Petersen Automotive Museum

Petersen Automotive Museum

About

If there is one thing that we all have in common, especially in Southern California, it’s the automobile. To some the automobile is an appliance, but to us it is a passion. The Petersen Automotive Museum has been celebrating this passion since 1994 on the corner of Fairfax Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard, the third most travelled intersection in the city of Los Angeles. It anchors one end of the famed “Miracle Mile” created by real estate developer A.W. Ross in 1936. Created in a time before shopping malls, the Miracle Mile centralized shopping in the area and was “The” place to go for high end shopping. Wilshire was also home to various “firsts” including dedicated left-turn lanes and the first timed traffic lights in the United States. Ross also required merchants to provide automobile parking lots behind their stores, all to aid traffic flow.

The Museum’s unforgettable architecture by world renowned architect, Welton Becket was cutting edge when the building was opened in 1962 as Seibu, a Japanese department store. When Seibu left the United States in 1965, Ohrbach’s moved into the building and it became a popular local shopping spot until its closing in 1986. The building stood vacant for approximately 6 years until inspiration struck the late Robert E. Petersen, who was looking for a consolidated headquarters for Petersen Publishing. Upon further investigation, he decided that the near-windowless structure would not be the best choice for an office building, but it would make an excellent museum. To preserve the Museum’s artifacts inside, they need to keep away from the sun’s damaging ultraviolet rays.

Seeing the building’s true potential as an automotive-inspired educational institution, Mr. and Mrs. Petersen put forth a large portion of the money necessary to create the Petersen Automotive Museum. The Museum was to be much more than a large room filled with cars parked in rows like an indoor parking lot. From the beginning, the vehicles chosen for exhibition had to be displayed in context to give them real meaning and a better experience for all who would come to visit. The “Streetscape” was full of architectural elements that were period correct for the vehicles that surrounded them, immersing visitors deep into the stories that were told. The second floor featured rotating exhibit areas and the third floor featured the Discovery Center which taught art and science through the automobile to children of all ages.

Company type: 
Employer
Industry: 
Motorsport
Wanted occupational fields: 
Operations Manager, Executive Assistant, Marketing Specialist, Customer Manager

Address information

6060 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036
Los Angeles, CA 90036
United States

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