museum

I’M a Travel Editor who also happens to be a London mum of a six-year -old – and while we spend plenty of time travelling the world, one of my favourite places to explore is my home city.

Because London is one of the best cities in the world for families, with stacks of free attractions, great parks, child-friendly restaurants and pubs.

In fact, I have spent whole days out with my son in London at museums, galleries and theatre shows, without spending more than £50.

So if you’re planning a family trip to London, here are some of my favourite places to go with kids in the city.

Free attractions

There are so many free attractions in London that you could fill a week’s worth of activities without spending a penny on tickets.

Of course, three of the biggest are always worth a visit – the British Museum, Natural History Museum and the Science Museum.

I’d say the earliest your child is like to be interested in the British Museum, near Russell Square, is around six years old.

The exhibits are better suited to older children and adults, but they have gone to great lengths to make things interesting to young children too, like museum explorer trail guides and the Gallery backpacks.

Inside the bags are a number of items and activities, including hieroglyphs, toy animals, amulets and even fancy dress.

Be sure not to miss the mummies in the Ancient Egyptian section, hugely popular with anyone aged 6 to 96. Although it does get very busy.

The Science Museum in South Kensington is perfect for kids of all ages, I’ve been taking my child there since he was a one-year-old, as the interactive ‘Garden’ in the basement is perfect for toddlers and pre-schoolers.

There are plenty of excellent free exhibitions around the museum – one of our favourites being the Space section – but the most popular (and deservedly so) is the Wonderlab, an interactive gallery featuring numerous experiments that will fascinate children aged 3-14. Tickets cost from £15 for this area.

The neighbouring Natural History Museum is another one with some excellent paying exhibits, but the dinosaur gallery is free and perfect for kids, as is the creepy crawlies gallery and the Earth Hall.

For more of an arty trip, try the Tate Modern – my son loves the Pop Art and the huge installations in the Turbine Hall.

But his favourite is Tate Draw, where kids can make their own creations on a bank of screens, an activity that kept him busy for over an hour.

Further down the South Bank is the Southbank centre, which offers some of my favourite free activities on weekends and in school holidays.

My son has been to Lego-building, screen printing and even helped to build a Moomin House with real saws, wood and hammers at the venue, all completely free.

It’s worth checking if you need to book in advance though, as tickets for the free events go very fast.

For an event they’re sure to remember forever – I still have a hazy recollection of my first Changing Of The Guard at Buckingham Palace when I was just seven years old, and my son went last year and loved it too.

The ceremony takes place at 11am on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and it’s worth getting there early for a good spot.

For something considerably more modern, try the Outernet – the huge multi-screened space on Tottenham Court Road that claims to be the most visited cultural attraction in the UK.

The space shows a series of artist-made short films, some of which invite audience participation, and it’s so entertaining that my son and I are happy to sit there for an hour.

Pubs And Restaurants

Taking a child to a pub or restaurant can strike fear into the heart of any parent – will they sit still? Will they eat? It’s a culinary minefield.

Here are some of my favourite places that welcome children.

Brewdog Waterloo is easily my favourite pub in London for families.

It has an indoor slide, a duckpin bowling alley, scavenger hunts and face painting during school holidays, an ice cream van, ping pong tables and an extensive kids’ menu.

It gets quite busy after 5pm with post-work drinkers, but any time before that and you feel like it’s perfectly acceptable that your kid is doing their 20th lap of the pub to reach the two-storey slide.

Much like Brewdog, Sixes cricket bars have excellent activities for kids – their high-tech batting cages mean children can burn off some serious energy while you sip on a pint

They also have tasty food to suit everyone – my personal favourite is the flaming candy floss pudding in the giant martini glass.

As a Travel Editor who has taken my child to many restaurants over the years, I’ve recently hit upon a surprising winner – ramen.

Introduce a child to chopsticks and noodles in a bowl, and they’ll stay entertained for at least half an hour.

Tonkotsu has a chain of ramen restaurants across London, with both bento boxes for kids and non-spicy ramen bowls.

Particularly adventurous child who doesn’t mind a queue? Try Borough Market on a Monday or Tuesday, when it’s less crowded.

They’ll love the bowls of free bite-sized food the traders leave out to tempt you and the hot stations round the back really do have something for everyone.

You can indulge your love of Thai or Indian, while they chow down on pizza or fish and chips.

Then you can share some of those ludicrous strawberries in chocolate or a giant brownie for afters.

If you’re looking for a fancy restaurant, I can’t speak highly enough of the Rosewood Hotel’s Holborn Dining Room.

They have the most beautiful Rosewood-themed activity books for kids to fill in and the huge bowl of sausage and mash went down a treat, as did the chance to pet the very cute Labradors who stand on duty at the entrance.

Parks

London’s parks are second to none – I’ve never been to a city in the world that has so many, with such a variation.

Perfect if you’re paying a visit to Battersea Power Station, Battersea Park playground is excellent for many reasons.

Firstly, it has a Go Ape next door, so you can easily kill at least four hours in a 100-metre radius.

Secondly, the playground itself is excellent with two different areas for older and younger kids that feature huge slides, trapezes, massive climbing frames and plenty more.

It is particularly great for parents because the park cafe serves beer and pizzas, and you can grab a table with a perfect view of the playground – great for keeping an eye on your kid AND people watching, as I’ve never visited this playground without spotting a celebrity.

One of my favourite parks if you’re in the centre of town is Coram’s Fields, a seven-acre walled playground in the heart of Bloomsbury.

It feels particularly safe in the centre of busy London because they have a rule that ‘no adult can enter without a child.’

If you’re exploring the many attractions the South Bank has to offer, then it’s well worth stopping by the Jubilee Gardens playground, next to the London Eye.

Smaller than the others I’ve mentioned, it’s very well designed and perfect for those kids who need to run off some steam in between organised fun.

A little bit further out, Greenwich Park playground is possibly my favourite in London (while the Princess Diana Memorial Playground is closed for renovations).

It has all the usual suspects, as well as an excellent sand and water play area – so remember to bring some plastic cups and spades.

Plus afterwards, you can walk to the top of the hill in the park, for great views of the capital.

Paid for attractions

OK, there are many that I could have shared here, but these are some of the paid-for attractions that have been the biggest hits with my child from the ages of 3-6.

As every parent knows, attractions with lots of ‘look don’t touch’ rules are a nightmare for those with inquisitive kids which is why HMS Belfast is such a winner (adult tickets £26.35 and kids £13.15).

Built to last at sea in wartime, this Royal Navy ship moored on the Thames near London Bridge is not in the least bothered about curious little hands.

They have audioguides for older kids and activity packs for younger children.

My son spent three hours exploring every level of this battle ship and would easily have stayed for a further three.

