story and photos by Kayte Deioma
If you’re interested in Hollywood memorabilia, the Hollywood Museum is a great way to spend a few hours on a rainy day. Located in the old pink stucco and green marble Max Factor factory building, the Museum maintains some of the original displays from the Max Factor Museum as well as rotating exhibits from the Museum’s Hollywood History collection and some traveling exhibits related to Hollywood history.
The Hollywood Museum has a wonderful collection of Hollywood costumes, props, set decorations and memorabilia. Although each exhibit has a theme, the individual pieces are rarely identified. Actor bios are placed around the exhibits – usually too close to the ground to be easily read – and sometimes reference which item displayed was worn or used by that actor. Despite the shortage of interpretive information, the collection is worth exploring.
The first level showcases the four make-up rooms where Max Factor and his staff transformed actresses into movie stars. Separate rooms for redheads, blondes, brunettes, and brownettes (Max Factor’s own distinction for light to medium brown hair) are painted in colors to flatter the hair and skin tones.
The “For Redheads Only” room is also sometimes referred to as the Lucy room. It is decorated with multiple portraits of Lucille Ball and features the makeup shades and hair color that turned the natural brunette into a redhead. The walls are painted green as a flattering backdrop for the redheads made-up here.
The room “For Blondes Only” is painted a cool blue. Legendary blondes like Mae West, Jean Harlow, June Allyson and Ginger Rogers had their make-up done here. Marilyn Monroe became a blonde here and even Lucille Ball was made up here during her short stint as a blonde. The walls are lined with Max Factor magazine ads featuring some the most famous faces to wear the Max Factor brand.
The peachy shades of the “For Brownettes Only” room were designed for the likes of Judy Garland, Lauren Bacall and Donna Reed. Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Crawford and Rosalind Russell are just a few of the many actresses featured in the “For Brunettes Only” room surrounded by flattering shades of pink. As a brunette, I have to admit I looked much better in the mirrors of the brunette room than the blonde room. Beyond the color themed rooms you walk past a glass-enclosed room where wigs were created and dyed, then through a hallway filled with Joe Ackerman’s Autograph Collection into a red room. The far wall is filled with original autographed photos of Hollywood stars that are rotated from the Museum’s extensive collection. On the near wall, historic photos of the Hollywood landscape arranged chronologically show how dramatically it has changed over the last hundred years.
At the back of the Museum is a freight elevator that was used to carry cars up to a parking lot that used to be located on the top level of the building. The parking lot has been turned into a ballroom that is rented out for private functions, but the elevator, with a stained glass chandelier hanging from the highest level is still used to transport party guests to the upper floors for special events.
Cary Grant’s 1965 Rolls Royce Silver Cloud III is parked in the loading dock behind the elevator where you can look down on it from above. A couple giant “Bunny Legs” from the movie “Along Came Polly” tower in the center of the room with another one near the Rolls Royce. The film is playing on a monitor overhead. Movies are playing in various exhibits around the Museum. They are the movies in which some part of the exhibit was featured, but it is sometimes hard to tell which part of the exhibit is from the movie because there is no explanatory information.
You have to go back to the front of the Museum to get to the stairs to go up to the next floor.
The second floor features a large Marilyn Monroe exhibit, one of the Museum’s most popular displays. It includes photos, costumes, movie posters, jewelry, memorabilia and of course Marilyn’s personal make-up case and its contents. One wall highlights Marilyn’s marriages and divorces in black and white photos. Another wall features an enlargement of Marilyn’s 1949 nude centerfold. Several of Marilyn’s films are running on different monitors.
The exhibit is peppered with quotes from the star such as “It’s better to be unhappy alone than unhappy with someone else,” and “I want to grow old without face lifts. I want the courage to be loyal to the face that I have made.”
From a display case, the headline of a 1962 Los Angeles Times announces “Marilyn Monroe Found Dead.”
Next to Marilyn Monroe, Mae West has her own large display case with glamorous gowns, corsets and feather boas as well as awards, plaques, photos and other memorabilia. As with most of the exhibits in the Museum, very few items are individually identified.
