Tag: Southwest Museum

Merger of Western museums fall apart.
(From the San Francisco Chronicle, Friday, August 14, 2009):

“The merger between cowboys and Indians was supposed to enhance two Los Angeles museums of the American West.

But the dust-up between the Autry National Center and defenders of the Southwest Museum of the American Indian has left a $175 million museum expansion dead and the city’s oldest museum gravely wounded.

After negotiations with the city to safeguard the Southwest Museum in Mount Washington failed, the Autry this week shelved plans for its grand expansion in Griffith Park.”

Click here to read the full article.

The  Southwest Museum in Los Angeles has been in the press as a public meeting was held regarding the expansion of the Autry National Center of the American West in Griffith Park early July.  Listed on the National Registry of Historic Places, the Southwest Museum is the oldest museum in the City. Garavaglia Architecture developed a preservation plan for the Friends of the Southwest Museum in 2007. It has been listed as a preservation issue by the Los Angeles Conservancy for quite some time. City Councilman Huizar is now recommending the Autry to sign a legal binding document to preserve the Southwest Museum building as well as its collection. Read more on the status of this project:

“Huizar’s ‘Surprise’ Southwest Museum Proposal Draws Praise,” EGP News, by Paul Aranda Jr.

“Southwest Museum pulls itself up by its bootstraps,” Los Angeles Times, Art Section, Suzanne Muchnic, July 5, 2009.

“Autry, Southwest Museum fued has echoes of a western duel,” Los Angeles Times, California Local Section, by Bob Pool, July 2, 2009

“Saving the Southwest Museum,” by Marc Haefele, Metblog