cinalia

Los Angeles · Miracle Mile

Academy Museum of Motion Pictures

The film industry finally built itself a museum, with a concrete sphere attached

Landmark Los Angeles, Miracle Mile€€€€

The Dolby Family Terrace on top of the sphere, looking at the Hollywood sign

Hollywood took ninety years to build a museum about itself and opened this one in 2021, inside a restored 1939 department store with a spherical concrete theatre by Renzo Piano bolted on at the back. The sphere holds a thousand-seat cinema; the roof of it is a terrace with a view towards the hills.

The exhibits cover craft rather than glamour: editing, sound, costume, visual effects, plus rotating retrospectives and a permanent gallery about the Academy Awards that includes a room of statuettes.

The detail

Good to know

Opened
2021
Architect
Renzo Piano, with a 1939 building
Sphere
1 000-seat theatre and a roof terrace
Screenings
Daily, often on film