Speaking of ships, the Golden Hinde further along the South Bank near the Globe Theatre is another hit.

A seaworthy reconstruction of the ship captained by Francis Drake when he sailed around the world in the 16th century, the attraction has particularly great value activities on during school holidays.

For just £8, my son took part in a 1.5-hour session onboard where they went on a scavenger hunt, learnt how to fire cannons, had a tour of the ship and practised (foam) sword fighting.

When it comes to the pricier attractions, one of our most memorable days out has been a ride on the Thames Rockets – the speedboat tours of the River Thames.

We went on their new 26-seater boat The Rocket Rebel, for a hair-raising trip accompanied by some of London’s best pop and rock music.

Then on the way back, the hilarious tour guide filled us in on some very interesting titbits about the capital as we passed the many famous landmarks.

With adults from £59.95 and kids from £49.95 it’s not cheap, but it is an absolutely brilliant way to sight see the city that guarantees the kids won’t moan about being bored.

Theatre Shows and Culture

This is a tricky one, because if you’re aiming for theatre that young kids will love then shows tend to be limited to school holidays.

But of the big budget ones that I’ve seen which will not disappoint – The Lion King and Starlight Express are perfect for all ages from 6 to 96.

Other than that, take a gamble by signing up to discount ticket websites like Show Film First and The Audience Club several weeks ahead of your visit.

They operate as seatfiller sites and I have found Band A and B tickets for £15 to huge shows on both websites.

Also, check out what the Southbank Centre has on offer. They have so many free cultural events aimed at families, from art to dancing, building and live music.

Plus, in the summertime your kid can play in the Jeppe Hein Appearing Rooms fountains, with views of the Thames.

Serious financial woes have plagued the Palm Springs Art Museum for at least six years, according to internal documents obtained by The Times. Recent developments have opened a Pandora’s box.

On Jan. 15, the accounting firm conducting the annual audit of the museum’s 2024 books attached to its report a “letter of material weakness,” a standard accounting practice for alerting a client to the reasonable possibility that its internal financial statements are significantly out of whack.

Less than three months after the audit letter, in early April, the museum’s director suddenly resigned, and trustee defections began. A cascade of at least eight resignations from the museum’s board of trustees — nearly one-third of its membership — has occurred since spring. One resignation came on the advice of the trustee’s attorney. With 19 trustees remaining, according to a listing on the museum’s website, the total number has fallen below the minimum of 20 required in the museum’s by-laws.

Palm Springs Art Museum board chair Craig Hartzman did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Accountants at Eide Bailly, citing a “deficiency in internal control” at the museum, highlighted six areas of concern, including problems with reporting of endowment spending, improper recording of the market value of donated and deaccessioned art, and faulty recording of admissions revenues.

Former museum director Adam Lerner had reportedly been negotiating a three-year contract renewal when he stepped down. Without elaborating on his unexpected decision to depart, he was cited in a museum press release as leaving for personal reasons. Lerner returned to Colorado, where he previously headed the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver.

Reached by text, Lerner declined a request for interview, referring questions to the museum.

Financial problems at PSAM are not new. According to six pages of notes obtained by The Times, compiled by a trustee who led a task force charged with examining museum finances, the ending statement on the 2019 endowment balance was $3 million higher than the beginning balance on the 2020 statement. Audits and tax returns posted on the museum website confirm the puzzling discrepancy.

The notes say it is “highly unlikely” the funds were stolen. Instead, they question internal museum accounting practices, which can create a misleading appearance of fiscal health. By the 2021 audit, the outside accounting firm that had been preparing them annually prior to Eide Bailly had quit.

“This is always a red flag,” wrote museum trustee Kevin Comer, an art collector who retired after 30 years as a managing director at Deutsche Bank in New York, and who is a former professor of accounting and fiduciary management techniques at the Ohio State University. A trustee for less than two years, Comer resigned Nov. 6.

Reached by telephone, Comer declined to discuss the accounting firm’s letter or the task force notes.

Palm Springs Art Museum

(Guillaume Goureau/Palm Springs Art Museum)

Since late July, a lengthy anonymous email has also been circulating from a self-described “whistleblower with a direct relationship” to the Palm Springs Art Museum. Fourteen itemized complaints, most concerning fiscal matters, are presented with sobriety, plus a slow burn of understandable anger. Whether or not the unidentified whistle blower has an ax to grind is unknown to me, but plainly the email is not a list of wild accusations hurled by an unreliable gadfly.

The coherent level of informed specificity certainly suggests authorship by a knowledgeable insider. Some stated grievances may have benign explanations, while others are troubling.

Comer pulled few punches in his own letter of resignation to fellow trustees, also obtained by The Times. The fiduciary expert, a former member of the board’s finance committee, said he was resigning on the advice of his attorney.

The board, Comer alleged, is sidestepping the fundamental fiduciary obligation to protect “the integrity of the museum, despite our best intentions.” The letter urges hiring both a law firm and a forensic accounting firm to review museum finances, partly to untangle apparently inappropriate methods in the past for the benefit of the current board, and partly to address potential liability.

An earlier task force suggestion to that effect was discussed by the board but went unheeded, he charges.

Especially concerning is a 2019 reclassification of some restricted funds. Task force notes suggest the $3-million discrepancy between 2019 and 2020 may have originated as a change in restricted funds to unrestricted status. Assets specifically donated for a particular function could then appear to be available for general operating purposes.

The museum consistently operated at a loss, the notes say, with some operating shortfalls covered by the 2019 reclassification. A deficit is not unusual for an art museum, but whether the reclassifications of some restricted funds were appropriate appears to be in doubt. Presumably, funds reclassified as unrestricted at the end of one year to make the financial filing look good may have had their restricted status restored at the start of the next year.

Restricted funds can include money raised through the deaccession and sale of art donated to a museum’s collection. Common museum ethical standards require income from deaccessioned art to be sequestered, used only for other art purchases, as well as for direct care of the collection. For accounting purposes, the monetary value of a nonprofit museum’s art collection is not considered a material asset to be carried on the books. Reclassification of sequestered art funds could support an appearance of general financial vigor.

During the lengthy 2020 pandemic closure, the cash-strapped museum made the controversial decision to deaccession and then sell a prized 1974 Helen Frankenthaler painting, which brought $4.7 million at auction. The 2024 audit puts total donor restricted funds for art purchases and collection maintenance at $7.8 million.

To pay the bills the museum has also been drawing down the endowment. According to the 2024 audit, the most recent financial statement currently available, the endowment is slightly more than $17 million — extremely small for a museum that last year had an operating budget of approximately $10.5 million.

