Six Museums Free —
One Afternoon of Living History
Costumed docents add to the festivities at Heritage Square on Museums of the Arroyo Day.
Discover LA by Metro:
Discover LA’s History at Six Museums
Free on Sunday, May 21, 2017
Update: May 19, 2019 from noon – 4 pm
Step back in time on Sunday when six unique history-based museums will be free from noon to 5 pm, in celebration of the annual Museums of the Arroyo Day. Although it is almost impossible to see all six — Heritage Square, The Autry’s Southwest Museum, the Lummis Home and Gardens, the Los Angeles Police Museum, the Pasadena Museum of History, and the Gamble House — which ever ones you see will be a treat. We made it to three and look forward to three more this year!
Heritage Square
Heritage Square, established in 1969, is a living history village which preserves nine 1800s structures from across Los Angeles.
Lummis Home and Garden
This is a rare opportunity to visit the Lummis Home and Garden — hand-built by journalist, historian and librarian Charles Fletcher Lummis over a twelve years from 1898 – 1910. Often credited with representing the beginning of the Arts & Crafts architectural movement, the home is now only open limited hours. It is also well know for its native California plant garden.
It took Lummis twelve years to hand-build his home.
The Los Angeles Police Museum
See the jacket worn by Dragnet’s Sargent Friday (Jack Webb) and scores of real police memorabilia at the Los Angeles Police Museum in Highland Park. This hidden gem opened in 2001 and displays LAPD history from its 1869 beginnings. Snap your own booking photo and experience a vintage jail cell.
Getting There
Getting to Museums of the Arroyo Day is easy by Metro. Take the Gold Line to either the Memorial Park or Southwest Museum station and catch shuttles from the museums near these stations.
There will be two free shuttles — one runs between the Gamble House, Pasadena History Museum and the Los Angeles Police Museum; the other between the Police Museum, the Lummis Home and Gardens, and the Southwest Museum.
No shuttles will go to Heritage Square, which is .4 mile walk from the Lummis Home.
From the Gold Line Memorial Park station it is an .8 mile walk to the Gamble House, passing the Pasadena Museum of History. Walnut Street goes over the freeway to both museums.
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This sounds like a wonderful thing to do. Glad Heritage Square has been completed. I remember walking around the first house was still being worked on.
Thanks for your comment! It’s really special on Museums of the Arroyo Day — the costumed docents really take you back more than a century!
The last time we were there, the interiors of several houses were being restored, and we hope to get there again this weekend to see how the restorations look now.
It is great to see the Metro Duo back again after a hiatus. The photos are excellent and the commentary makes me wish that I could be there.
Yes, we’re back, and thanks for your support!
We’ve been pretty busy lately — life interferes with blogging — but we also have a Facebook page that is conducive to quick updates, so we’re more active there. Follow us at https://www.facebook.com/LAbyMetro.