Exhibitions
Current Exhibits
Braving Baja: 1000 Miles to Glory
May 04, 2013 - September 02, 2013
Summerlong exhibit of important Baja vehicles featuring artifacts of all sizes including significant motorcycles, trucks, buggies, clothing and ephemera. This never-before-seen collection of historic off-road racing vehicles will show where it all began and how it has evolved. To prove . . .
Fins: Form Without Function
February 23, 2013 - February 02, 2014
Today fins are remembered as the outward expression of American automotive design prowess during the height of postwar optimism. But they were first used far earlier than most would imagine. This exhibit, opening February 23, will feature more than a dozen vehicles ranging from icons . . .
Art Wall: Theodore W. Pietsch II
November 10, 2012 - November 03, 2013
Theodore W. Pietsch II was born on September 23, 1912, and grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. With an architect father and an uncle who was an avid racing fan and automobile dealer, Pietsch was heavily influenced from an early age by art, design and cars. In 1934, he began an . . .
Aerodynamics: From Art to Science
June 16, 2012 - May 27, 2013
During more than a century of innovation, automobile manufacturers have dreamed up some unusual body designs. From strange to stunning, the large majority of them were created in an effort to increase driving performance by reducing wind resistance. When a network of high-speed motorways . . .
Permanent Exhibits
The Vault
Tour schedule:
Weekdays: 11:00am and 3:00pm
Weekends & Holidays: 11:00am, 1:00pm, 3:00pm and 5:00pm
Tours may be scheduled by calling 323.964.6331 or visiting the admissions desk.
An additional ticket purchase of $25 is required and includes access to the Vault, as well as a guided . . .
Bruce Meyer Gallery: Hot Rods
Few vehicles evoke the spirit of Southern California motoring like hot rods. Though familiar to only a small number of enthusiasts before World War II, postwar magazines such as Hot Rod helped popularize them among teenagers, young adults, and returning servicemen. Eager to transform . . .
Otis Chandler Gallery: Motorcycles
Motorcycles and motorized trikes have long been a part of the Los Angeles motoring landscape. The Otis Chandler Gallery at the Petersen Automotive Museum celebrates these two- and three-wheeled engineering marvels by offering a look at some of the most unusual, desirable, and . . .
Discovery Center
The Discovery Center offers hands-on, interactive displays through which children learn about the science and culture of the automobile. Older kids can experiment with the physical sciences of automotive technology while younger gear heads can race model cars and build their own toy . . .
Hot Wheels
Hot Wheels cars revolutionized boys’ toys in 1968 with an original line of super-fast customized cars built for speed, power, and performance, wrapped in attitude. Now more than 40 years later, Hot Wheels is a global lifestyle brand that represents the coolest cars imaginable in scales . . .
Alternative Power
An adaptation of the Museum’s popular 2006 exhibition on the same subject, the exhibit Alternative Power: Lessons from the Past, Inspiration for the Future explores the history of automobile propulsion. Using the ubiquitous reciprocating internal combustion engine as a baseline for . . .
Hollywood Gallery: Cars of Film and Television
Cars and movies are among the most influential technologies of the twentieth century. Born in the same era, Hollywood and Detroit developed on parallel paths and rapidly achieved substantial economic and cultural power. Together, they revolutionized leisure time and came to symbolize . . .
The Streetscape: The Car and the City in Southern California
The Streetscape exhibit features historical displays that chronicle the evolution of the automobile and car culture in the 20th century. The lifelike dioramas are designed based on real places and people that existed throughout Southern California. The Streetscape begins with a blacksmith . . .