“Endowment draws over the past decade totaled roughly $8 million, and contributions to the endowment totaled roughly $500,000,” the notes report. “Most years the museum operated at a loss, including for the last three years when the board believed we were profitable,” it states.

Such a disproportion between fundraising and expenditure, between money coming in and money going out, is frankly unsustainable for this — or any — art museum, especially when inflation is factored in.

The endowment is a nonprofit’s “seed corn,” eaten for short-term gain only at its long-term peril. Most disturbing: The notes suggest that while the five-person executive committee may have been aware of some of the situation’s more difficult details, the rest of the board appears not to have been fully informed of the museum’s financial position
.
“Bottom line,” Comer’s resignation letter astutely observes, “this is a leadership group that doesn’t know what it doesn’t know, and that is the most dangerous place in which an institution can be placed.”

The Palm Springs Art Museum has apparently wedged itself firmly between a rock and a hard place. Now, it is unclear how the museum can move forward without a full cohort of 20 trustees authorized to vote on making essential decisions — including accepting new members to the board.

California is once again fighting in federal court for a Jewish family’s right to have a precious Impressionist painting returned to them by a Spanish museum nearly 90 years after it was looted by the Nazis.

The state is also defending its own authority to legally require art and other stolen treasures to be returned to other victims with ties to the state, even in disputes that stretch far beyond its borders.

The state has repeatedly weighed in on the case since the Cassirer family first filed it while living in San Diego in 2005. Last year, it passed a new law designed to bolster the legal rights of the Cassirers and other families in California to recover valuable property stolen from them in acts of genocide or political persecution.

On Monday, California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta’s office filed a motion to intervene in the Cassirer case directly in order to defend that law. The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation — which is owned by Spain and holds the Camille Pissarro masterpiece — has claimed that the law is unconstitutional and should therefore be ignored.

Bonta, in a statement to The Times, said the law is “about fairness, moral — and legal — responsibility, and doing what’s right,” and the state will defend it in court.

“There is nothing that can undo the horrors and loss experienced by individuals during the Holocaust. But there is something we can do — that California has done — to return what was stolen back to survivors and their families and bring them some measure of justice and healing,” Bonta said. “As Attorney General, my job is to defend the laws of California, and I intend to do so here.”

Bonta said his office “has supported the Cassirers’ quest for justice for two decades,” and “will continue to fight with them for the rightful return of this invaluable family heirloom.”

Thaddeus J. Stauber, an attorney for the museum, did not did not answer questions from The Times. Bonta’s office said Stauber did not oppose its intervening in the case.

Sam Dubbin, the Cassirers’ longtime attorney, thanked Bonta’s office for “intervening in this case again to defend California’s interests in protecting the integrity of the art market and the rights of stolen property victims.”

“California law has always provided strong protections for the victims of stolen property and stolen art in particular, which the Legislature has consistently reinforced,” Dubbin said.

The state bucked the powerful U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals by passing the law last year. The appellate court found in a ruling in January 2024 that the painting was lawfully owned by the Spanish museum.

Bonta’s latest move ratchets up the intrigue surrounding the 20-year-old case, which is being watched around the globe for its potential implications in the high-stakes world of looted art litigation.

The painting in question — Pissarro’s “Rue Saint-Honoré in the Afternoon. Effect of Rain” — is estimated to be worth tens of millions of dollars. Both sides acknowledge it was stolen from Lilly Cassirer Neubauer by the Nazis in 1939, after she agreed in desperation to surrender it to a Nazi appraiser in exchange for a visa to flee Germany at the dawn of World War II.

The attention surrounding the case, and its potential to set new precedent in international law, likely makes the painting even more valuable.

After World War II, Lilly received compensation for the painting from the German government, but the family never relinquished its right to the masterpiece — which at the time was considered lost. What she was paid was a fraction of the current estimated worth.

In the decades that followed, Lilly’s grandson Claude Cassirer — who had also survived the Holocaust — moved with his family to San Diego.

In 2000, Claude made the shocking discovery that the painting was not lost to time after all, but part of a vast art collection that Spain had acquired from the late Baron Hans Heinrich von Thyssen-Bornemisza, the scion of a German industrialist family with ties to Hitler’s regime. Spain restored an early 19th-century palace near the Prado Museum in Madrid in order to house the collection as the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza.

Claude asked the museum to return the painting to his family. It refused. He sued in U.S. federal court in 2005. The case has been moving through the courts ever since.

California passed its new law in response to the 9th Circuit ruling last year, which held that state law at the time required it to apply an archaic Spanish law. That measure dictates that the title to stolen goods passes legitimately to a new owner over time, if that owner wasn’t aware the goods were stolen when they acquired them — which the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection has argued makes its ownership of the painting legally sound.

In September 2024, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the new law during a small gathering with the families of Holocaust survivors at the Holocaust Museum LA. Lilly’s great-grandson and Claude’s son David Cassirer, who now lives in Colorado, was there, praising the state’s lawmakers for “taking a definitive stand in favor of the true owners of stolen art.”

In March, the Supreme Court in a brief order ruled that the 9th Circuit must reconsider its ruling in light of California’s new law.

In September, the Thyssen-Bournemisza Collection filed a motion asking the appellate court to rule in its favor once more. It put forward multiple arguments, but among them was that California’s new law was “constitutionally indefensible” and deprived the museum of its due process rights.

“Under binding Supreme Court precedent, a State may not, by legislative fiat, reopen time-barred claims and transfer property whose ownership is already vested,” the museum argued.

It said the U.S., under federal law, “does not seek to impose its property laws or the property laws of its own states on other foreign sovereigns, but rather expressly acknowledges that different legal traditions and systems must be taken into account to facilitate just and fair solutions with regard to Nazi-looted art cases.”

It said California’s law takes an “aggressive approach” that “disrupts the federal government’s efforts to maintain uniformity and amicable relations with foreign nations,” and “stands as an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of federal policy.”

David Cassirer, the lead plaintiff in the case since Claude’s death in 2010, argued the opposite in his own filing to the court.

Cassirer argued that California’s new law requires an outcome in his favor — which he said would also happen to be in line with “moral commitments made by the United States and governments worldwide, including Spain, to Nazi victims and their families.”

“It is undisputed that California substantive law mandates the award of title here to the Cassirer family, as Lilly’s heirs, of which Plaintiff David Cassirer is the last surviving member,” Cassirer’s attorneys wrote.

They wrote that California law holds that “a thief cannot convey good title to stolen works of art,” and therefore requires the return of the painting to Cassirer.

Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino), who sponsored the bill in the legislature, praised Bonta for stepping in to defend the law — which he called “part of a decades long quest for justice and is rooted in the belief that California must stand on the right side of history.”

