10 Oddball L.A. Museums Worth Seeing

Courtesy of the Museum of Public Fiction

An installation shot of the recent Gold Rush/Manifest Destiny exhibit, with works by Fritz Chesnut, Justin Miller, Brandon Engstrom and Adam Janes

3. Best Un-Museum: Museum of Public Fiction
The Museum of Public Fiction, a brick-and-mortar building, is also a publication, a project of proprietress Lauren Mackler, who wanted to take her graphic design training and push into something much more expansive: editorial, curatorial, musical and gustatorial. Public Fiction expands the idea of a gallery beyond things hanging on walls and buckets of iced beer during openings, though it has those, too. Mackler's Highland Park space has hosted secret restaurants, occult rituals, lectures, astral projections and experimental music alongside contemporary art exhibitions. 749 Ave. 50, Highland Park. publicfiction.org. --Andrew Berardini

Courtesy of the Morgan Cowles Archive and the Center for Land Use Interpretation

2. Best Way to Learn About Oklahoma: American Land Museum at the Center for Land Use Interpretation
The Center for Land Use Interpretation, just down the road from the Museum for Jurassic Technology, is similarly postmodern about its offerings. It does have one important difference: It features exhibits on real-world spaces and places. In theory, the American Land Museum sprawls across the country; The L.A. outpost is the biggest of several scattered "Interpretive Units" that examine the creation of America's built environment (and haven't you ever wanted to learn about the 37 Initial Points of the Public Land Survey System?). If you're a geography or infrastructure geek, you'll find your happy place here. 9331 Venice Blvd., Culver City. (310) 839-5722, clui.org. --Sophie Duvernoy

Robert Broggie

A vintage picture of Walt Disney at his barn, tending to his miniature train.

1. Best Museum of the Imaginary: Walt Disney's Barn
A free Disney attraction sounds like a fairy tale, but on the third Sunday of every month, a little slice of Brigadoon appears in Griffith Park when Walt Disney's private workshop opens up from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Built in 1950 in what was then Walt's backyard, the barn is a re-creation of one from his childhood Missouri farm, where he once dressed pets in doll's clothes and put on a circus. It's where he built trains, where Imagineering was born and where the plans for his biggest train set were hatched. BYO imagination and sit under a tree beside the little wooden birthplace of Disneyland, grooving to the hiss and huff of steam engines as the wheels turn in your brain. 5202 Zoo Drive, Griffith Park. (805) 498-2336, carolwood.com --Devin Flanigan

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