Hollywood Museum: Film & TV Memorabilia

As a precursor, I am a fan of the history of cinema but admittedly do not know a ton about it. So some of the luster of the memorabilia from tinsel towns days of old was lost on me. That being said I enjoyed my time at the museum as it has a great collection of history, including a dungeon with props from horror movie. Located just a block from the main hustle and bustle of Hollywood near Grauman’s Chinese Theater, El Capitan and the Kodak sits The Hollywood Museum. It has four stories worth of set and wardrobe pieces from at least 70 years of movie history and is open Wednesday – Sunday: 10am – 5pm.

The Museum

At a cost of about 15 dollars a person this museum has a lot to see for the film buff or the average TMZ watcher. The area itself is broke up into four main stories each specializing in a different time period or series of movies. While each floor is different they do a good job of making sure every floor has a little something for everyone. Here is my breakdown of each of the floor, I will let the photos do most of the talking.

The Fourth Floor

The fourth floor was where we started our journey through the museum. This floor seemed to house a lot of the older memorabilia like Superman’s cape, references to Gene Harlow, the Something About Mary dog and even a car from the Rat Pack. This floor is where I knew the least about what I was looking at, but being a comic nerd, seeing Superman’s cape was worth it.

The Third Floor

Floor three was all about modern movies and TV. It had set pieces and costumes from movies as recent as Hugo and TV shows like the Walking Dead. I especially liked this area as it had a lot of stuff from shows I was currently watching. My father is probably the number one fan of the show Justified so he was excited to receive a picture that had costumes from that show as well.

The Second Floor

The second floor, AKA the main floor, as I am counting the basement as a floor, pays homage to the makeup and hair stylists that have been transforming the stars over the years. It has lots of old photos of how makeup was done back in the day (creepy) as well as a room full from floor to ceiling with photos of unique hair styles on the stars. What was most interesting to me about this floor though was the Darth Vader and C3P0 costumes. I am a huge fan of Star Wars so it was cool to see that up close.

Creepy makeup device

Cool Hollywoodland sign

The Dungeon (Basement)

The basement floor is by far the most unusual and was my favorite to see. It pays homage to the horror and action movies of Hollywood’s past. It has a collection of props from the Indiana Jones Movies, Frankenstein movies and a complete jail area that has the cell Hannibal Lecter was held in the movies and some stuff from Dexter. It is both creepy and cool to walk through and see.

The Last Crusade Cup

Hannibals Cell

All in all this is an interesting place to spend a couple of hours in LA. If you are really into the history of cinema I assume you would find a lot more to be excited about here then me, but I found enough here that I can honestly say my fifteen dollars was spent well. Check out the rest of the photos and get directions below.