When I broke into journalism years ago as a fledgling Whittier-based high school sports reporter, one of my favorite side hobbies was asking locals what made their city famous.

Downey was always an interesting test case.

Some said Downey’s claim to fame is the oldest standing McDonald’s, or the Stonewood Mall, with some students boasting the rivalry between Downey and Warren high schools. Some have also cited the title of the “Mexican Beverly Hills,” which I and colleague Gustavo Arellano have always considered more appropriate for Whittier.

What wasn’t mentioned enough about Downey, particularly among the high school-aged students I spoke with, was the city’s ties to the Space Shuttle program. It was somewhat remarkable given the city’s “Home of the Apollo” nickname.

Downey’s reputation, especially among its younger residents, may reset soon thanks to a groundbreaking this Monday to announce the latest upgrade to the Columbia Memorial Space Center, a space museum that opened in 2008.

Benjamin Dickow, the center‘s president and executive director, spoke with The Times about what to expect Monday and beyond.

What’s happening Monday?

Astronaut Garrett Reisman, former Rockwell International and Boeing employees and area dignitaries will take part in a groundbreaking for an about 40,000-square-foot expansion to the existing museum.

The museum’s centerpiece will be a 122-foot-long, 35-foot-tall Downey-made space shuttle mock-up named the “Inspiration,” which is not available yet for public display.

The event begins at 10 a.m., rain or shine, and is located at 12400 Columbia Way in Downey.

For more information, check out https://www.columbiaspacescience.org/

A rendering of the completed front entrance of the museum.

(Nadia Gonzalez, on behalf of the Columbia Memorial Space Center)

Space Center changes and expansion

Dickow said the center was in the middle of completing the first of three phases, to be finished before the L.A. Olympics.

“Once the major construction really gets going, it’s about an 18-month process,” he said, “but if something happens with the shuttle, it’s going to add some time.”

Part of the first phase began in October 2024, when the partially-covered wood and plastic model was paraded down Bellflower Boulevard from a city maintenance yard to a temporary housing unit.

The expansion, known as the Downey Space Shuttle Exhibit and Education Building, would include a new two-story, 29,000-square-foot space shuttle museum, event courtyard, STEM building and courtyard, children’s outdoor classroom, pavilion, lawn and other amenities.

The space shuttle mock-up is also undergoing a “process of rehab and refurbishment,” according to Dickow, but is in “generally great shape.”

“The main work is getting it ready for the public, where visitors will be able to enter and get a sense of what it’s like inside a space shuttle,” Dickow said.

Astronauts would typically access the flight deck, mid-deck and crew compartment through a hatch, according to Dickow.

According to renderings, guests will instead enter through a much more accessible stairwell that puts visitors inside a cargo bay.

A rendering of the space shuttle mock-up, dubbed “Inspiration,” at its place in the center of the museum expansion.

(Nadia Gonzalez, on behalf of the Columbia Memorial Space Center)

What is the mock-up and what’s its tie to Downey?

The shuttle mock-up’s history with Downey spans decades.

North American Rockwell International, now part of Boeing, built the prototype in 1972 at its Downey facility. The space shuttle became the world’s first reusable winged orbiting spaceship.

In total, 12,000 workers developed and manufactured the shuttle at the program’s peak on a sprawling 120-acre campus.

From April 12, 1981, through July 21, 2011, NASA fleets of shuttles flew 135 missions and helped build the International Space Station.

One of those shuttles — Endeavour — was hauled into the middle of its future home, the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center at Exposition Park, in January 2024.

That museum is also expected to be open before the Olympics.

“This is going to be something that the L.A. area will be able to show off to people from around the world and I want to make sure we’re a part of that,” Dickow said. “Downey and Southeast L.A. sometimes don’t get a lot of the spotlight and this is something that we’ll be able to put out there.”

The week’s biggest stories

Pedestrians cross the street in downtown Los Angeles under light rain on Friday.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

SoCal treads through stormy weather

Rebuilding after January fires

Opposition to immigration forces in California

A Sacramento corruption bombshell

• The federal fraud case against Gov. Gavin Newsom’s former chief of staff and other well-connected aides is entangled with one of California’s — and the country’s — most powerful political circles.
• Dana Williamson, who joined the governor’s office in early 2023 and departed late last year, was arrested Wednesday and faces charges of bank and tax fraud.

Explosive Epstein emails about Trump

• Donald Trump “knew about the girls” and “spent hours at my house,” Jeffrey Epstein wrote in emails.
• See what’s in the emails released by House Democrats on Wednesday.

More big stories

This week’s must-read

More great reads

For your weekend

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

Going out

Staying in

L.A. Timeless

A selection of the very best reads from The Times’ 143-year archive.

Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team

Jim Rainey, staff reporter
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, fast break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
June Hsu, editorial fellow
Andrew J. Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to [email protected]. Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on latimes.com.

The largest work of art in the Los Angeles area by a woman might just be a museum.

The Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena is covered almost entirely in 115,000 hand-crafted architectural tiles created by ceramicist Edith Heath in 1969. Those tiles, affixed to the facade of a curvilinear building designed by architects Thornton Ladd and John Kelsey, have recently been cleaned and refurbished as part of a $15-million renovation designed to reintroduce the underappreciated museum to the public by making its exterior match the quality and beauty of the rare art inside.

The Heath tile is one of Norton Simon’s “superpowers,” said project architect Liz MacLean, a principal at the firm Architectural Resources Group, which specializes in historic preservation. “I think people drive by this museum all the time and have no idea that it’s clad with Edith Heath tile.”

Edith Heath attaching her tiles to the Norton Simon Museum in 1969. Heath would go on to be the first non-architect to win the Industrial Arts Medal from the American Institute of Architects for her work on the building.

(The Brian and Edith Heath Foundation and the Environmental Design Archives, UC Berkeley)

It’s not just the tile made by a groundbreaking ceramicist and innovator of midcentury modern tableware that people often drive by without recognizing — it’s the museum itself, said Norton Simon Vice President of External Affairs Leslie Denk.

The 85,000-square-foot museum — housing a private collection of 12,000 objects including work by Rembrandt, Degas, Picasso, Fragonard, Goya and Vuillard — and its 79,000-square-foot sculpture garden, dotted with work by Jacques Lipchitz, Henry Moore and Robert Morris, are situated on a steeply graded wedge of land girded by bustling Colorado Boulevard, and the traffic-snarled 134 Freeway, near where it meets the 210.

The new signage at the entrance of the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena. Improving the curb appeal of the museum was the original goal of the renovation, which expanded to include refurbishing the Heath tiles and beloved sculpture garden.

