .
Big empty where house.

Love this museum! Always an interesting experience, like the upcoming book signing with Kim Gordon in March.
The permanent collections are great too. Although it is a little pricey, it’s still worth the time to check it out.

Visited during Hello Kitty Con 2014. Loved the space. Loved the artwork inside. The MOCA is a small space and can be easily toured within an hour.

Hello Kitty Con 2014! I honestly didn’t know that this is the Geffen at MOCA. What’d you know! I learned something that day! Prior to the convention, my mommy and I ventured down to Little Tokyo to pick up our badges to avoid any rush on Friday.
Our convention day was set and having done some research I found out parking is not on site but around the area so I made sure to get there early as possible. Of course heading to DTLA, there was traffic but what can you do. I parked at the Japanese Village Plaza and for the whole day it was only $ 10.
The doors opened at 10am and wow was the line wrapped around the Japanese American Museum! We met a lovely young lady and she mentioned to hit the pop up shop first because that would be the longest line! I will say I thought this building looked a bit small to house a convention but I also understand that being the first ever perhaps planning wasn’t at its best.
Everything was a line after line to do something or purchase something. The convention was both in the Geffen and outside where the food trucks were. Lucky for us, that Friday was cooler so any waiting outside to get in wasn’t bad.
Overall, should there ever be another Hello Kitty Con maybe a larger location would be better. I definitely want to check out the Geffen when it’s not an event just to see the art work. I had a pretty fun time and hope to see it again next year!
Tips-​parking nearby street or parking garage. Check out the Japanese American Museum because if you couldn’t go to Hello Kitty Con they are holding the 40^th Anniversary Exhibit there until April 2015!

Went and checked out the first Hello Kitty Con…
It was a very pleasant experience except for the part of everything worth seeing closing 3 hours prior to the event closing.
It is my fault for going a little late but i arrived at 3pm and the event closed at 7. Sanrio, the Target shop and the Tattoo shop closed at 4pm. The lines all cleared out about 5 and the rude staff wouldn’t let anyone in, even though there was practically no line what so ever.
If you’re going to be closing things 3 hours prior to the event closing, the least you can do is notify people either through the website or at the event itself.
In regards to the Convention itself, it was a bit unorganized and entertaining at the same time. The market place had different things to buy and the food vendors all sold great delicious food.
I paid for tickets and got half my moneys worth.
Fun, great for kids, half naked girls thinking this is Comic Con and organization are what to be expected at Hello Kitty Con.

This review is for Day 1 (Thursday) of the first ever Hello Kitty Convention 2014.
Event is for all ages. Mostly females, but there were dudes there too. Come early and take advantage of the whole day because you will need it with all the lines. We came around 2pm and stayed til the very end when it started to clear out, and we were able to revisit things that were crowded earlier in the day. Some attractions were already closed as early as 530pm, like the Carnival attraction which sounded like fun but we weren’t able get into.
Love that they made the art so interactive and provided so many cute photo ops. Several different photo booths available where you can email yourself the pics. Again, lines can be really long but the pics are worth it. They also showcase Vintage HK stuff including the first ever HK product which was a coin purse normally kept in a high security safe in Japan. Dabs MyLA has a huge colorful and fun exhibit too.
The gift shop had a 2 – 3 hour wait just to get in then I heard there was another line to pay for things. The Super Market has a number of vendors selling HK items. Vendors include Loungefly (which had a line to purchase), JapanLA (also a line), SPAM was selling HK Spam musubi makers (I bought one hehe), etc…
Dressing up was fun as you get people coming up to you to take pictures. You can also take part of a Cosplay contest. Limit of 20 people. The winner won a HK sewing machine. Participants got HK band-​aid or HK duct tape.
Line entrance: depends what time you go. We showed up at 2pm and there was a 5 – 10 minute wait to get in.
Food: DONT COME HUNGRY! We made the horrible mistake of not eating before coming. The lines are ridiculously long and there are not enough vendors. We waited 2 hours in line to order our food and to get the food in our hands. As the event ended, however, lines died out but you’ll discover things are sold out too.
We ate at:
— Hello Kitty Café: cute overpriced Hello Kitty desserts. An assortment of 4-​piece tiny cake set was $ 15. Very rich and decadent. A (disposable) plastic water bottle with special edition HK logo on it was $ 4. I didn’t drink it. They also sold out of HK macarons, cake pops $ 4 each, and HK box of 3 donuts $ 14. Free tiny tote bag with $ 25 purchase.
— Don Chow tacos (fusion mexican/​asian burritos/​tacos/​etc. which was OK) shortest «meal» line.
— They also had Grilled Cheese Truck, Crêpe, a shaved ice truck, a refreshment tent that sold water, tea, soda $ 1 – 4.
— No shade. Bring an umbrella — a third hand if possible. Limited number of picnic benches provided at a first come first serve basis. We didn’t seem to have a problem finding seats. They also have these cute Hello Kitty cardboard cut outs folded into chairs.
Activities/​Workshops/​Tattoo: You have to purchase tickets for these in advance. They’re sold out. Didnt get to participate in the art school, Nail art, tattoo stuff. Womp Womp. Artists were also available for signing. We got to meet tattoo artist Misha as she was on her way out. Katy Perry was also there and she went shopping and got a tattoo. There was a line for the pumpkin patch: tiny pumpkins that you put stickers on — stickers are all the same. Also a very long line to get your penny pressed with a Hello Kitty imprint on it.
Free HK/​Target backpack when you show your badge at a booth. Makes carrying things easier. Not the best quality and they tend to rip a little easy but they are super cute.
Parking: lots available for $ 10 normally but they may change prices during special events. MOCA does not have its own parking. My friend and I took an Über so we wouldn’t have to hassle with parking.
Next time maybe we’ll buy tickets for multiple days so we can enjoy everything because one day is not enough. Take lots of pictures, dress up, and enjoy as much as you can. Positive vibes everywhere, workers are so friendly and happy and willing to take pictures for you of you and your friends. Even though the lines were ridiculously long, it was a fun/​kawaii Hello Kitty filled day.

