The following story appeared in the Park Labrea News and Beverly Press 70th Anniversary issue, published April 21. To view the entire issue, click here.

(photo by Patricia Sanchez)

In December, the Petersen Automotive Museum re-engineered itself and unveiled a façade as sleek and sexy as a lightning fast sports car.

Ferrari, Porsche, BMW, Ford, Jaguar, Bugatti, Cadillac and “Greased Lightning” have auto enthusiasts lining up to get a glimpse of these beauties.

People connect with certain vehicles for how they make you feel. Cars in movies, on racetracks, highways or back roads represent power, speed, style and class. Sometimes it’s about showing off, other times it’s about getting the job done or taking a family vacation. A car can be a tool for seemingly infinite transportation or an extension of who you are and what you’re doing. And everyone knows that feeling of driving YOUR car on the highway in the summer with the windows down.

A visit to the new Petersen gives you the same feeling as driving your first car or perhaps your dream car. It’s a destination for the car expert or the novice enthusiast. It’s romantic and elegant, flashy and classy. It looks to the future of automobiles while keeping a clear eye on the past in the rear view mirror. And considering Angelenos’ relationship with automobiles, the Petersen Automotive Museum is the city’s new flagship on Museum Row.

“Southern California grew out, not up. And that’s because of the car,” said Peter Mullin, chairman of the museum’s board of directors, at the Petersen’s grand re-opening. “Every other major city grew up, we went out. More than 150 manufacturers made cars in Los Angeles since the early 1900s. So this is truly a car capital of the world right here. Wilshire Boulevard is truly the center of Los Angeles. The building we’re standing in is truly the entryway to Museum Row. So if you could write the perfect script on a blank piece of paper, that’s what you’d write down.”

When the all-new Petersen reopened after a 14-month, $90 million renovation, it made more than a statement with a fiery red building and steel “ribbon” exterior. The Petersen’s redesign also signaled the beginning of a decade of complete transformation of Museum Row. In the next eight years, the Academy Museum and LACMA will follow the Petersen with new facilities on Wilshire Boulevard.

“If you look at the progression of the major transformations that are in play for Museum Row, you could say – excuse the pun – that the starting flag has dropped,” said Adam Langsbard, chief marketing officer for the Petersen.

Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates designed the new building, and Langsbard said it was the first submitted proposal that developed from a casual conversation and quickly became a reality. But the redesign brought so much more than a sleek exterior. The transformation inside, from department store to state-of-the-art car sanctuary, has set a new standard for the museum model and experience.

The silver 1993 Duesenberg at the Petersen is part of the visitor-favorite Precious Metal display – an exhibit valued at more than $120 million.
(photo by Gregory Cornfield)

“One of the things that we wanted to hit was to live up to the moniker of ‘ultimate automotive experience,’” Langsbard said. “Museum experiences are traditionally very passive. It’s a slow saunter around an object and then you share your opinion and discuss. Instead, we want to give you as much touch and feel as possible. And it’s very visual.”

A visit to the Petersen is unique and unlike a typical museum visit. It matches the best experiences found in a car: cool, fast, sexy, powerful, elegant, beautiful, and most of all fun. Visitors remember why they fell in love with cars in the first place when they see Steve McQueen’s green 1956 Jaguar XKSS. Turn around from McQueen’s car, and you see one of the less-promoted treasures of the museum – a collection of past photos of Petersen staff members posing with the first cars that made them fall in love with the industry.

“What we want to celebrate is the everyman of automobiles,” Langsbard said. “You don’t have to walk in here with a boat load of knowledge. If your idea of car enthusiasm is driving with the top down, we’ve got that for you too. You could be into racing, history, art deco cars, alternative power, you could be into cars that are art.”

The touch and feel aspect is seen throughout the museum. Every floor has a signature exhibit with a video component and elements that Langsbard said would not have been found in the old museum. For example, at one exhibit, visitors can check out the latest Ford GT – the same model that will be used in the world-famous 24 Hours of Le Mans race in France this year. Then on the same floor, you can sit behind the wheel of that same model in the Forza Motorsport 6 racing simulator, where visitors can race each other on the Le Mans track. At the motorsports exhibit, visitors are virtually transported to a day at the racetrack, with perspectives of the fans, crews and drivers on an immersive 134-foot, 180-degree projection wall that makes you feel the race fly by. The interactive Pixar “Cars” Mechanical Institute uses augmented reality to teach children how cars work on “CARSpad” tablets. Visitors can design and race their own virtual cars as they move throughout the galleries on the second floor. There are exhibits that break down the entire process of manufacturing a modern car, from raw materials to the finished product. At the Roeder-Harman Gallery, visitors learn that every car on the road represents the work of thousands of individuals. Designers, engineers, marketers and more all work in concert to produce today’s automobile and visitors can hear their stories with interactive video displays. The second floor is also where visitors can view automotive students from the Art Center College of Design Studio sketch and mold models at a satellite teaching space.

