MOCA Pacific Design Center

Cool little 2 story museum space. The Catherine Opie exhibit of 50 pictures she took of Liz Taylor’s house and jewelry (700 Nimes Road location) are wonderfully done, and bring back a lot of memories! Although the pictures are mostly of the house, many have photographs of Liz taken with other celebrities, including Michael Jackson and the Queen of England, as well as some Andy Warhol prints of Liz! The staff is very friendly and knowledgeable, especially Brian, who went out of his way to explain how the collection came about. Best place to park for free is on the street, or in the library parking lot across the street. Highly recommended for an afternoon visit!

Science nerds have an artistic side too, and aside from photography, I like to go to museums and check out the works of great artistic minds.
My friend and I found this place as we were taking a stroll in West Hollywood. We walked to the other side of West Hollywood Park, and realized there was some closed event going on here. I noticed that this was a design center, and would probably have some artwork worthy of a 5 star review.
I was right. The art here has a wide variety of forms. You have to come check this place out yourself to fully appreciate the great art that lives here. Photos would not do it justice, although I did get some good shots of the colored fountains on front of the building.
I’ll be back to check out more exhibits here, and stay tuned for more.

Difficult to figure out where it was because I haven’t been in the area before and thought it was the Pacific Design Center… Which appeared closed so I was confused since the time on Unilocal!Said it didn’t close for another hour. I had to flag down the security guard and ask where the MOCA at PCD was located bc directions had brought me here. He told me to park in the library parking structure which was across the street and had free parking for I think it was up to 2 hours?
I chose to visit on a rainy day and had worn sandals with long jeans so the walk was not ideal, lol… As I was walking up the street I tried looking for the building on my own but wanted to make sure I was headed the right direction and wanted to give them a call to make sure they were still open because I traveled a distance to get there.
Loved the Magdalena Fernandez exhibition! AND I was the only one there to wander around and take it all in the way I would have wanted it.

I finally stopped here today after living within walking distance for more than a year. I entered through a wrong door in the PDC but the kind security guard showed me where to go. The lady who was working the front desk at MOCA was very friendly, and told me that it was pretty small and I had it all to myself at the moment! It was pretty cool exploring the space alone. Right now they have mainly video installations, so it’s pretty dark inside. It’s definitely a cool place to stop by and check out sometime!

One of the Theatres screening movies for your consideration. We’ve come here a few times and enjoy the nice comfy seats. However the high backs make it hard for little ones to sit anywhere but in the front row to be able to see the screen. Booster seats are available but you know how some kids refuse to use those — they are for «babies»
Easy parking with lots of space in high rise parking structure.

We can here to see the gas giant. The exhibit of kites! This museum is located closed to Beverly hills more than Hollywood so take that in mind. There’s a lot to do and see out there if you have the time. The exhibit was Amazing! Never seen anything like it before. The room was 2 stories kind of small. I would visit again when they have another exhibit I’d like to see. MOCA are great and hope to get to see another one day.

Looks good. a nice place to see art. I like it!

Very underwhelming. This could be my lack of research on this museum before entering, but I couldn’t believe how small this museum was. I literally walked through in maybe 7 minutes. Won’t be back.

