Petersen Museum

Whilst in LA a few weeks ago I visited the Petersen Museum. Petersen Publishing started out by publishing Hot Rod magazine-one my boyhood favourites. They went on to publish many other very succesful motor and hobby magazines. The success of the business allowed Robert Petersen and his wife to establish a motor museum in 1995 and this has gone on to become today's museum which is now administered by the Petersen Museum Foundation. In the last two years the museum has been completely rebuilt and is now a very striking purpose built structure on Wilshire Boulevard in LA.
I thought the building and the displays were superb but it was not what I was expecting. With LA being the epicentre of California's car culture I was expecting American cars and hot rods from door to door. When I visited the displays had a distinctly European bias with some quite exquisite and very rare cars on display including a superb line up of Porsche racing cars-see photo- and some of the most beautiful coachwork I have ever seen on cars in the big Rolling Sculpture exhibit.
I did not have time to take a guided tour of the Vault where the cars which are not on display are stored and this may have given me the American car fix I was expecting.
The museum is very highly recommended and on my next visit I will take in the tour of the Vault as well.
All photos by Leica X1.