The Museum of Jurassic Technology

The greater Los Angeles area is home to hundreds of museums. Museums that are filled with Impressionists, Dadaists, aircraft, fossils, and sea stars you can hold in your bare hands. I want to mention the one museum that holds none of these things, an indescribable oxymoron called the Museum of Jurassic Technology. This is hands down my favorite place in Los Angeles.

What is the Museum of Jurassic Technology?

When someone asks me what the MJT is, even after a handful of visits, I still do not know how to answer them. The website gives this as an explanation of what the Museum of Jurassic Technology is:

“..an educational institution dedicated to the advancement of knowledge and the public appreciation of the Lower Jurassic.”

I hope this whets your appetite.

What’s Inside

What will you find when you open the door on Venice Boulevard and Badgley in Culver City? If you responded “teeth from a Lesothosaurus” or the bones of an aquatic animal that once swam the Western Interior Seaway, commonly associated with the lower Jurassic period, you would be dead wrong. If you responded, “a mounted horn that once grew from a woman’s head” or an exhibit around the superstitions of the children’s game cat’s cradle, you would be right.

How does this place make the connection between dinosaurs and curiosities? The museum seems to have its roots in natural history and science. For example, it uncovers a species of bat that can pass through lead or holograms that were actually created by a contemporary of Galileo Galilei. Then there are exhibits that go in a seemingly different direction, like a room that is filled with dioramas of Winnebagos containing the flotsam and jetsam of nomadic life.

How did we get from Squalicorax to the trailer park? Walking through the space, doubt of truth starts to set in, and you wonder if it is all just a yarn created by a man who wants to market his art and stories. At a certain point in the exhibition layout, there is a section where the guests inevitably start to laugh. If you stay in the main room long enough, you can hear it happen several times over.

If you need a break to contemplate what you have seen, there is a tearoom on the top floor, where you can get a glass of floral-tasting tea and cookies by donation. Up a few more stairs is an atrium that feels like you have stepped into Morrocco. It is, like the Self-Realization Lake Shrine, unbelievably quiet for it being on one of Los Angeles’ busy streets. 

The Museum also hosts nighttime concerts and annual membership events. See their event page here.

Further reading about the Museum of Jurassic Technology

The premise of the book Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder by Lawrence Weschler is to find out what the Museum of Jurassic Technology is. It takes you on an interesting journey of how the exhibits inside the museum came to be. It does, however, end up raising more questions than it gives answers. The book, like the museum, leaves you equally perplexed. It adds evidence to the thought that David Hildebrand Wilson, the co-founder, is perhaps the single greatest genius who has graced the streets of Los Angeles.

Does this place uncover unknown wonders of the world, or is all of this just one man’s imagination? Let me know if you have discovered the answer.

Hours, cost, and other information

• Website: https://www.mjt.org/
• Location: 9341 Venice Blvd, Culver City
• Hours: Thursday, 2:PM to 8:PM, Friday-Sunday, 12:PM to 6:PM
• Cost: $10
• Other: Open again, but you need to reserve a ticket in advance.

Although this is the end of my series on favorite places in Los Angeles, this site is filled with my favorite restaurants and hidden gems in this city. If you want to find a restaurant close to the MJT, read Where To Eat in Downtown Culver City.

[Disclaimer: I am an affiliate with Book Shop. Some of the links in this post include an affiliate link which, if you click and buy, I may get a little money from your purchase.]

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