Autry National Center of the American West

Okay, so I’m not a fan of museum or tourist attraction gift shops. Or rather, I’ve never been convinced to spend 10 times what an item’s worth for a keepsake of dubious quality. By far your most important memories of a place are gonna be photos anyway, right? But given all that, I have to admit my walk through the Gene Autry National Center of the American West gift shop was pretty fun, even if my wallet was tied down and really not struggling that hard to break free.

The fun thing is that this place has a sense of humor; most of it is very subtle, since this place looks basically like any other gift shop attached to a museum. The most obvious sign is the groaner-but-still-chuckle-worthy clothing section: Ranch Dressing. In amongst all the usual boots and belt and bandanas--I guess anything that starts with B--the most intriguing item you see on entering is the Scully leather jackets, particularly the yellow ones, so buttery looking and feeling. This was about the only object in the place without a price tag, so don’t expect any sales here. But if you’re into that, I can’t imagine a more sensual-feeling piece of clothing that these jackets and vest; they had my fingers saying “Yum!”

Instead of the requisite post cards of the exhibit art you just saw, there are greeting cards, some of the quite lovely, even the Georgia O’Keefe’s {not a fan}. There’s also plenty of books, especially for kids, and again, if you look closely enough you’ll find they don’t take themselves too seriously with some of the titles. Another fixture of museum gift shops is music; in the exact middle of the place is a large column with racks of discs on all sides, as well as the headphones and players to sample them. There was a beautiful song on the sound system as I came in, but I forgot to ask who it was--the chorus had a repated lyric of “Lay Down Your Heart On Me,” so I’m gonna go look it up {somehow I don’t think it’s W.A.S.P.!}

The thing that did not make me laugh was the two display racks of animal fetishes, the kind I got at the UCLA pow-wow for three dollars. Here the exact same ones were $66.

And that is a perfect example of a museum gift shop. . .

{One thing I found odd, especially considering it was a weekend, was that the guy outside the gift shop, at the information desk, also ran in here to man the register when he saw someone at the counter. When I’d passed by on the way to the gift shop, after the museum, he’d scurried over to sell entry tickets as well, though when I came in there was an older lady at that desk. I supposed it’s possible that he was filling in for the other people while they were on break, because I can’t imagine they have one guy working the entire place, right?}

Like most museums, I flow mostly to the permanent exhibitions rather than the temporary specials, and the 2 current exhibits showing when I came here gave me no reason to change this practice. The first thing that caught my attention was a lonely sculpture all alone on the stairway. Up to then I didn’t know there was a lower level, but don’t forget to go down there, and also take in the architecture from every possible angle, it’s as amazing as the Getty’s in its own way. And not a Western way either.

Finally went across to the permanent collections, and let me tell ya, this is where it can be one of the most impressive art museums in the world. And I enjoy that it’s not just cowboys and Indians, anything that happened in the settlement of the West can qualify. And then there’s the gorgeous landscapes of waterfalls and Pueblo ruins and such. On the other hand, there’s plenty of cowboy stuff as well, my favorite being an entire wall ad of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. There was a neat little exhibit on Annie Oakley, whom I love, as well. There was even one of more than 300 casts of Bronco Buster, Remington’s first and most famous work; there was another one in the President exhibit.

After the art is a Hollywood mockup of an Old West town, followed by movie artifacts, especially posters. Some of these were truly fantastic, and I can’t imagine how much the Japanese print of “Dances With Wolves” would go for. And in the small alcove before the exit, just past the little theater, there’s more paintings, including a beautiful rendition of a ship in rough waters.

Time for the downstairs exhibits, where the stuff is more what you’d expect in a museum of the West, with plenty of big--prairie schooners and Gatling guns and stagecoaches--and little items on display, a lot of stuff that you wouldn’t think about. There’s also a running audio of diary entries about the trail west, most of them sad, as you’d expect. The biggest room had an old fire engine in the middle, but on both sides there were small displays dedicated to each of the large immigrant communities that helped build the West: off the top of my head I remember Native American, Mexican, Chinese, Mormon, Eastern European. . . and more.

The next room was a saloon, followed by the law enforcement gallery. Of course they had to have a whole show on the OK Corral, though you gotta give them kudos for telling it like it was--the event has been so overdone and blown out of proportion from the moment it happened. I particularly enjoyed the huge wall display of sheriff’s badges.
Next was all Cowboys all the time, but quite correctly concentrated on ranch life; there was even a display of different types of barbed wire. The last section was the family center, which I actually found the most intriguing. It was made by a blonde woman--there’s a video of her explaining it--who researched her family tree, found a Chinese branch, and discovered they had run a restaurant in El Lay in the 30s. This is a recreation of their house and business back then, and it’s really quite fascinating, except that I thought the appliances in the house looked more 1950s than 30s.

Beyond the stairs and another chance to get on a fake horse to get your picture taken is Trails West, a tiny but seemingly bigger-than-it-is outdoor area, with a stagecoach you can climb into pressed against the glass wall and a general store next to it. As you walk around the edges you come to a lovely little waterfall, unfortunately throwing some humidity into the heat mix, especially after the very cooling inside of the museum. There’s a display of rocks, believe it or not, including a mockup of the famous Vasquez Rocks, where tons of TV shows, nowadays mostly sci-fi, have been filmed. Then you get to the little lake in the middle, fed by previously stated waterfall, with koi trying to swim upstream!

Okay, one final section to look through, the “Heritage Court.” Back inside, this airy courtyard is nothing more than one long mural wrapping around the three walls, but it’s seriously beautiful. In chronological order, it starts with cave paintings and dinosaur hunt--not really, it‘s a mastadon--and goes all the way to the movies, including an exquisite Grace Kelly from my fave Western, High Noon. I am not joking when I tell ya I shot literally every inch of it.
If you’ve ever been interested in the history of the old west, this is a must. If you like watching the occasional Western on TV, come see this. And even if you’re not into any of that, ya’ll’re bound to find somethin’ here that’ll tickle your fancy.

Dang, now I got to make myself stop talking like that. . .

Note: the museum is free to veterans, active military, and peace officers {not firemen?}