The MOCA building is squat and yellowish – totally unremarkable, but situated in the plastic RGB monstrosity that is the Pacific Design Center it manages to look stately and dignified. Entrance is free, which is nice.
The exhibition I went to paired Bob Mizer and Tom of Finland, the post-​war purveyors of beefcake and phallus fantasy. The pairing was not particularly imaginative (Mizer hired Tom of Finland to illustrate the covers of his catalogs, and was actually the one who came up with the «Tom of Finland» nom de plume) nor did it tell any revelatory histories, or situate them in art history in an eye-​opening way. A wall text in the Mizer gallery suggested that the way he laid out his catalogues, the grids of beefcake photos labeled with letters and numbers, was interesting in relation to the serial production of minimalist and pop art that would come after it – but if the curators really wanted to make that point, shouldn’t they have included some of that art? and wasn’t that art just responding to standard commercial practices, of which Mizer was just one example? In relation to modern art trends like appropriation and collage, there was a pair of Tom of Findland’s «mood boards,» with pictures he’d cut out of magazines and newspapers and porn rags, which were visually interesting, especially ones where he had drawn over the photographs to give the men the cartoonishly large buttocks and pecs that characterize his drawings, or the pic of three policemen where he’d drawn huge cocks coming out of their uniform flies. These details were rather small and easy to miss if you weren’t paying attention so I wish the curators had done more to draw attention to these moments.
In terms of the history not of art but of erotica, you don’t get the impression that either Mizer or Tom was influencing the other, they were both doing what they were doing at the same time. That, and the predominance of a handful of masculine archetypes – gladiators, sailors, cowboys, bikers, farmboys, mechanics – inscribed some fairly narrow contours for the mid-​century homoerotic imagination. I had to wonder what Bob and Tom would make of mpreg, or furries, or World of Warcraft slash drawings with orcs fucking elves, or whatever else is polluting Tumblr and DeviantArt these days. You’ve come a long way, baby!
I should note that Mizer’s imagery came off as slightly more diverse than Tom’s, with some skinnier/​less worked out bodies, and a couple of odd additions to the aforementioned Pantheon of Masculinity – there were a couple of guys dressed a wizards in capes, thongs, and pointy hats, waving their wands at walls of runes or holding skull-​capped staves. I thought those were really funny. I also liked a sequence titled «The Doctor and The Demon” – one guy with a stethoscope was examining another guy with little horns glued to his temples. Hmm.
Overall it was a fun, light (and, arousing :3) exhibit. But there was an incident that spoiled my impression of MOCA. I was meeting a friend who was running late, and as I lingered there was a shift change for the security guards. The new one was holding a ruler. As she paced the galleries she’d tap it against the walls. FWAP-​FWAP-​FWAP-​FWAP-​FWAP. She’d bang it on the metal bars of the stairway’s banister. CLANG-​CLANG-​CLANG-​CLANG-​CLANG-​CLANG-​CLANG. She would even (and this was what really FLOORED ME) bang it on the display cases that were holding Mizer’s photos. DING-​DING-​DING-​DING-​DING. What a Racket! I tried to just ignore her but at one point my friend shot her a Look of Death. You won’t believe how she responded…
«Am I bothering you?»
Um…
uh…
Obviously there was no conceivable way to respond to this outrageous impudence.
If anyone at the Pacific Design Center is reading this, please Officially Reprimand her noisy rude ass. And confiscate the goddamn ruler
THANKS

My review is a little biased since I live right up the street AND the first (and only) exhibit I saw was excellent. If I could give a 3.5, that would be my honest rating.
I’m bad with museums and culture, so this was perfect. It’s a mini two story MOCA, right next to the Pacific Design Center and across from the West Hollywood library, and it’s free! I think it’s the perfect way to do something cultural/​interesting without spending forever pretending you «get» modern art (I don’t).
I caught a great exhibit on happiness and the metrics of it, as told through graphic design and installations and was very impressed. Would I like it less if it had been an exhibit I didn’t «get»? Probably. But it was still a fun walk down from Santa Monica to the library for lunch and then a stroll around the fountains at PDC and mini-​Moca. An easy little way to hang out with your friends in great weather? I’m in.

Super cute lil’ tan box of a museum! I waited patiently for its 11:00 AM opening, amusing myself across the street with a savory croissant from the coffee shop below the WeHo Public Library. And it was worth it. I caught Stefan Sagmeister’s The Happy Show, filled with all sorts of fun ponderings about the meaning of happiness — presented in multimedia form, as befitting a world-​class designer. Lots of interactive pieces, too. The security guards were especially endearing It IS small, but worth the visit!

A two story exhibit that free and located in nearby WeHo? Yes.
This past Saturday went to check out the Design Center and saw the Stefan Sagmeister exhibit titled ‘The Happy Show’.
I really enjoyed his work and interactive exhibits like the one where you smile into a seemingly open space which then triggers a flood of colors onto the 3D words which read ‘Step up to it’ or the gumball machines from 1 – 10 which dispense only one gumball per person at a time. The number is supposed to be commensurate with your happiness. All of his work is candid and real and thought provoking.
Unfortunately someone broke the exhibit where the person rides a bike which powers phrases on a neon sign but it may be up and running again soon.
I would definitely go again. This exhibit is on display until the 9^th of June at MOCA Pacific Design Center.
The museum curator of sorts was a bit snappy when my friend asked for a map. Sorry he didn’t realize it was only 2 floors relax bitch!
Other than that what a great space with creative wonderment.
Here is a link with pictures of the exhibit:

Love coming to see the exhibits here! Wish I could come more often!