(Etienne Laurent / For The Times)

The signage signaling the museum’s presence along one of Pasadena’s busiest thoroughfares was underwhelming and easy to miss, and the landscaping along Colorado Boulevard was overgrown and wide open. People would sometimes leave their shopping carts from a nearby Ralphs grocery store beside the entrance, not seeming to notice it at all. They also seemed unaware that French artist Auguste Rodin’s famed 1880 sculpture “The Thinker” had been sitting contemplatively along the street for decades — in a spot that no one appeared to realize was open to the public.

The sculpture was originally placed beside the main Norton Simon sign so that it would be visible to cameras filming the Rose Parade, but Denk said that when she recently watched a telecast, the sculpture was obscured by trees. That this iconic work was going unseen was representative of the museum’s problem as a whole.

Conversations about improving the Norton Simon’s curb appeal began a decade ago, said Denk, with the hope of unveiling new signage and entryways in time for the museum’s 50th anniversary celebration.

The space was built in the 1960s for what was originally called the Pasadena Art Museum, but that organization fell on rough times, and in 1974, industrialist Norton Simon — who had become a prominent art collector — took over the building, which reopened under his name in 1975. The last significant work on the museum — a $5-million renovation — was done in 1995 by architect and former museum trustee Frank Gehry.

The lobby of the Norton Simon Museum and its back garden pond, which was reduced in size and lined with concrete. It was also connected to a fountain that helps block the sound of nearby traffic.

(Etienne Laurent / For The Times)

Thirty years later, the need for more upgrades became paramount.

“What the museum was looking to do was to really improve our street presence, to elevate the way we present ourselves along Colorado Boulevard,” Denk explained. “There was a disconnect between the way we looked along the street to the experience of walking into the galleries.”

The renovation conceived to remedy this quandary naturally expanded to include a long-overdue restoration of the Heath tiles, as well as a refreshed sculpture garden with new resin-bound gravel pathways. A running fountain now connects to a concrete-lined pond with a reduced footprint to invite more foot traffic and allow for more community events, and walls have been erected to block traffic noise from nearby freeways. Crucially, a new pedestrian-friendly entryway has been constructed, alongside welcoming podium signage with fencing and pole banners that gaily announce the museum to the public.

The work, which took a total of 10 months, was scheduled to start on Jan. 7 — the same day that wildfires began tearing through the Pacific Palisades and Altadena, which borders the museum to the north. The campus was locked down immediately and no smoke infiltrated the galleries, said Emily Talbot, vice president of collections and chief curator, but the sculpture garden looked as if a hurricane had torn through it.

The restoration took on added meaning in the days that followed, Talbot said.

“This building’s design was intended to be in dialogue with the mountains, and so its preservation now just feels all the more significant and important,” she said.

Project architect Liz MacLean, from left, Norton Simon Museum Vice President of External Affairs Leslie Denk and Vice President of Collections and Chief Curator Emily Talbot. “It really is a work of art,” MacLean said of the Heath tiles that cover the building.

(Etienne Laurent / For The Times)

The mottled brownish-red of the Heath tiles is a huge part of that environmental dialogue, and on a recent sun-soaked Friday they shone with a radiant luster under an azure sky. Before the restoration they were cracked and dirty — some had fallen off altogether and others were marred by biological growth. ARG began the process of identifying which tiles needed the most remediation by doing a photorealistic laser scan of the building that MacLean described as a sort of high-tech x-ray.

Twelve artisans at Heath Ceramics, which still operates in the Bay Area, created 3,000 new tiles by hand. The process was complicated, MacLean and Denk note, because the workers had to re-create the tiles with a new formula. The original included materials like lead, which can no longer be used. So they had to test out different processes of glazing in order to make the tone and texture match the old tiles as closely as possible. They ended up using a two-part glaze and also created an entirely new mold since the tiles are not a standard shape.

After the first pressing in the clay, the final tiles shrank about 12%, said MacLean, so the fabricators had to conduct many trials to get just the right size. There were places on the facade where a single tile needed to fit in the grout on the wall. This work was done by Gardena-based company KC Restoration, which retouched and treated each damaged or cracked tile with the type of care and attention to detail used by painting conservators, Denk said.

The entrance and lobby of the Norton Simon Museum. “Our collection is at the heart of everything we do,” said chief curator Emily Talbot.

(Etienne Laurent / For The Times)

“It’s interesting, because a lot of times building elements are seen as owned by the architect,” said MacLean of the Heath tiles. “And this is a finish done by someone outside of the architecture firm and architecture world, which is really exciting.”

Thanks to her work on the Norton Simon, Heath became in 1971 the first non-architect to win the Industrial Arts Medal from the American Institute of Architects, helping launch her career.

“It really is a work of art,” said MacLean. “It’s more than just a building.”

It’s also what’s inside that building, said Talbot, which is coming into focus with the 50th anniversary celebrations.

“Our collection is at the heart of everything that we do,” she said.

Fittingly, “The Thinker” has been moved to a prominent spot by the new pedestrian entrance, where everyone can see it — and take an obligatory selfie — on their way to the front doors.

I’M standing open-mouthed on the edge of the desert, south-west of Cairo, the magnificent Great Pyramid of Giza directly in front of me.

For 4,000 years it was the tallest structure on the planet, and it is the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still standing.

Here in Egypt at its base, with the heat of the afternoon sun radiating around me, I’m struck by its awesome scale and the astonishing human endeavour that constructed it in the desert 4,500 years ago.

Experts believe it took around 100,000 men 20 years to build this tomb for the ruling pharaoh Khufu, and mystery still surrounds the methods of its construction.

“Could they build this without belief? Could they build it without science? Could they build it without art?” says my tour guide, Dr Tarek Sarhan.

“Three things: Belief, science, art. This is the triangle of civilisation.”

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A short distance away on the Giza ­Plateau is the Great Sphinx — a colossal limestone statue of a mythical creature, part lion, part human.

Even with its nose missing, this enormous creature still cuts an imposing figure.

History courses through the foundations of this captivating site.

But my four-day trip to the Egyptian capital is characterised not just by the old, but by the new.

Just over a mile from the pyramids, the $1.2billion new Grand Egyptian Museum has finally opened more than two decades after work first started.

The enormous building, covering an area of 470,000 square metres, houses more than 50,000 artefacts — and the centre­piece of its collection will bring all 5,000-plus treasures from Tutankhamun’s tomb together for the first time.

Stepping through its pyramid-shaped entrance, the 3,200-year-old, 83-ton statue of Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II sits in GEM’s soaring central atrium.

Another striking set piece here is the museum’s Grand Staircase, punctuated by fascinating relics of some of ancient Egypt’s most important kings and queens.

I walk up, passing statues, columns, granite doorways and sarcophagi.

At the top, a vast window frames the three main pyramids of the Giza Plateau.

