California Gold: Museum of the American West, Los Angeles

Frankie and Gene.

Text and photos by Jason McKenney.

Being a member of the California Historical Society, I was given a free pass to many of the state's museums including the Gene Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles. I took my wife and Frankie out past Griffith Park where the museum is located, directly across the street from LA Zoo. Inside we found a generous mix of items from the American West as well as memorabilia from Hollywood Westerns, both old classics and more recent movies.

The Autry was established in 1988 by actor Gene Autry to explore and share a comprehensive story of the American West and the cultures it contained. Its collection includes more than twenty thousand paintings, sculptures, costumes, firearms, tools, toys, and musical instruments. Exhibits cover the Civil War experience in Texas and California, Chinese labor on the transcontinental railway, the struggles of Native Indians during Spanish and American expansion, black cowboys crossing the plains of Oklahoma, and many other details of the Old West that make it feel real and relevant to our lives today.

A few of the many exhibits on display
include furniture and artwork.

When we arrived, the museum gallery had been recently organized into three theme areas: Religion and Ritual, Land and Landscape, and Migration and Movement. There were also two smaller galleries with revolving exhibits. New displays are rotated through to keep things fresh and to bring in both new visitors and repeats. The firearms gallery shows the context and place of weaponry in the Old West. Guns are grouped by themes: Hunting and Trapping, The Impact of Technology on Firearms, The Conservation Movement, and The West in Popular Culture.

A unique rendition
of the crucifixion.

Moving through the wing dedicated to the movies, staring up at posters of Clint Eastwood and the Lone Ranger, I found a green screen setup that allows visitors a chance to see themselves placed inside an action scene. Standing next a saddle, one can watch themselves on screen riding through a stampede of cattle or being chased by bandits, the soaring tones of the William Tell Overture swelling in support. It is The Autry in LA, after all. The location wouldn't be complete without a little but of showtime on display.

The American Old West has much more to offer than just Texas Cowboys fighting some monolithic tribe of Indians. It was as diverse, colorful, dramatic, conflicted, beautiful, and messy as the rest of American history. The Autry does its best to give a slight glimpse into this wonderful past.

Frankie enjoyed seeing the 1948 Indian Roadmaster motorcycle.

Frankie isn't sure what all the fuss is about.

A timeline of great American cinema.

We're in the movies! Wife on a horse, dad taking pictures, and the baby in the stroller speeding away
from the Jesse James Gang.

Gene Autry and Trigger, greeting each visitor to their museum.