158 Museums to Explore in California

The March Field Air Museum is an aviation museum based at March ARB, California that was founded in 1980. One of the first exhibits at the museum was a collection of art painted by Hazel Olson. Outside, the museum has constructed Firebase Romeo Charlie, a reproduction of a Vietnam-era forward operating location.

Established in 1948, it preserves one of the largest collections of historic sea vessels in the United States. The centerpiece of the museum's collection is the Star of India, an 1863 ironbark.

A majestic museum, which is home to the largest permanent collection of any liberal arts college in the West. Through innovative exhibitions, programs, and collections, the museum engages and inspires the intellectual and creative life of the Mills community as well as the diverse audiences of the Bay Area and beyond.

Mingei International Museum preserves and exhibits folk art, craft and design from all eras and cultures of the world. Its collection now comprises more than 26,000 objects of folk art, craft and design from 141 countries. The collections contain artifacts from the 3rd century BCE to the present day and include objects as diverse as ancient clay vessels and 21st-century Venetian glass.

This Museum and Foundation which preserves, interprets, and promotes the history of the National Historic Landmark Mission Inn Hotel & Spa. It promotes the cultural heritage of the Mission Inn. It is operated by the Mission Inn Foundation, an independent nonprofit organization. A permanent exhibition features the history of the inn as well as inland Southern California history. The main gallery hosts changing exhibitions which rotate 2-3 times per year.

This is a privately owned museum in Oxnard, California. It displays the personal car collection of businessman and philanthropist Peter W. Mullin. The museum has a large collection of vintage Bugattis, and many of the cars are fully restored and able to be driven.

The Musée Mécanique is a for-profit interactive museum of 20th-century penny arcade games and artifacts, located at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, California. With over 300 mechanical machines, it is one of the world's largest privately owned collections.

The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, in San Diego, California, US, is an art museum focused on the collection, preservation, exhibition, and interpretation of works of art from 1950 to the present.

The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego offers access to the very best art of our time at two iconic locations. While the La Jolla location is currently closed for a major renovation and expansion project, the downtown location serves as MCASD's primary hub of activity. The Museum of Contemporary Art has a nearly 5,500-object collection of post-World War II art that includes key pieces by color field painter Ellsworth Kelly.

The Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, a contemporary art museum, is at Santa Barbara, United States.The categories covered by MCASB involve various fields of design. It includes the topic of male and female, media, race, and geological study. It aims at displaying, expressing, discovering, and exploring the potential of the art and design in this era.

The Museum of Craft and Design develops and presents engaging exhibitions and educational programs that explore and define the role of craft and design in our dynamically changing global culture, encouraging our audience to see the world differently.They introduce visitors to a broad range of artists and designers, and to the many approaches to creative expression in these fields. Education programs address a wide variety of topics.

The only Museum in the United States dedicated to modern and contemporary Latin American and Latino Art. It is housed in a contemporary structure and is home to four galleries, a contemporary “project space” and an outdoor sculpture garden.Through ground-breaking exhibitions, educational programs and cultural events, MOLAA expands the knowledge and appreciation of modern and contemporary Latin American art and culture and promotes a cross-cultural dialogue.

This is one of the only museums in the country dedicated exclusively to the photographic arts, presenting work by some of the world's most celebrated photographers and cinematographers. Its mission is to inspire, educate and engage the broadest possible audience through the presentation, collection, and preservation of photography, film and video.

The Museum of the African Diaspora occupies 20,000 Sq. Ft. on portions of three floors of the St. Regis Hotel and Residences designed by SOM. It holds exhibitions and presents artists exclusively of the African diaspora, one of only a few museums of its kind in the United States. It does not have a permanent collection and instead works directly with artists or independent curators when developing exhibitions.

A majestic museum, which celebrates the history, art, and culture of Ventura County and the Channel Islands through its collections, exhibits, educational programs and publications.

The Museum of Western Film History collects, preserves and exhibits a broad and diverse collection of western film memorabilia. The museums honors the men and women of the silver screen who interpret the lives of the American Cowboy. The museum thus teaches us how to see both time and space in new ways — ways that blend the past, the present, and the future through tangible objects and material geographies.

The National Yo-Yo Museum features the worlds largest public display of yo-yo, yo-yo memorabilia, and contest awards. It's the home of BIG-YO, the World's Biggest Working Wooden Yo-Yo in the 1982 Guinness Book of World Records. It is located inside Bird in Hand and is open 7 days a week and is free to tour. Guided visits are available to groups by special arrangement.

Largest natural and historical museum in the western United States. Its collections include nearly 35 million specimens and artifacts and cover 4.5 billion years of history.

New Almaden, is a historic community and former mercury mine in the Capitancillos Hills of San Jose, California. It presents visitors with an interesting array of exhibits about the history of mercury mining and the lifestyles of mining communities. A mine diorama duplicates the interior of a mine shaft, giving visitors a feel for working underground. Other exhibits explain the changing technology of how the liquid mercury was extracted from mined cinnabar ore.

New Museum Los Gatos is bringing art, innovation, history and Bay Area Stories to the wide audience of Silicon Valley. It contains 6 gallery spaces, 9 rotating exhibitions annually, an interactive, permanent Los Gatos History exhibit, as well as weekly workshops, youth programs, classes, and lectures. The 6,000 square foot building is located in the Los Gatos Civic Center at 106 E. Main Street.