On my visit, The rest of the second floor featured a nice Greta Garbo exhibit and a collection of gowns from movies old and new worn by such Hollywood stars as Shirley Temple, Ingrid Bergman, Lana Turner, Bette Midler and Jodie Foster. There was also a
section devoted to Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz including a three-reel film projector Desi invented for editing film from the three camera technique he developed.
From December 1, 2005 at least until February 15, 2006, a special legacy exhibit on Barbra Streisand will occupy this space. Three thousand pieces of movie and music memorabilia related to the artist will be on display. This will be only the second exhibit at the museum to showcase a living artist. The first was a legacy exhibit on Phyllis Diller.
Third level exhibits include more recent Hollywood productions. Sylvester Stallone’s boxing gloves and robe from one of the Rocky movies is next to the door. There are a few costumes and set decorations from “Moulin Rouge” and many more from “Master and Commander.” One of Tom Cruises costumes from “The Minority Report” backs up to Tommy Lee Jones’ black suit and sunglasses from “Men in Black.” A collection of torture instruments from the movie “Quills” is 
across from Roddy McDowell’s Powder Room transported from his home. A large exhibit on Hollywood’s honorary mayor, Johnny Grant and a nice Bob Hope tribute seem to be out of context on this floor.
Hollywood history continues in the basement with Hanibal Lechter’s cell from Silence of the Lambs,” complete with the reduced-size folding chair that made Jodie Foster look especially small sitting outside his cell. The other prison cells on this block have been used in a number of films and are still rented out for filming prison scenes. At the end of the hall are more props from Red Dragon before you turn a corner and step into the Egypt in Hollywood exhibit. From the 1935 “Charlie Chan in Egypt,” to “Death on the Nile,” “Cleopatra” and “The Mummy’s Tomb,” posters, photos and movie props remind of Hollywood’s favorite Egyptian classics.
The Hollywood Museum is open Thursday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Adult admission is $15. Students up to 22 years of age are $12 and Children five and under are $5. The Museum is located at 1660 N. Highland Ave., just south of Hollywood Blvd. There is a $2 parking discount at the adjacent parking lot with Museum validation. Parking across Hollywood Blvd. at the Hollywood & Highland shopping complex is $2 for 4 hours with validation from any of the Hollywood & Highland businesses. Check out their web site,www.thehollywoodmuseum.com, for current exhibits and special offers. Discount coupons are also sometimes distributed across the street in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.
The Hollywood Museum in the Historic Max Factor Building is included in the Go Los Angeles Card attraction pass.
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While the Hollywood Museum has a heavy movie and memorabilia focus, the Hollywood Entertainment Museum features sets from some of America’s most popular TV shows and information about what goes into the production of television shows and movies. The admission price to the Hollywood Entertainment Museum includes a guided tour, which is the only way you get to see all the “back-lot” areas.
Your docent-led tour starts out in the prop room with various monster heads looming on shelves above you and glass cases featuring props from various movies. Helmets, facemask and breast plates from “The Shadow” are next to dental headgear from “Problem Child III,” with a mask mold from “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” opposite . Unfortunately, you get rushed through this area without any time to stop and examine the various prop displays.
The next stop is the wardrobe hallway next to the costume design studio, where at-risk high school students are taught costume design as part of the Museum’s accredited high school program for 11 th and 12 th graders. Whoopi Goldberg’s fuscia and black suit from the movie “Ghost” adorns a manikin in the hallway. Around the corner, you get a peek into the Art Director’s office where story boards and set models are in various stages of production.
You step into the “transporter” from “Star Trek” and with a quick “Beam me up Scotty” are transported to the bridge of the Starship Enterprise. You can take a seat in the captain’s chair for a quick photo op. There is a Borg recharging alcove, complete with Borg. The intricacies of becoming an alien life form are explained over the latex masks of various creatures before you walk though the corridor of the Enterprise.
Finally you step through a doorway onto the set of “Cheers.” Everything is just as you remember it, except for the interactive interpretive kiosks on one wall that tell you about the different characters. The carved Indian stands guard by the door. The Wurlitzer juke box is there. The manager’s office is right where it should be. There are nicks in the bar where Norm scratched at it over the years.