The new features of ultimate automotive experience have caught on quick. Langsbard said after approximately 115 days, more than 145,000 people visited the revamped destination. The Petersen also set a new single day record with more than 3,400 people – more than double the attendance of the previous building’s best day.

“It’s truly been phenomenal,” Langsbard said. “We have been better received by the public than we ever could have imagined.”

The new museum is also seeing broader audiences and wider demographics. The old museum was geared toward the “car junkie,” while the new museum is attracting families, school field trips and people visiting on their own. But that’s not to say it isn’t heaven for motor heads.

If the cars in the exclusive and legendary vault – hidden below the Petersen’s main floor – could talk they’d spin tales of presidents, celebrities and more. The Petersen’s vault houses over 120 rare and legendary vehicles, making a tour feel like a visit to the Petersen 2.0 with the purchase of an additional ticket.

(photo by Gregory Cornfield)

“The Petersen is home to over 400 vehicles, some are part of the permanent collection and many more are on loan from private collectors, museums and manufacturers around the world,” said executive director of the Petersen, Terry Karges. “Even after the renovation when we opened up the third floor as a display space, we only have room for 135 cars on display in the museum. That leaves over 300 vehicles we cannot display in the museum – all with incredible stories that need telling. Our new vault experience will take visitors on private tours led by gifted storytellers, where they can walk the aisles and see 125 of the best cars from the collection in our secure underground facility. It’s quite an experience.”

The vault includes a 1952 Hudson Wasp originally owned by actor Steve McQueen, a 24-karat gold-plated DeLorean, several head-of-state cars including the Chrysler Imperial that served President Eisenhower, a variety of movie and television “star cars,” and the largest gathering of “America’s Most Beautiful Roadster” award winners in history, including a 1964 Porsche 901 and 1952 Ferrari 212/225 Barchetta. While visitors gather around some of the best cars in the world in the vault, mechanics are also working on new additions to the collection or refurbishing classics so they are ready for the showrooms upstairs or off-campus car shows, and they are always ready for the road. (Just don’t expect to see too many cars from the collection cruising down Wilshire Boulevard.)

“It’s in the DNA of the museum to have cars that run,” Langsbard said. “That can require year-round maintenance, from taking apart an engine to a tune up.”

The exhibits on the museum’s three main floors are each dedicated to history, industry and artistry of the automobile, totaling 95,000 square feet of exhibit space.

On the floor dedicated to the automobile industry, the museum shows how automobile design has evolved for speed and efficiency, and includes some of the fastest cars of all time. Exotic and rare cars finished in silver, including a 1936 Duesenberg and a 1967 Ferrari 625/250 Testa Rossa, are visitor magnets at the Precious Metal gallery – a $120 million exhibit.

(photo by Gregory Cornfield)

On the “Artistry” floor, the masterful “Rolling Sculptures” speak for themselves. It’s the floor dedicated to some of the most powerful, beautiful and rare cars in the collection. As automobiles became commonplace during the 1920s, manufacturers created car bodies that embraced “artistic principles that spoke to broader design movements.” It starts with Jean Bugatti’s beautiful blue masterpiece 1936 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic, which is a work of art whether you’ve ever seen a car or not. But the Armand Hammer Foundation Gallery is the Petersen’s closest link between the automobile and fine art with the BMW Z4 and other “art cars.” Artists covered the car’s tires with paint to use the vehicle as a paintbrush. An accompanying video shows the driver spinning around on a large canvas on the ground to create the work of art. The exhibits also feature works from Alexander Calder, David Hockney and Robin Rhode.

The level dedicated to history shows how automobile ownership increased through the 1930s, and so did the early imagination of the industry’s first trendsetters. Exhibits transition through to the 1960s when automobiles embodied attitude, style and freedom. In Los Angeles, the conversation with cars must include film. From the Pontiac Aztec featured in “Breaking Bad,” to the Continental featured in “Entourage,” the Hollywood gallery presents the coolest cars from movie and television history. The Petersen also still features classics from its first exhibits in the previous building, including the Batmobile, which holds the title for most photographed car in the museum.

(photo by Gregory Cornfield)

The history of the car also includes the history of the Petersen. Robert E. Petersen, a publishing magnet with magazines such as “Hot Rod” and “Motor Trend,” established the Petersen Automotive Museum in 1994 to pay homage to the automobile and to preserve its legacy. After he helped build car culture in Los Angeles through his magazine empire, he envisioned the museum as a place where he could display his collection of vehicles. The legacy of the publishing magnet, who passed away in 2007, is exemplified throughout the museum.

As the founder, he laid out what the museum should be at the inaugural opening in 1994.

“Culture has been changed by the automobile,” he said. “This museum is about the role the automobile has played in defining our past and present … as well as shaping our future.”

Twenty-two years later, the Petersen Automotive Museum crossed the finish line with its red and steel ribbon masterpiece.