Academy Museum of Motion Pictures – A Floor-by-Floor Guide to Getting It Right

Everybody who comes into this building gets one thing wrong. They start on the ground floor, wander and run out of steam somewhere between the third and the fourth levels. And it’s a shame, because the best stuff is still ahead of them at that point. The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is big and dense enough, and it pays off to have a plan.

And here it is. Not a history lesson, but rather a walkthrough of what needs to be done to see everything that is worth seeing in the museum floor by floor. The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles opened in September 2021, after decades of failed attempts. And it is the largest museum dedicated solely to films in the country.

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Los Angeles finally got is the museum it deserved – a seven-level museum in a restored 1939 department store with a huge glass sphere attached to it.

Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Tickets and Their Limitations

We start here because this piece of information sets a tone for everything else. Academy Museum of Motion Pictures tickets cost approximately $25 for an adult general admission, with discounts for seniors and students, and free admission for people who are 17 or younger. The latter is a surprisingly affordable admission price policy.

General admission includes access to the exhibition levels. What it does not include is access to the Oz experience and special screenings, which require additional timed Academy Museum of Motion Pictures tickets. Better buy them online in advance. The museum applies a timed entry system and the weekends tend to get busy.

Members can skip lines and have priority access to some of the larger exhibitions at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures LA.

Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Hours and the Ideal Time to Visit

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures hours are usually 10 AM to 6 PM, Tuesday is the museum’s day off – this is the detail which trips out-of-towners most of the time. On weekends and screening nights, the museum closes a little bit later.

As for crowds, the ideal time to visit is the first ninety minutes after opening. Arrive at 10 and Stories of Cinema galleries will be empty. By 1 PM on weekends, all of the installations have queues. And if you can only visit on weekends, it is better to pick mornings over afternoons.

Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Wilshire Boulevard Los Angeles CA and Orientation

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Wilshire Boulevard Los Angeles CA location is at 6067 Wilshire Boulevard on the corner of Fairfax – the heart of Museum Row (Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Los Angeles CA, as it goes on listing sites). The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures address is right next to LACMA and a two-minute walk away from the La Brea Tar Pits – and this is the single most important fact to know for planning a day.

The building itself is worth mentioning before entering. The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Wilshire Boulevard Los Angeles CA building is the old May Company building from 1939 – streamline moderne, gold-tiled cylinder on the corner – restored and attached to a new spherical concrete-and-glass addition designed by Renzo Piano. The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures address is easily recognizable from the boulevard due to this sphere. It looks like a flying saucer landed behind the department store – and basically that is the case. Map applications show it as the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Los Angeles CA 90036.

Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Parking and the Options To Save Money

This is where everybody undervalues the situation. Academy Museum of Motion Pictures parking is available in the underground garage of the museum entered from Fairfax and it is easy to use, which is reflected in the price.

The rate is usually between $18 and $20 for a visit, though validation and pricing are subject to change, and you should check them upon arrival.

However, if you want to save some money, the Academy Motion Picture Museum parking situation offers other options. Metered street parking is cheaper if you are ready to park a couple of blocks away and understand the street-parking rules – some of them have restricted times in the evening.

The LACMA garage is another place to try. Sometimes, prices for parking at Academy Museum of Motion Pictures there differ from the prices in the garage of the museum itself, and people usually try to compare Academy Motion Picture Museum parking rates in both places and choose the one which suits them best.

Parking at Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is filling up on weekends and late afternoon, so you need to arrive early in this case too. However, parking for Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is entirely avoidable – the D Line metro station at Wilshire and Fairfax opened right next to the museum and this makes it one of the few museums in LA that can be easily visited without a car.

When choosing, people usually consider Academy Motion Picture Museum parking options in the museum garage – which are slightly more expensive, but save you a walk. Parking for Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on the streets of the neighborhood is cheaper, but requires more patience.

Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Map and the Floors Layout

Pick up the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures map at the entrance, because the layout is not quite intuitive. Quick summary – the permanent exhibition Stories of Cinema occupies the second and the third floors, temporary exhibitions occupy different floors, the Oz experience is in a special place and the rooftop opens to the Dolby Family Terrace.

