Los Angeles = Museum Town?

You know how "those people" say that "LA lacks a sense of culture?" Well, for one, we do have our share of museums. There's the requisite Natural History and Children's museums; the acronymic art museums: LACMA, MOCA and MONA; The Getty and The Other Getty; the California ScienCenter as well as a Museum of Jurassic Technology, among many others.

Well, in the next couple of weeks, add two more, both located in Downtown Los Angeles - the South Park (no, not that South Park) district, specifically.

The GRAMMY Museum opens December 6 at L.A. LIVE, also home to CLUB Nokia, which, as we all know, is across the street from STAPLES Center. Come to think of it, maybe that part of town should be renamed the CAPS LOCK District.

At first, the Militant was puzzled what exactly would appear in a Gramm, er, GRAMMY Museum. Aftr all, don't the winners keep their own awards? Oh wait, maybe the surrendered 1990 Grammy from these guys might be on display!

But in actuality, the 30,000 square-foot museum, according to its WEBSITE (okay, the Militant will stop now...), describes it as an institution that "explores and celebrates the enduring legacies of all forms of music; the creative process; the art and technology of the recording process; and the history of the GRAMMY Awards." So, expect it to highlight the recording studio -- from Les Paul's multitrack wonders to Phil Spector's Wall Of Sound to Quincy Jones' thrilling productions, right up to today's state-of-the-art digital technology that artificially makes Britney Spears' voice stay in tune.

Not too much far south is the Los Angeles Sports Museum, which was featured in today's Los Angeles Times Sports section. This one opens just days from now, on November 28. At 32,000 square feet it's roughly the same size as the GRAMMY Museum.

Now, if the Militant were to make a "Los Angeles Sports Museum," wanna take a stab as to what it's gonna have? Okay, besides all the Dodger memorabilia...No, seriously, it's probably going to have exhibits and mementos from decades of professional sports, two Olympiads, remanants of sports teams of the past - from the Hollywood Stars baseball team to the Rams and the Raiders, and heck, even the L.A. Extreme. It would also feature famous Angeleno athletes, from Robinson to Drysdale to Elway to Tiger to Kwan to the Williams Sisters...right?

Well apparently, for this "Los Angeles Sports Museum," not so much. Yes, there's a plethora of Dodgerabilia, though apparently it's from the time they wore the "B" on the caps. There's even sections devoted to the Yankees and Red Sox, for goodness sakes(?!?!) So yeah, tell the Militant about it, this museum is somewhat of a letdown. It's really less of a true homage to Los Angeles athletica than Some Dude's Sports Memorabilia Collection on display (for the nice price of $17.50 a head).

Oh well. If you really wanna see that $2.6 million Honus Wagner baseball card, this so-called Los Angeles Sports Museum is located near Washington Blvd. and Main Street.

Militantwise, both of these museums will be easily accessible via the (M) Blue Line -- the GRAMMY Museum is a few steps away from the Pico/Chick Hearn station and Some Dude's Sports Memorabilia Collection At $17.50 A Pop is just a short walk from the Grand Station. So don't none of you beyatch and whine about not finding any parking.