LA's Unusual Museums

There's all kinds of weirdness going on at this museum that was designed specifically to blow your mind, make you question the role of the museum in society, … and vastly improve your hipster cred when you go on about how you totally got it. Exhibits cover trailer parks, astronauts' dogs, and a lot of other strange subjects. [link]

Saber-tooth cats -- grrr! Mammoths -- roar! Invertebrates . . . sludge? The skeletons of Ice Age beings (and a few plaster re-creations) abound at these natural tar … pits, which are still being studied and excavated. Go on a hot day for a whiff of extra-authentic stink and a hint of danger: this may be the only museum in the US that could swallow you with warm asphalt. [link]

Cars and more cars. LA was built for the automobile, and this is its temple. Current exhibits include "The American Convertible" and "Microcars." Even tinier than … you'd imagine. [link]

So this kooky couple decided to start giving each other stuffed bunnies as gifts. They just couldn't quit , and now have over 21,000 "bunny collectibles." The Elvis … Parsley statuette is a crowd-pleaser. [link]

It's closed for a mo, but the best part, the neon cruises, is still running. The nighttime open-top bus tours point out classic theatre marquees and the like. [link]

Go watch some TV and call it educational. Archives available for screening include "The Ed Sullivan Show," "My So-Called Life," and the best ads in Super Bowl history. [link]

When you display gowns, movie posters, and a wealth of other Hollywood goodness inside the Max Factor building, you're pretty much assured of creating one of the world's … gayest museums. At the moment, Barbra even has her own exhibit. This is a museum that is not afraid of kitsch. [link]