Here is where visitors will also find GEM’s 12 main galleries, but the main draw will always be the entire contents of the tomb of the boy king Tutankhamun, displayed together since it was first found by British Egyptologist Howard Carter.

The collection, of course, includes Tutankhamun’s spectacular gold mask, throne and chariots.

The collection, of course, includes Tutankhamun’s spectacular gold mask, throne and chariots

Standing in front of statues of kings and queens is only part of the picture.

At the city’s National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, I get to stand in front of their mummified bodies.

Located in the Old Cairo district of the city, this modern museum has a large and open exhibition space with artefacts spanning prehistoric times to the modern day.

But for its biggest draw, I have to descend to the underground Royal Mummies’ Hall.

This dark-walled, low-lit space is now the resting place of 20 royal mummies — 18 kings, including Ramses II, and two queens — displayed in glass cases.

Some of them are showcased with the coffins they were found in.

Sweet perfume fills the air

Shadows shift as visitors move through this superbly presented exhibition and there’s a sense that one of these mummified bodies might suddenly be reanimated.

There is certainly life to be found in Cairo’s vibrant Khan el-Khalili bazaar.

The intricate, linking alleyways of this open-air marketplace are lined with stalls selling everything from lanterns and ­candles to jewellery and figurines.

Colourful textiles and printed designs hang from walls and stands, and a sweet perfume fills the air.

Away from the buzz of the bazaar, the five-star Waldorf Astoria is an oasis of calm.

Located in the upmarket Heliopolis district, its high-ceiling, glass-walled curved atrium is part botanical garden, part chic Art Deco lounge.

There is certainly life to be found in Cairo’s vibrant Khan el-Khalili bazaar

My room here is spacious and quiet and the breakfast offering a lavish buffet selection with additional a la carte options and a pancake and French toast station.

EasyJet now offers year-round flights direct to Cairo’s Sphinx airport from Luton as well as a huge choice of packages with easyJet holidays.

If your visit here is brief, you won’t want to miss the sweeping and unforgettable views of this fascinating city from the citadel of Salah El Din.

This ancient fortification served as the seat of power in Egypt for 700 years and it remains one of Cairo’s major attractions.

Inside is the Mosque of Muhammad Ali with its stunning domes, towering minarets, ornate interior and huge central chandelier.

The vistas from this elevated position are wonderfully panoramic.

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As I take my transfer back to Sphinx along one of the city’s upgraded highways, I remember the words of my guide, Dr Tarek, in front of the Great Pyramid: “Egypt is a story with no end.”

Perhaps nowhere is this truer than in Cairo, which is building on its past as it looks to the future.

Los Angeles County Museum of Art management on Wednesday declined to voluntarily recognize the union its employees announced they were forming last week. This means LACMA United cannot move forward with collective bargaining efforts until it is formalized by a National Labor Relations Board election. Complicating matters further, NLRB activities — including elections — are on hold amid the federal government shutdown.

The disconnect between staff — a clear majority of whom signed union authorization cards — and management comes at a significant moment in the museum’s history as LACMA works tirelessly to open its $720-million David Geffen Galleries. The new home for its encyclopedic permanent collection, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Peter Zumthor, contains 110,000 square feet of gallery space and is scheduled to open to the public in April after more than a decade of planning, fundraising and building.

In a news release, the union noted that organizing efforts — in the works for more than two years — have taken on added urgency as workloads have increased in the face of opening the new building.

“Staff across departments — many performing demanding physical labor — are stretched thin as deadlines accelerate,” LACMA United wrote. “Without adequate protections, this pace is unsustainable and has already contributed to burnout and turnover among dedicated employees who deserve better from an institution they’ve helped build.”

The union’s organizing committee added in a statement, “We are disappointed that LACMA leadership has chosen to delay rather than embrace the democratic will of its workers. While the museum reimagines itself as a more collaborative, less hierarchical institution in its new David Geffen Galleries, it has declined to extend that same vision to its relationship with the very people who bring LACMA’s mission to life every day.”

“LACMA’s leadership has great respect for our team and for everyone’s right to make their own choice on this important issue,” Michael Govan, the museum’s director and chief executive, said in an email. “No matter the outcome, my commitment to our employees — to listen, to support them, and to continue building a strong and respectful workplace — remains unchanged.”

Management’s decision stands counter to those made by other cultural institutions across the city, including the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Academy Museum and the Natural History Museum, all of which voluntarily recognized their unions over the last six years.

LACMA United represents more than 300 workers from across all departments, including curators, educators, art installers, conservators, registrars, visitor services staff, facilities workers, researchers and designers. The union is asking for improved wages, benefits and working conditions in what has proved to be a challenging climate for museum workers across the county.

The union did not demonstrate at last week’s celebrity-packed LACMA Art + Film Gala, which was co-hosted by Leonardo DiCaprio and fashion designer Eva Chow, and raised more than $6.5 million in support of the museum and its programs.

MOST childhoods for Brits were made up of reading books like The BFG, Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Next year, you’ll be able to experience some true nostalgia as a new museum showcasing the work of famed illustrators, like Sir Quentin Blake, will open in the UK.

Sir Quentin Blake is well-known for illustrating lots of Roald Dahl’s books, as well as his own like the Mrs Armitage series.

Work is currently underway to open a £12.5 million centre called Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration.

It will be the “world’s largest dedicated space for illustration”, and the new attraction will be in Clerkenwell on a former waterworks site.

The buildings were once part of a network that supplied water across the city and was used for 400 years.

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Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration will open in May 2026, and it’s an attraction that has been 20 years in the making.

On the project, Sir Quentin said: “I have long dreamt of a permanent place with ‘illustration’ above the door, and now the amazing reality is that we have it.

“I am proud to think the centre has my name on it – illustration is a wonderful universal and varied language.

“Here we shall celebrate its traditions and welcome the astonishing diversity of visual language from across the world. Hurrah!”

Once open, the museum will have exhibitions that will feature rarely-seen works from all over the world.

Original illustrations from leading and emerging illustrators, including work loaned from Quentin Blake’s own archive, will be on show.

Also on the site will be free spaces, including public gardens, displays and an illustration library.

You can take a seat at the café which will serve up fresh food and drinks, and there will be a shop stocked with illustration gifts.

There will be illustrator residencies in London‘s oldest surviving windmill which is also on the old waterworks site in Clerkenwell.

Other events at the museum will be illustration workshops and learning programs.

Previously, the House of Illustration was in Granary Square from 2014 to 2020.

Plus, here are the 20 most-visited attractions in England that are completely free to enter.

And for even more activities, check out the top 15 UK attractions for 2025.