Checking the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures map in advance is worth your time – this way you can avoid backtracking. Here is my suggested route – go upstairs first and then go downstairs. Start from the top floor and look from the terrace while your legs are fresh, and then descend through the galleries.

Visitors usually do it backwards and end up at the terrace exhausted.

Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Inside – What You Will See

This is what is waiting for you inside the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures inside features Stories of Cinema exhibition – a large-scale permanent exhibition telling about the filmmaking craft, film history and people behind the film – costumes, props, cameras, production design, technical development of the medium.

The objects themselves are the main attraction. The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures inside has objects like the Rosebud sled from the Citizen Kane movie, a shark from the Jaws film hanging from the ceiling and rotating exhibition of the film costumes and props that make people gasp in amazement. There is a special Oscars experience room, where you can stand in front of the recreated stage and hold a statuette, which is funny and cool and the most popular photo opportunity of the entire building. Special exhibitions change constantly – retrospectives of film directors, film genres or cultures.

Academy Museum of Motion Pictures How Long To Budget

There is no definite answer to Academy Museum of Motion Pictures how long it takes to see it, but on average, it is two to four hours for most people.

Two if you are fast and know how to move through the highlights, and four if you decide to read all of the panels and watch all of the film clips. If you are a film addict, you can spend an entire day here. The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures how long depends on whether you decide to watch the screening-room content in the galleries – this adds significantly to your total time.

Plan a short pause in the middle of your tour. There is a cafe at the museum and the terrace is a great place for a rest.

Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Events and Screenings

Do not underestimate this aspect of the museum either. Academy Museum of Motion Pictures events happen regularly in the 1,000-seat David Geffen Theater and smaller Ted Mann Theater – screenings of restored classics, new releases, Q&A sessions with film directors and other film-related activities.

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures events calendar is the reason for locals to buy membership. Seeing a restored film print in a specially designed theater by the film academy with the director of the film sitting in the audience is a completely different experience compared to watching it in a multiplex. Make sure you check the calendar in advance and schedule a screening – this will turn your museum visit into an evening.

Motion Picture Academy Museum Los Angeles As A Part Of the Larger Day

From a practical perspective, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures location is ideal – the Motion Picture Academy Museum Los Angeles is built on the right spot. Motion Picture Academy Museum Los Angeles visitors come here for the reason which is also important – it is a looking experience.

Which means that four hours of standing, reading and absorbing this experience is enough for most people, and the Motion Picture Academy Museum Los Angeles works best as a first part of a day and not as the whole experience by itself. By the middle of the afternoon, most people are tired of looking at walls and want to participate.

The Los Angeles Academy Museum of Motion Pictures gives you the former. You need something to give you the latter.

From Watching Movies To Being Inside One

This is our job. Maze Rooms offer escape rooms across LA in six locations with more than twenty private rooms and the shift from a film museum to one of our rooms is just a drive away and a very short conceptual leap.

You have just looked at sets, props and production design. You walk out of the gallery and enter the actual film set. An Egyptian tomb, an underwater research station, a Victorian mystery, a haunted lodge. Sixty minutes, the clock, your group and the story you are living instead of watching it. The Los Angeles Academy Museum of Motion Pictures experience is about how movies get made. Our experience is about being inside of them. The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures LA crowd usually enjoys both halves.

Los Angeles Academy Museum of Motion Pictures visitors appreciate both experiences.

Why People Choose Us As The Second Half of a Museum Day?

Because our format suits any kind of group. Families – children who behaved well in the museum can spend an hour of their own, and Temple of Lost Gold at our Robertson location is specially designed so that the 9-year-old child can contribute. Birthdays – we hide a gift in the room for the birthday person to find and the reception area accepts outside food, so the birthday cake follows the escape.

Date day – private room for two after a museum is a nice choice. Corporate team building – half-day and full-day team-building events, which beat any conference room.

Each booking is a private experience and each group plays the game alone. Prices start at approximately $37 a person. We operate daily 10 AM to 11 PM, which is wider than the museum hours, so whenever Museum Row lets you go, we have a room for you. Five-star reviews on Google, Yelp and TripAdvisor come from years of dedication to sets and stories – the same obsession that the building on Wilshire celebrates, only at a bigger scale that you can play in.

Our Locations & Rooms

Highland Ave
Robertson Blvd
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Playa Del Rey
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