158 Museums to Explore in California

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is the largest museum in the United States devoted to the arts, sciences, and artists of moviemaking.The museum is located in the historic May Company Building on the intersection Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue. This Academy holds more than 13 million objects including costumes, costume sketches, film reels, posters, props, and screenplays dating back to 1927.

Features displays of authentic military and civilian aircraft as well as space vehicle replicas.

This is a museum telling the Native American and Pioneering history of Alpine County California.

The Amador Whitney Museum exists to promote an interest in the history and culture of the Mother Lode region among both residents and visitors.This building, originally the Kling Building is probably the oldest commercial building in town. It dates back to 1860. Throughout the years, it has housed many types of businesses including the Wells Fargo Drayage Company.

The Art, Design & Architecture Museum , formerly the University Art Museum, is located on the campus of the UCSB in Goleta, California. It was originally a gallery for art education at UCSB. Today the AD&A contains a fine art collection of over 8,500 works. It also possesses over 1,000,000 architectural drawings, historic photographs, writings, scrapbooks, and three-dimensional objects in the Architecture and Design Collection.

The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco houses one of the most comprehensive Asian art collections in the world, with more than 18,000 works of art in its permanent collection, some as much as 6,000 years old.

Dedicated to exploring an inclusive history of the American West. The museum presents a wide range of exhibitions and public programs, including lectures, film, theater, festivals, family events, and music, and performs scholarship, research, and educational outreach.

A maritime museum located at the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro, Los Angeles, California. The museum's main artifact is the USS Iowa, lead ship of the Iowa class of battleships. It provides a glimpse into the past through a unique experience aboard the only battleship museum on the West Coast.

The Bay Area Discovery Museum is a children's museum located in Sausalito. The museum is geared to children from 6 months to 10 years of age with different areas of the museum tailored to a specific age group. Children have the options of exploring the 6 different sections of the museum: Art Studios, Bay Hall, Discovery Hall, Lookout Cove, Tot Spot, and Fab Lab.

A majestic combined art museum, repertory movie theater, and archive associated with the University of California, Berkeley. The museum has featured works by Albert Bierstadt, Jonathan Borofsky, Joan Brown, Robert Colescott and so more. The museum also features the MATRIX Program for Contemporary Art.

This is a beautiful, three-story, 26 room Victorian House Museum that stands as a memorial to John and Annie Bidwell. John Bidwell was known throughout California and across the nation as an important pioneer, farmer, soldier, statesman, politician and philanthropist. Now a museum and State Historic Park, it is California Historical Landmark #329 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The mansion was a $60,000 project, and was finished in May 1868.

An art museum with a permanent collection of more than 100,000 objects and features notable strengths in the areas of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, Native American art, the art of Asia, Africa, and Oceania, and California Plein-air painting.

Southern tip of the Point Loma Peninsula. It commemorates the landing of Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo at San Diego Bay on September 28, 1542. This event marked the first time a European expedition had set foot on what later became the West Coast of the United States.

Among the largest museums of natural history in the world, housing over 46 million specimens.

The California African American Museum explores the art, history, and culture of African Americans, with an emphasis on California and the West.The Museum focuses on enrichment and education on the cultural heritage and history of African Americans with a focus on California and western United States. Admission is free to all visitors. Their mission statement is "to research, collect, preserve, and interpret for public enrichment the history, art and culture of African Americans.

Has a collection of over 150 classic cars, race cars, muscle cars and early models displayed throughout 72,000 square feet (6,700 m2) of museum space.

A majestic museum, which was dedicated to Californian history and the stories of California. The museum is home to the California Hall of Fame and has more than 20,000 square feet of exhibits, event facilities, and museological archives.

The California Oil Museum highlights the history and inner workings of the state's "black gold" industry through hands-on, interactive exhibits, videos, models, photographs, and memorabilia. A separate building holds a working 1900s oil rig.

The museum features 21 restored locomotives and railroad cars, some dating back to 1862. Other exhibits show how the influence of railroads changed American society, influencing travel, commerce and daily life, as well as the lives of railroaders and the diversity of people who work on railroads.

The Cartoon Art Museum is a California art museum that specializes in the art of comics and cartoons. It is the only museum in the Western United States dedicated to the preservation and exhibition of all forms of cartoon art. The permanent collection features some 7,000 pieces as of 2015, including original animation cels, comic book pages and sculptures.