A famous Civil War-era photo of an escaped slave who had been savagely whipped. Displays detailing how more than 120,000 U.S. citizens of Japanese ancestry were forcibly imprisoned during WWII. Signs describing the effects of climate change on the coast of Maine.

In recent months, a small army of historians, librarians, scientists and other volunteers has fanned out across America’s national parks and museums to photograph and painstakingly archive cultural and intellectual treasures they fear are under threat from President Trump’s war against “woke.”

These volunteers are creating a “citizen’s record” of what exists now in case the administration carries out Trump’s orders to scrub public signs and displays of language he and his allies deem too negative about America’s past.

More than 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were forcibly relocated and incarcerated in camps during World War II, including these Japanese Americans seen at Manzanar in the Owens Valley in 1942.

(LA Library)

“My deepest, darkest fear,” said Georgetown University history professor Chandra Manning, who helped organize an effort dubbed Citizen Historians for the Smithsonian, is that the administration plans to “rewrite and falsify who counts as an American.”

In March, Trump issued an executive order entitled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” arguing that, over the past decade, signs and displays at museums and parks across the country have been distorted by a “widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history,” replacing facts with liberal ideology.

“Under this historical revision,” he wrote, “our Nation’s unparalleled legacy of advancing liberty, individual rights, and human happiness is reconstructed as inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed.”

He ordered the National Parks Service and The Smithsonian to scrub their displays of content that “inappropriately disparages Americans” living or dead, and replace it with language that celebrates the nation’s greatness.

The Collins Bible — a detailed family history recorded by Richard Collins, a formerly enslaved man — is seen at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.

(Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)

That’s when Manning’s colleague at Georgetown University, James Millward, who specializes in Chinese history, told her, “this seems really eerie,” Manning recalled. It reminded him of the Chinese Communist Party’s dictates to “tell China’s story well,” which he said was code for censorship and falsification.

So the professors reached out to friends and discovered that there were like-minded folks across the country working like “monks” in the Middle Ages, who painstakingly copied ancient texts, to photograph and preserve what they regarded as national treasures.

“There’s a human tradition of doing exactly this,” Manning said. “It feels gratifying to be a part of that tradition, it makes me feel less isolated and less alone.”

Jenny McBurney, a government documents librarian at the University of Minnesota, said she found Trump’s language “quite dystopian.” That’s why she helped organize an effort called Save Our Signs, which aims to photograph and preserve all of the displays at national parks and monuments.

The sprawling network includes Manzanar National Historic Site, where Japanese American civilians were imprisoned during the Second World War; Fort Sumter National Monument, where Confederates fired the first shots of the Civil War; Ford’s Theater National Historic Site in Washington, D.C., where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated; and the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Park.

It would be difficult to tell those stories without disparaging at least some dead Americans — such as the assassins John Wilkes Booth and James Earl Ray — or violating Trump’s order to focus on America’s “unmatched record of advancing liberty, prosperity and human flourishing.”

At Acadia National Park in Maine, where the rising sun first hits the U.S. coast for much of the year, signs describing the effect of climate change on rising seas, storm surge and intense rain have already been removed.

McBurney doesn’t want volunteers to try to anticipate the federal government’s next moves and focus only on displays they think might be changed, she wants to preserve everything, “good, bad, negative or whatever,” she said in a recent interview. “As a librarian, I like complete sets of things.”

And if there were a complete archive of every sign in the national park system in private hands — out of the reach of the current administration — there would always be a “before” picture to look back at and see what had changed.

“We don’t want this information to just disappear in the dark,” McBurney said.

Another group, the Data Rescue Project, is hard at work filling private servers with at-risk databases, including health data from the Centers for Disease Control, climate data from the Environmental Protection Agency and the contents of government websites, many of which have been subject to the same kind of ideological scrubbing threatened at parks and museums.

Both efforts were “a real inspiration,” Manning said, as she and Millward pondered what they could do to contribute to the cause.

Then, in August, apparently frustrated by the lack of swift compliance with its directives, the Trump administration sent a formal letter to Lonnie G. Bunch III, the first Black Secretary of the Smithsonian, setting a 120-day limit to “begin implementing content corrections.”

Days later, President Trump took to Truth Social, the media platform he owns, to state his case less formally.

“The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL,” he wrote, “everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been.”

Even though the Smithsonian celebrates American astronauts, military heroes and sports legends, Trump complained that the museums offered nothing about the “success” and “brightness” of America, concluding with, “We have the “HOTTEST” Country in the World, and we want people to talk about it.”

People visit the Smithsonian Museum of American History on the National Mall in Washington.

(Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press)

Immediately, Manning and Millward knew where they would focus.

They sent emails to people they knew, and reached out to neighborhood listservs, asking if anyone wanted to help document the displays at the 21 museums that make up the Smithsonian Institution — including the American History Museum and the Natural History Museum — the National Zoo and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Within about two weeks, they had 600 volunteers. Before long, the group had grown to over 1,600, Manning said, more people than they could assign galleries and exhibitions to.

“A lot of people feel upset and kind of paralyzed by these repeated assaults on our shared resources and our shared institutions,” Manning said, “and they’re really not sure what to do about it.”

With the help of all the volunteers, and a grad student, Jessica Dickenson Goodman, who had the computer skills to help archive their submissions, the Citizen Historians project now has an archive of over 50,000 photos and videos covering all of the sites. They finished the work Oct. 12, which was when the museums closed because of the government shutdown.

After several media outlets reported on the order to remove the photo of the whipped slave from the Fort Pulaski National Monument in Georgia — citing internal emails and people familiar with deliberations who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly — administration officials described the reports as “misinformation” but declined to specify which part was incorrect.

A National Parks Service spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

But the possibility that the administration is considering removing the Scourged Back photo is precisely what has prompted Manning, and so many others, to dedicate their time to preserving the historical record.

“I think we need the story that wrong sometimes exists and it is possible to do something about it,” Manning said.

The man in the photo escaped, joined the Union army, and became part of the fight to abolish slavery in the United States. If a powerful image like that disappears from public display, “we rob ourselves of the reminder that it’s possible to do something about the things that are wrong.”

When Los Angeles County Museum of Art director Michael Govan first stepped up to the podium at the museum’s star-packed 14th annual Art + Film Gala, the Dodgers were down one point to the Toronto Blue Jays in the eighth inning of the final game of the World Series.

There was no giant screen in the massive tent where a decadent dinner was being served Saturday night in celebration of honorees artist Mary Corse and director Ryan Coogler. Instead guests in elaborate gowns and tuxedos discreetly glanced at their phones propped on tables and at the base of flower vases across the star-packed venue. This became apparent when Miguel Rojas hit a game-tying home run at the top of the ninth inning and the whole room erupted in cheers.