FREEEEEEEEEEE! But I understand why, super tiny museum (will probably take no more than 15 – 20 min to walk through the entire thing & then some). Wandered in here after a freebie event at the Pacific Design Center. The exhibit that was on display was meh, but the Eleven Heavy Things outside the PDC was awesome! Perfect photo ops!
I am definitely more in awe of the architectural beauty of the PDC. Seems like it would be a nice & unique place for a photo shoot. Walking distance to Urth Caffe (2 – 3 blocks).

i planned a museum day during a wknd to stop by MOCA (PDC and Geffen).
1^st stop– Rodarte: States of Matter exhibit (Black Swan costumes)
The exhibit was about to end so i wanted to check it out. you walk in and there’s one room with about 5 dresses. walk up the stairs and there are a few more dresses. that’s it. i wish there were more dresses available and the presentation was more than just plain lights that were on and/​or flashing (but what do i know, i’m not a curator). the rodarte pieces were absolutely amazing in person, i wanted more. oh well, good thing this location is free. i would’ve been annoyed if there was admission bc i was done with the tiny two room museum within 15 min.

Pedestals for Strangers
Discovering The Curve MOCA and Miranda July
Are you over anxious? Under loved? Over stimulated? Under funded? Over overwhelmed? Or under understood? Do you need a Burrbery think-​bubble around your head?
Then Miranda July made Eleven Heavy Things for you.
Until October 23^rd, 2011, you and your friends can interact with Miranda’s eleven things on the lawn outside the Pacific Design Center on Melrose.
If you are feeling hyper emotional (or hyper allergic) that day, they might even make you cry.
If you are an atheist that day, they might make you think how we are all robots, programmed to follow the same roller coaster of emotional torment for no reason at all. Then you might cry too.
But crying is fun, and good for the skin. So go see this exhibit. It’s interactive for God’s sake. How fun is that?
And while you’re feeling poignant, pick up a copy of Miranda July’s short story collection: No One Belongs Here More than You, because it’s super good. It’s like you’re standing on twelve of these pedestals at once, balancing precariously above the Earth, and understanding everything as if for the first time.
P. S. In addition to your trip to this exhibit (or after Oct 23^rd, 2011) you can check out ecusitely designed, obscenely expensive furniture at the Pacific Design Center on week days, and bland depressing minimalist modern art made of trash at the The Curve/​MOCA space behind the Design Center on weekends. It’s free. which is a little over-​priced.
But the fountain outside is pretty.

All showrooms and everything closed on weekends, didn’t know that, $ 10 parking is a little too much for some Tutus display from Black Swan. no camera is allowed, but it is free.
I was surprised there was a few people working at the information center, the entire place was dark and empty. Got passed the design center, went outside, beautiful fountain and flowers. This Moca is a very small museum, only 2 floors with a few extremely beautiful swarovski decorated dresses and tutus from Black Swan, and the tiara too. loved them!
It was worth a trip, it’s in west Hollywood, lots of restaurants, bars and nightclubs nearby, very easy to go from daytime entertainment to a fun night out. :)

I went to see the Rodarte: States of Matter, currently on exhibition.
Admission to the 2 room museum is free.
The tutu’s from the Black Swan were beautiful.
I only takes 5 minutes to see the whole exhibit, so don’t put too much money in your meter unless you are going to explore the interior design show rooms next door.

What a let down. It’s too small to even call it a museum. I suppose the only people who visit this MOCA are those who are already at the PDC for other business or those who are dining at Red Seven. I was in the former group and I thought I’d check out the museum since I was already there.
On the first floor there are a couple of employees manning the door (& looking bored), a small gift shop area and the restrooms. The exhibit is on the second floor. It’s just one open area so it’s only suitable for one exhibit at a time.
Right now the exhibit is called Feathered Edge and it’s a bunch of colored strings that form curves. It looks like a 3D model of something that belongs on a computer monitor. I was «wow“ed for a moment, and then I was done with the whole museum. Yep, that’s it, in and out in 3 minutes.
If I had made a special trip to see MOCA PDC, I would have been really upset. At least it was free.

*** MOCA’s third location, let’s call it «MOCA Lite». ***
this exhibit space is 30′ x 40′ max on the second floor.
the first floor is entrance, a small store and a little study.
it is a separate building but located on the PDC grounds.
current exhibit running ’til 05Jul is entitled «Boolean Valley».
it’s a symmetric array of ceramic cones arranged on the floor.
wow, that’s really deep … not. it’s just a bunch of cones, c’mon!
imo if space is small then exhibit should be relatively small.
in this case, i think the exhibit needs a little bit more space.
that aside, the ceramics are nice but not museum worthy.
but hey, what could i have expected … MOCA Lite is free.
*** i look forward to more interesting future exhibits. ***