The annual "Museums of the Arroyo Day" in Pasadena and Los Angeles will be Sun., May 16, from 11 AM to 4 PM.
Five history-based museums that focus on preserving and perpetuating early Los Angeles life will remain open, free of charge, throughout “Museums of the Arroyo Day.” Participating museums include Heritage Square, the Los Angeles Police Historical Society Museum and the Lummis Home and Garden in Los Angeles, plus the Gamble House and Pasadena Museum of History in Pasadena.The free event will include ongoing shuttle service between the 5 participating museums.
“Our theme for this year, our 21st anniversary, is ‘Women in Early Los Angeles,’” explains Jessica Maria Alicea-Covarrubias of Heritage Square, whose museum is premiering an exhibit celebrating the 90th anniversary of the Women’s Suffrage movement this June and who plans to have suffragettes take part in Heritage Square’s festivities for Museums of the Arroyo Day.
In addition, the LA Police Historical Society Museum will pay tribute to the first policewoman in the United States – Alice Stebbins Wells, who joined the LAPD on September 12, 1910 – while the Pasadena Museum of History will present “Pasadena Patron: The Life and Legacy of Eva Scott Fenyes," an artist and arts patron who arrived in Pasadena in 1896 and has been likened to Isabella Stewart Gardner in Boston and Peggy Guggenheim in New York. Exhibition highlights will include items from the Fenyes collection never before on public display.
A number of the museums will also present an array of events and festivities developed especially for Museums of the Arroyo Day. These will range from a vintage doll display, blacksmiths working at their craft and frontier reenactments courtesy of the Western Educators, Shooters and Troopers at Heritage Square to a performance of music from the 1900s by Ian Whitcomb and the Bungalow Boys – plus a program, led by Cultural Historians in Residence, Walter and Sheila Nelson, called “Mind Your Manners” on etiquette and social customs of the era – at the Pasadena Museum of History.
“A big favorite with kids of all ages, from two to 92, is our police helicopter, which is on permanent display,” adds Glynn Martin, Executive Director of the Los Angeles Police Historical Society Museum. John Buntin, bestselling author of LA Noir, will appear at the museum during MOTA Day as well.
With free and continuous shuttle service running between museums, visitors have the option of parking their cars once and then shuttling to the museums of their choice. Visitors can also take the Gold Line, exiting the train at the Heritage Square stop then catching shuttles to the other museums.
“You can read about Los Angeles’ history in books,” concludes Alicea-Covarrubias. “But there’s nothing quite like attending Museums of the Arroyo Day and feeling like you’ve traveled back in time to be part of it.”
For more information on Museums of the Arroyo Day, visit www.museumsofthearroyo.com or call the MOTA hotline number at 213.740.TOUR (8687).
