The “Water Cooler” is a feature on Claycord.com where we will ask you a question or provide a topic, and you will talk about it.
The “Water Cooler” will be up Monday-Friday at noon.
Today’s question:
QUESTION: What’s your favorite museum in Bay Area?
Talk about it….
None around here really for me … the museum at the La Brea Tar Pits is good as well as various aircraft museums throughout the US
There’s so many. When I was a kid, I enjoyed going to
the Maritime Museum near Fisherman’s Wharf, and the
Sutro Museum. They were free, so I used to go there a lot,
but he Sutro Museum, which was near the Cliff House,
burned down. I also like the deYoung Museum, the
Lawrence Hall Of Science, the San Francisco Museum
Of Modern Art, the Academy of Science, and the Legion
of Honor. Some smaller museums are the Wells Fargo
History Museum, the Blackhawk Museum, the Cable Car
Museum, the Exploratorium, and the Winchester Mystery House.
There are also a few old Missions in the Bay Area that are
interesting to visit, like Mission Dolores, and Mission San Rafael.
Outside the Bay Area is Fort Sutter in Sacramento, and
Vallejo’s adobe in Sonoma.
The Haggin Museum in Stockton is my favorite museum near Concord. A perfect provincial museum and art gallery with lots of interesting art and artifacts on display.
In the true Bay Area my favorite is the Bay Model in Sausalito. The Army built a model of the bay the size of two football fields to see if they could store fresh water in the bay. (And it’s free).
The Contemporary Jewish Museum
That one’s easy for me to answer. The California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. It is a superior natural history museum. I was enthralled by the place when I was a child; now as an adult have a great appreciation for the institution.
One of the BEST museums is the CA State Railroad Museum in Old Town Sacramento. If you are a rail fan, or even if you are not, this is a great experience. Easy to get to….hop onto the Capitol Corridor in Martinez & get off at Old Town. Another good rail museum is the Western Railway Museum @ Rio Vista Junction between Rio Vista Junction & Fairfield. Unique facility offering rides in restored electric trains & historic streetcars, plus exhibits.
In S.F., consider the Exploratorium & the DeYoung museum.
For Aviation, Hiller Air Museum in San Carlos, Oakland Air Museum, USS Hornet – Sea, Air and Space Museum in Alameda.
I still haven’t managed to visit the Hornet, even though I worked at NAS Alameda for over 20 years before it closed. The Hiller Air Museum is excellent as is the CA State Railroad Museum. One of the best Aircraft and Space museums is the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville Oregon (that has the “Spruce Goose”), near Portland. A little closer to home is the excellent Aerospace Museum of California at the former McClellan AFB in Sacramento. A little farther away are the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museums, both the one on the Capitol Mall and the Udvar Hazy Museum at Dulles Airport.
My favorite museum in Europe is the Deutches Museum in Munich, with the Uffizi in Florence close behind. I visited a spectacular museum in May (a bucket list item), the Ferrari Museum in Maranello. I’m hoping to visit the other Ferrari museum in Modena in the future.
I just visited the Oakland Museum. Didn’t get to see the whole thing, but the “History of California” section is amazing, starting with the Indians and working through the various historical periods up to the present day. I recommend a visit!
Taking the train from Martinez to Sacramento and visiting the Railroad Museum is a great day trip. The museum is built in the old engine roundhouse and is beautifully done. There is a huge cab-forward steam locomotive – a genuine Californian engine specially built for going through the snow-sheds without choking the crew.
It has to be the DeYoung Musuem. When I first moved to San Francisco I took weaving lessons through the De Young, they had a location south of Market. I have also been to the new location in Golden Gate Park. Other than that it depends on which artist is featured. I took my daughter to the Picasso Exhibition at the Legions of Honors museum in the late nineties. Also, like the Musuem of Modern Art. There was a museum that had a display of Faberge eggs from the Tsar’s of Russia, quite elaborate, and some very historic, there was one with a Danish castle, the last Tsar of Russis Nicholas ll, his mother was originally a Danish princess. In New York my favorites The Guggenheim, The Metropolitan and Museum of Modern Art. Have been to the Louvre in Paris and Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, as well as one in Jerusalem, but forgot the name, and a couple in London. My all time favorite has to be the Danish Museum of Modern Art, it is located on the coast 20 miles north of Copenhagen and has a wonderful sculpture garden overlooking the waters to Sweden, the sculpture on that hill is of Henry Moore and is name Two reclining figures, or something similar. Unfortunately I don’t go to museums as much as I use to.
The Rijksmuseum is a great one. BTW, there is one airplane in it and I found it. We visited the Louvre many years ago and really enjoyed the NY Museum of Modern Art a few years ago.
The Pinball Museum in Alameda.
de Young Museum Golden Gate Park.
“The Cobra Experience” in Martinez
Shelby Cobras, Mustangs, Ford Racing – It is a non profit museum.
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https://cobraexperience.org/