Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Aurich Lawson | Petersen)
Cars and Hollywood go together like chocolate and peanut butter (or mashed potatoes and gravy—choose your favorite pairing). The Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles pays tribute to that legacy with its new exhibit, the “Cars of Film and Television.”
Founded in 1994 by the magazine publisher Robert E. Petersen, the museum was originally folded into the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles before moving to a new, largely windowless space that once housed a department store. (The absence of sunlight helps preserve the cars displayed inside.)
In 2015, The Petersen Automotive Museum space got a complete renovation, which included a controversial exterior redesign featuring large stainless steel ribbons painted red and white, almost like racing stripes—they’re meant to evoke speed and movement. Many people hated the exterior design, most notably Curbed LA’s Marissa Gluck, who memorably described the new facade as “the Guy Fieri of buildings: obnoxious, loud, and, ultimately, sure to be inexplicably embraced by the public.” Speaking as a member of the public, I love it precisely because it’s so unique and different; it doesn’t even try to fit in with the staid architecture that surrounds it along Miracle Mile.
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