Michael Govan, CEO of LACMA, wearing Gucci, speaks onstage during the 2025 LACMA Art+Film Gala.

(Amy Sussman / Getty Images for LACMA)

When Govan returned to the stageto begin the well-deserved tributes to the artist and filmmaker of the hour, the game had been won, the effusive cheering had died down, and the phones had been respectfully put away.

“Go Dodgers!” Govan said, before joking that LACMA had engineered the win for this special evening. The room was juiced.

It made Los Angeles feel like the center of the universe for a few hours and was fitting for an event that famously brings together the city’s twin cultural bedrocks of art and cinema, creating a rarefied space where the two worlds mix and mingle in support of a shared vision of recognizing L.A.’s immeasurable contributions to the global cultural conversation.

“This is a celebration that can only happen in L.A. — where art, film and creativity are deeply intertwined,” Govan said. “I always say this is the most creative place on Earth.”

The event raised a record $6.5 million in support of the museum and its programs. Co-chairs Leonardo DiCaprio and LACMA trustee Eva Chow hosted a cocktail party and dinner that drew celebrities including Dustin Hoffman, Cynthia Erivo, Cindy Crawford, Queen Latifah, Angela Bassett, Lorde, Demi Moore, Hannah Einbinder, Charlie Hunnam and Elle Fanning alongside local elected officials and appointees including U.S. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Los Angeles); L.A. County Supervisors Holly Mitchell and Lindsey Horvath; L.A. Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky; West Hollywood Councilmember John M. Erickson, and Kristin Sakoda, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture.

Sakoda said she thoroughly enjoyed the festivities “as representative of the incredibly diverse culture of Los Angeles and how that speaks to our entire nation.”

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1. George Lucas arrives at the LACMA Art + Film Gala on Saturday. (Jordan Strauss / Invision via Associated Press) 2. Elle Fanning arrives at the LACMA Art + Film Gala on Saturday. (Jordan Strauss / Invision via Associated Press) 3. Angela Bassett arrives at the LACMA Art + Film Gala on Saturday. (Jordan Strauss / Invision via Associated Press)

A special nod of gratitude went to previous gala honorees in attendance including artists Mark Bradford, James Turrell, Catherine Opie, Betye Saar, Judy Baca, George Lucas and Park Chan-Wook. Leaders from many other local arts institutions also showed up including the Hammer Museum’s director, Zoe Ryan; California African American Museum Director Cameron Shaw; and MOCA’s interim Director Ann Goldstein.

Rising in the background was LACMA’s new David Geffen Galleries, the 110,000-square-foot Peter Zumthor-designed building scheduled to open in April as the new home for the museum’s 150,000-object permanent collection.

“Every day I’m in that little building behind installing thousands of artworks,” Govan said to cheers. “I can’t wait for people to rediscover our permanent collection, from old favorites to new acquisitions. It’s a monumental gift to L.A., and in addition to L.A. County and the public, I would like to thank the person whose generosity brought us to this landmark moment, Mr. David Geffen.”

Geffen sat in a sea of black ties and glittering gowns, near Disney CEO Bob Iger and DiCaprio — who had been filmed earlier in the week in attendance at Game 5 of the World Series at Dodger Stadium.

Govan also gave a special acknowledgment to former LACMA board co-chair, Elaine Wynn, who died earlier this year and was one of the museum’s most steadfast champions. Wynn contributed $50 million to the new building — one of the first major gifts in support of the effort. Govan noted that the northern half of the building will be named the Elaine Wynn wing.

Honoree Ryan Coogler, wearing Gucci, speaks onstage during the 2025 LACMA Art+Film Gala.

(Amy Sussman / Getty Images for LACMA)

Left unmentioned was the fact that earlier in the week LACMA’s employees announced they are forming a union, LACMA United, representing more than 300 workers from across all departments, including curators, educators, guest relations associates and others. One worker told The Times there were no plans to demonstrate at the gala, which raises much-needed funds for the museum.

The crowd sat rapt as the night’s guests of honor, Corse and Coogler, humbly spoke of their journeys in their respective art forms, with Govan introducing them as “artists whose brilliant groundbreaking work challenges us to see the world differently.”

The night concluded with an enthusiastic performance by Doja Cat on an outdoor stage in the shadow of the David Geffen Galleries, the lights girding its massive concrete underbelly like stars in the sky.

“It was a beautiful evening of community coming together around something that reminds us of our shared humanity at a time when we need it,” said Yaroslavsky with a smile as the evening wound down.

Nov. 1 (UPI) — The Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, Egypt, is one of the world’s largest and opened on Saturday after decades of delays and a cost of more than $1 billion.

The 5 million-square-foot museum features exhibits and artifacts ranging across 7,000 years, from prehistory to about 400 A.D., according to CBS News.

It also is the world’s only museum that is dedicated to one culture, which is ancient Egypt.

“It’s a great day for Egypt and for humanity,” Nevine El-Aref told CBS News. “This is Egypt’s gift to the world.”

El-Aref is the media advisor to Egypt’s Tourism and Antiquities Minister Sherif Fathy.

“It’s a dream come true,” El-Aref added. “After all these years, the GEM is finally and officially open,” he said.

The triangular structure is located about a mile from the pyramids of Giza, which makes it a can’t miss for those who want to experience Egyptian antiquities up close with tours of the pyramids and a visit to the museum.

The GEM’s construction initially was budgeted for $500 million, but that price more than doubled over the past three decades amid delays and cost overruns.

Egyptian sources and international contributions covered the building cost.

The museum first was proposed in 1992, but significant events occurred between then and now, including the 2011 “Arab Spring” revolution in Egypt, a military coup d’etat in 2013 and the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, delaying its completion, CNN reported.

The GEM’s main entrance features a 53-foot-tall obelisk suspended overhead and is viewable from below via a glass floor.

A grand staircase containing 108 steps enables visitors to access the museum’s main galleries and view large statues from top to bottom.

The GEM has 12 main halls for exhibits and encompasses a combined 194,000 square feet that can hold up to 100,000 items, according to the museum.

The museum also two galleries that are dedicated to the pharaoh Tutankhamun and contain 5,300 pieces from his tomb, NBC News reported.

Those galleries and others will exhibit items that never have been made available for public viewing.

It’s also the first time that all of the young pharaoh’s items have been exhibited under the same roof since British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered King Tut‘s tomb in the Valley of the Kings in 1922.

The museum’s walls and slanted ceilings mimic the lines of the nearby pyramids, but the structure does not exceed them in height.

The museum’s opening prompted the Egyptian government to declare a national holiday on Saturday.

How it ranks with the world’s other iconic museums remains to be seen, but it likely will rank favorably with its unique collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts and other attractions.