The Museum of Neon Art

The Museum of Neon Art is by far our favorite art museum in Los Angeles. It is currently located at the corner of Olympic Blvd. and Hope St., in downtown L.A. It is the creation of an artist named Lili Lakich, and showcases works of neon, kinetic, and electric art. There are always things moving, buttons to push, things sparking, making noise and so forth. It's a very entertaining place.

We have been fans of the museum ever since first finding it back in 1984. In those days, it was housed in an old warehouse on Traction Ave., in the gritty industrial district just east of Alameda Street and Little Tokyo. Now, the old location is Lili Lakich's private studio. For a few years in the early '90s, they moved to Universal Studios Citywalk. We never thought the museum went well at Citywalk, since everything else there is part of a mass-market chain designed to trap tourists. MONA is something different. It is unique to L.A., and stands on its own. In 1995, they closed the Citywalk location and moved the museum back downtown to its present location.

The museum is in what would ordinarily be a commercial space, on the ground floor of a condominium building. Parking is underground, with an entrance on of Grand Street, just north of Olympic. Enter the garage and press the button for the guard. Tell them that you are there for the museum and they will open the gate.

Exhibits at the museum tend to run for several months at a time, and generally showcase the works of a particular artist or theme, as well as some of the pieces from the museum's permanent collection.

The Museum can be found at:
501 West Olympic Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90015
(213) 489-9918
http://www.neonmona.org


August 24, 1998

copyright © 1998 by Stan Schwarz

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