After the guided backstage tour, you’re free to explore the common areas on your own. A nice collection of special effects aliens and monsters lines the left wall in the Science Fiction Collection. On the right an audio exhibit called The Dream Merchants lets you listed to the voices of various actors and directors talking about their craft. On my visit, only a few of the audio kiosks were in working condition.
The Hollywood Entertainment Museum is located at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard between Orange Avenue and Sycamore Avenue in the lower level of the Galaxy Building. There is underground parking off of Sycamore. It is $2 for 2 hours with validation from the Museum. Parking on the next block at Hollywood & Highland is $2 for 4 hours with validation from participating businesses. On the Metro Red Line, exit at the Hollywood & Highland station, exit toward Hollywood Blvd. and turn right to the middle of the next block. You can get a $2 discount on Museum entrance if you show your Metro pass or Metro ticket.
names. The official name is Mercado Libertad or Liberty Market. Most locals refer to it as Mercado San Juan de Dios ( St. John of God Market) after the nearby church and neighborhood of the same name. Still others call it Mercado “Taiwan de Dios” for the piles of imported electronics sold there. By any name, Latin America’s largest indoor market can keep you occupied and out of the rain for a good long while, even if you’re not a shopper. If you are a shopper, feel free to haggle, but keep in mind that wages in Mexico are really low, so don’t try to drive too hard a bargain.
With over 1000 vendors, there’s not much for sale that can’t be found at the Mercado. The problem is that the market is so vast and the aisles are so narrow, that many people wander around for an hour and think they’ve seen it all, when they’ve barely scratched the surface. I can’t claim to be an expert. I spent about three hours and still only saw a fraction of what there was to see.
the plazas downtown, you’ll most likely be approaching from the north or west. From the north, you’ll probably want to skip most of the housewares in the outer booths along the long north side. If you don’t have a lot of time, walk along the outside of the market to where you see the more traditional copper vats and clay cooking pots.
Keep an eye out on your way for some of the traditional Mexican sweets, like the sugar skulls for Day of the Dead. Then look for the basket vendor at the corner of an aisle that looks through to daylight on the other side. That should take you past hand made wooden toys, maracas and other arts and craft vendors on the way in to the patio.
On the closest (north) side of the patio, you’ll find hand-woven baskets and bags, papier-mâché masks and dolls, clay and pottery miniatures and a wide variety of folk arts from the Guadalajara Metro area, the most important producer of hand crafts in the country.
But if you’re looking for Mexican-made leather boots and sandals, you might want to start at the northern entrance that leads straight up the stairs to a row of cobblers and shoe vendors. You may spot one of Maximo Pelayo’s giant huarache sandals hanging at the top of the stairway above the rows of footwear made for normal-sized folks. His giant huaraches have found their way into Mexican restaurants and other establishments on both sides of the border. He makes them right there on the spot.
Vendors tend to be grouped together by product categories, so if you’re looking for something in particular, it’s best to ask directions to that part of the market, although within this order there is also a random mix of vendors outside of their product zone. Most vendors know numbers and prices in English. Some also know enough to point you in the right direction to find what you’re looking for. Toiletries, perfumes, watches, office supplies, groceries
everything but packaged liquor and pharmaceuticals can be bought at the market.
There’s a section for handmade leather goods, from belts to jackets to boots to hats. There are long counters of silver and gold jewelry with guitars hanging overhead, an odd, but common combination in this market. Guitars seem to go with anything.
On the north side of level 2, along with cobblers and other shoe vendors, hardware (hammers, saws, etc.) can be found next to music CDs and electronics. Contemporary clothes and lots more shoes are on level three. If you’re looking for Mexican blankets, traditional clothes, sombreros or T-shirts, the first aisle along the east end closest to the parking structure has a good selection.
Levels two and three are open in the middle like a shopping mall, but rather than a fountain in the middle, you look down on the roofs of the first floor stalls. I could look across from the east side of level two and see all the food vendors on the west side, but I never made it over there in my three hours of exploring. I did come across another area of sandwich booths on the south side selling a variety of tortas (sandwiches on large rolls) between the butchers and the spice vendors.
For American sensibilities, the butcher aisle is a bit of a culture shock. Every part of the animal is hanging in front of you, exposed to the air and available for purchase. Seeing all the hanging heads, feet and intestines didn’t really give me much of an appetite, but I found it fascinating.