The Broad: An Art Piece Inside and Out | Los Angeles, California

The BROOOOOOAD (rhymes with road)

A contemporary art museum in the heart of Downtown Los Angeles. Namesake and philanthropist Eli Broad financed the museum and is the owner of the unique art collection. I tried visiting the Broad last last December (2015), but was cut off in the standby line. SAD FACE! We were there 30 minutes after opening and they had already reached their max. allowance of visitors for that day. If this does happen to you don't be too sad because the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) and Walt Disney Concert Hall are across the street from the Broad and are wonderful alternative attractions. You also have the rest of DTLA aka Downtown Los Angeles to play in. It's a wonderful city filled with food, architecture and culture.

Exhibits

» Third Floor Collection «

The third floor gallery is home to an eccentric, ever-changing Broad collection. Currently (February 2017), there are pieces by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Joseph Beuys, as well as iconic Broad pieces such as the balloon sculptures, the flashing America sign and the giant dining set display. Take all those Instagram worthy pictures.

» First Floor Collection Installation «

The Creatures (November 5, 2016 - March 19, 2017)

From The Broad:

Now on view at The Broad is Creature, a free general admission installation that fills the museum’s first-floor galleries with more than 50 works presenting approaches to figuration and representations of the self in the Broad collection. From slick avatars and popular icons to images rooted in mythology and animal instincts, the installation features works by over 25 artists including Georg Baselitz, Joseph Beuys, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Ellen Gallagher, Leon Golub, Jenny Holzer, Damien Hirst, Takashi Murakami, and Andy Warhol plus Thomas Houseago’s Giant Figure (Cyclops), 2011, which is making its U.S. debut.

Ranging from artworks that examine the human body, to others that allude to a physical presence outside of the artwork itself, Creature offers an array of lenses through which to view the human experience, some scientifically based and others drawing inspiration from cultural representations of how living things change over time.

» Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirrored Room «

Also on the first floor is the Instagram worthy infinity room, a mirror-lined chamber with twinkling and countless LED lights. Because of popularity and occupancy restrictions of one visitor per minute, the Infinity Room is something you'll need to take into account time wise when visiting. There is a separate queue to experience the exhibit after entering the museum, you'll have to get a same-day reservation, there is no advanced reservation for the Infinity Mirrored Room. It's best to be early in order to visit this unique piece.

*I wasn't able to visit the Infinity Mirrored Room because it was already a four hour wait once I got into the museum, however because I'm local I was given the suggestion to visit this coming summer. Currently they only have 2 rooms, but they are installing 3 more in the summertime.

General Admission General admission is FREE for everyone! But because of the popularity of The Broad there is a capacity restriction to the maximum number of guests allowed inside per day. There are two ways to get into the Broad: » Reserve Tickets «

You can reserve general admission tickets for free on the The Broad website, it's often fully booked, especially the weekends. Reservations are made available on the first of each month for the following month (i.e. on March 1st at noon, tickets for April will be made available). Click for advanced reservation

» Standby Line «

If you weren't able to reserve tickets online, you can still get in by waiting at the onsite standby line. It is a first come, first served and based on availability. During holiday weekends, the wait can be up to two or three hours! You can see it wrap around the entire building... The line closes 90 minutes before the museum closes, but can close earlier on busy days. If you are a tweeter, they have a live twitter feed @TheBroadStandby, so you can check it to see if they are still allowing visitors.

Information

» Parking «

Option #1: The Broad has a parking garage underneath, entrance on 2nd Street between Hope Street and Grand Avenue. Unlike the museum it is not free, visitors will need a validation and is $12 for three hours on weekdays (after three hours, an additional $4 each 15 minutes, maximum of $22) and $12 weeknights after 5 p.m. and all day weekends.

Option #2: California Plaza garage (entrance off Olive Street) for $8 with validation from The Broad.

Option #3 (What I did): Because I didn't really understand where the California Plaza garage was, I parked at a small parking lot on the corner of Olive St. and that was $8 for all day as well, cash only. Honestly, there are a bunch of parking lots around the Broad area, so just keep your eyes open. $8 was the cheapest all day I've found Pro Tip: Don't do meter parking if you are visiting during weekday business hours. We were looking for parking around noon time on a Thursday and found out street parking was $5 PER HOUR! SAY WHAT?!

» Museum Hours «

Monday | CLOSED

Tuesday | 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Wednesday | 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Thursday | 11 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Friday | 11 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Saturday | 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Sunday | 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Thoughts

GO! There is a reason The Broad is one of the most popular museums to visit in LA. It is a piece of art inside and out and I was sooo in love with the architecture of the museum itself, it looks like a big white Lego piece. The high, naturally lit third floor helps showcase the sculptures and artwork in all their glory. If you love photography, especially Instagram this is heaven for you. It has great lighting for all those selfies as well as nice backdrops for that mini photo shoot you want. But seriously, you can't help but take a picture of the big dining set and the shiny, blue balloon dog.

Unintentionally, I've really discovered Pop Art. I vaguely knew about it when I first saw an Andy Warhol at the MOCA during my first attempt at the Broad and now I've have been more widely exposed to it by my OCMA visit and this Broad visit. Though pop art is simple compared to those old fine art pieces, it was new and groundbreaking at that time and that is something I can appreciate. Doing something innovative and different from what was the norm. He made the can label Campbelle's soup cool!

Off to my next museum. Wonder if I'll see another Andy Warhol?

Art | Must Visit | Free