The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA)

For $5 (with student ID - I think only $8 regular price) you can see the Murakami exhibit going on until Feb 2008 at the Geffen Contemporary branch of the MOCA.

Murakami is probably best known for his colorful contribution to the latest collection of Louis Vuitton bags. His company, KaiKai and Kiki does stuff from paraphernalia to cartoons.

This was one of the coolest exhibits I've ever seen - and there's a short multimedia exhibit of one of Murakami's cartoons that is imaginative, explosive and fun. This is a good description of his art - joyful, imaginative, colorful and fun. This is a must visit for a definite good time. However, crazy foreign trade buff that I am, all I could think of when watching the cartoon (which centered around growing watermelons) all I could think of was "this is outright agricultural propaganda! I would not be surprised if the government sponsored this!" Oh boy...

The Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art is one museum with three locations in LA proper. The Grand Avenue space and the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA are located in downtown Los Angeles while the Pacific Design Center is situated in the middle of West Hollywood.

The Geffen Contemporary was converted from its past as a hardware store, warehouse, garage to its present form as a museum gallery by world-renowned architect, Frank O. Gehry whose previous projects include Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles.

The exterior of the Geffen Contemporary is plain and unassuming. A red steel beamed frame work does double duty to outline a “courtyard” space complete with simple and modern-styled tables and chairs as well as provide posts for banners and signs. The interior space has high ceilings, exposed beams, lots of natural light entering through the many skylights.

The Geffen Contemporary is adjacent to the Japanese American National Museum Pavilion and Japanese American National Museum's landmark Historic Building. To get to the Geffen Contemporary just walk through the Japanese American National Museum’s plaza.

Visit Tips

The website says to park at Advanced Parking System lot on the corner of 1st Street and Central Avenue for $5 uncovered and often is packed. I suggest a better plan—park in the covered parking structure for the Japanese Village Plaza. Parking here can cost a max of $8 BUT explore the Japanese Village Plaza to buy food or merchandise and get parking validations for discounts on your parking stay. My parking cost $1.25…which was a bargain for about 3 hours parking in downtown!

Admission is FREE for all MOCA venues every Thursday from 5pm to 8pm


Each museum location has different days closed so check the website for hours of operation.

General Admission: $8
Students with I.D.: $5
Seniors (65+): $5
Children under 12: Free
MOCA Members: Free