Autry National Center: Museum of the American West

Autry National Center: Museum of the American West review

You might expect this Griffith Park museum to be a kitschy exploration of the life and works of the famous singing cowboy. However, though there's often some sort of Autry memorabilia on display in the foyer, it's actually a very engaging exploration of the western US, outlining its history and detailing the myths that came to surround it.

The museum is bigger than it looks, spread over two floors with permanent exhibits on the right and temporary shows on the left. The ground-floor galleries offer a collection of iconographic cowboy art, plus ephemera from the golden age of the western. And the downstairs galleries tell the story of Western migration by different communities, with illuminating exhibits on how they lived, what they hunted, where they settled and the like. Due homage is paid to the Spanish vaqueros, the original pioneering cowboys of the Old West whom Hollywood largely wrote out of the history books. However, fans of Western myth and legend will enjoy catching sight of Doc Holliday's revolver from the shootout at the OK Corral, John Wesley Hardin's business card (complete with imitation bulletholes) and the 200-strong Colt Firearms Collection.

However, the next few years may see a slew of changes at the site. The Autry board has announced plans to expand the museum's floor space by 70 per cent as part of a $100-million programme of redevelopments, creating room for a selection of the Native American artefacts that were formerly displayed at the now-closed Southwest Museum of the American Indian in Mount Washington. If the plans get the go-ahead, part or all of the museum may close temporarily during the construction work: call or check online before setting out. The new galleries are provisionally scheduled to open in 2011.