Museums Los Angeles

In the ongoing attempt to salvage the Latino Museum of History, Art and Culture, its board of trustees has restructured itself and accepted the resignation of board president and museum founding father Charles Calderon. The financially strapped institution, which opened its doors in 1998, has not mounted an exhibition or presented other public programming since August, when claims surfaced indicating that the museum was out of money and owed nearly $500,000 to creditors and employees.

The $1-million Museum of Contemporary Art campaign unfolding in Southern California illustrates a trend among museums: spotlighting permanent collections instead of using their limited budgets to showcase special exhibitions. MOCA's ads are going to places no local museum has gone before: a billboard perched atop a strip joint, coffee cup sleeves, gas pump handles, even coat hangers carrying dry-cleaned clothing.

The Southwest Museum is shutting down its Wilshire Boulevard satellite and gearing up for a $3-million expansion and renovation of its historic facility in Mount Washington. Since June 1998, the museum has leased space from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, in the building known as LACMA West, while raising funds to enlarge and upgrade its woefully inadequate headquarters. With most of the money in hand now, the Southwest will close the outpost on Jan. 2.

News of the Jan. 1 closing of the Carole & Barry Kaye Museum of Miniatures never came as a formal announcement. Its founders and owners--estate planner Barry Kaye and his wife, Carole--never called a press conference.

The departure of Petersen Director Ken Gross is an amiable one by all reports--he says it is simply time for him and his wife to return to the East Coast to be closer to their children and grandchildren. But he acknowledges one difference of opinion, over financing, that well could be the catalyst for the timing of his resignation.

His eyes light up and a smile teases his lips as Ken Gross fiddles with the locked door barring the way into the dim basement. It is in these five chill concrete rooms underlying the former Orbach's department store on Wilshire Boulevard's Miracle Mile that some of the Petersen Automotive Museum's best treasures--and best-kept secrets--are stored. Walking among them, seeing what is usually kept hidden from the public, is one of the perquisites of the museum keeper.

The Latino Museum of History, Art and Culture, which has been closed since August because of severe financial problems, is at a crucial crossroads that may determine whether its doors ever open again. The 2-year-old operation is now nearly $500,000 in debt, according to one board member, and has no new funding or revenue sources in the offing. Its entire staff has either resigned or been laid off, including museum director Denise Lugo.

During nearly 60 years of marriage, Ethel Bradley shared her husband with the city of Los Angeles--his time, his energy, his ideals. Now she is 81 and a widow. But Bradley, who spent 20 years as the city's first lady, is still sharing her husband, his legacy and his remembrances with the public. On Friday, Bradley will donate a large collection of the late Mayor Tom Bradley's personal items to the California African American Museum.

Internal documents and former and current board members of the debt-ridden Latino Museum of History, Art and Culture claim that the institution's management has mishandled its financial affairs and squandered numerous fund-raising opportunities to keep the museum afloat.

Candace Barrett's imagination no doubt danced with anticipation and excitement after the Children's Museum of Los Angeles recently received the green light to build not just one, but two spacious facilities in Los Angeles County. As the museum's director and chief operating officer, Barrett is keenly aware of the space and parking deficiencies that have hindered the organization's growth at its current location in downtown Los Angeles.