Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/38228
e man behind the dream was the late Robert Petersen, the owner of some 125 vehicles and the pub- lisher of seminal car magazines Hot Rod andMotor Trend. He wanted to showcase and preserve his collection, and he and his wife, Margie, donated $5 million to fund an off-shoot of the Natural History Museum, adding some $24 million several years later. Purchasing a former department store designed by Welton Becket-William Wurdeman (who also de- signed local landmarks such as the Capitol Records building, the Beverly Hilton Hotel and the Cinerama Dome), the museum opened its doors in 1994. Curator Leslie Kendall, the museum’s curator since the beginning, chose the best of the initial Natural History Museum collection of 65 cars. “Rather than just line up the cars, we wanted to put the cars in a context and show how they related to their environment – why Los Angeles grew out, in- stead of up. New York grew up because people didn’t have transportation to go very far away, but in L.A. we had cars from the beginning. It’s affected every part of life and culture here.” On the museum’s first floor a diorama “Streetscape” of California beginning in 1901 illustrates when times changed, transport changed too. In the early days there were few paved roads and getting stuck in the mud was a real hazard.. A continues SUMMER 2011 / DISCOVER HOLLYWOOD 17