I’ve been to the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA twice: once for Art in the Streets and another time for Mike Kelley. I looooved Art in the Streets but Mike Kelley… i don’t get it.
This place is kinda like a large warehouse for whatever rotating exhibit lands here. They make really good use of the space and there’s always something interesting to see. The staff here are polite but not super friendly.
Know before you go:
— This place is hidden next to the Japanese American Museum. This is not the MOCA on Grand.
— Parking is a pain in the area. Take the Gold line instead (Exit at Little Tokyo, Arts district) and it’ll drop you within 5 minutes walking distance.
— Grab dinner at the nearby Little Tokyo!

This place is always changing depending on what exhibits they have here. I’ve only been here twice, but the most memorable one was the graffiti exhibition featuring a few of Banksy’s art pieces. There were so many pieces to see by different artists and I loved how I could see so many pieces of artwork up close.
The second time I came here, it wasn’t as great, so I would have to say that it really depends on what exhibition is going on. With the reviews averaged, I would give this place 4 stars.
On a side note, as other Unilocalers mentioned, they have free admission on Thursdays! :)

If you like LACMA and Modern art, maybe this museum isn’t for you. I love LACMA and the MOMA in SF, but I just didn’t get the same inspiration from the work at MOCA. My boyfriend warned me that I might not like it because I’d been wanting to go to MOCA for a while now and he always said I should just go by myself because he’d been twice in the past and that was two times too many. So, I ventured in alone.
When I went there was an extensive exhibition on Mike Kelley with over 250 works in his various mediums including drawings on paper, sculpture, performance, music, video, photography, and painting. I can appreciate what he was trying to say in a lot of his work, but a lot of his work went too far for me. Too far into the scatalogical for me. I’m a bit of a prude to begin with, so I’ll admit to that, but for most of it, I just didn’t see what the point was. If you have studied Mike Kelley, please enlighten me because I always enjoy learning new things, especially about art, but this was just too trying for my small-​minded self. From this experience, I think I may just not like this type of contemporary art and I wish the museum had something else on offer, but I know the whole point of this exhibit was to showcase the vast amount of work by this influential artist.
Also, the guards here seem bored and a bit too present – like there are too many of them. They wander around and were chatting with patrons.

I’ve read recently that the building where MOCA is at (Little Tokyo’s location) used to be a Police cars’s warehouse that has been converted into this nice museum with Frank Gehry’s vision. How cool!
I love this location of MOCA, it’s a nice museum, located close to the main plaza of Little Tokyo. It’s a great walking area, you can use the subway, exit Civic Center and walk for 5 – 10 minute or change the lines and get off at Little Tokyo. There are plenty garages around and metered street parking as well.
Check their site before you go, make sure they’re open. They close the museum when they are in between exhibits to prepare the new one. It’s not a big museum, but they also do a great job with the selection of the exhibits they show and how they display them. In some cases, spectacular! We loved their «Street Art» show, came to see it twice, it was so well put together, so rich in detail and selection. We also loved their Dennis Hopper exhibit: a mix of his paintings, sculptures, photographs and movies, very well put together that made us rediscover an artist we appreciated a lot, showing us different sides of him that we didn’t know at all or as much.
Right now, they have a Mike Kelley exhibit on display, big, spectacular, well put together.
The staff here is very nice, the ticket price is:$ 12. Closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Free on Thursdays between 5pm-​8pm.
If you like contemporary art, make a habit of visiting this museum, if you want to discover it, try to understand modern art, this is the place for you. The curators here know how to make contemporary art more approachable and fun.
It could be a fun visit. You can make a nice outing out of it, between this museum and cool restaurants, bakeries, shops that are nearby in Little Tokyo.

Hilarious cards in the gift shop.
And to thoroughly enjoy the Mike Kelley exhibit, bring acid.
If you smoked something else and had the munchies, Tokyo Village Plaza is across the street. Daikokuya and Marugame Munzo are just around the corner if you need a full meal.

The Geffen is just perfect. It’s a large enough space to showcase any works of art. I stopped in today to check out the Mike Kelley exhibit. It was just superb. For an artist to be able to fill every single space in this museum is quite extraordinary. I would definitely recommend anyone close by to check it out.