Oakland Museum of California & Gift Shop

The Oakland Museum of California is a gem of a museum. I'm sure I use that word a lot, but that's what I'm on the hunt for these days. GEMS - precious and rare. It was established in 1969 as a "museum for the people" and it tells the story of California, through art, history, and natural sciences. The museum's mid-century modern architecture alone is unique, designed by Kevin Roche as a "museum that also serves as a vibrant urban park and public space."

Open daily 11-5, except Wednesday 11-9, closed Monday and Tuesday. One block from Lake Merritt BART in Oakland, East Bay. Check out their website here.

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On Fridays from 5-9 PM, they host the "Off the Grid" food truck party, with half price museum admission, live music, and extended museum store hours. Also, they have an upcoming exhibit named "we/customize" from Feb. 9th- June 2nd. It's about maker culture and how "people are customizing mass-produced objects," along the lines of IKEA hacks or DIY projects. How very on-trend of them! That's what I love about this museum - the innovation and quest for relevancy as well as the focus on local culture and history! Needless to say, I can't WAIT to go to "we/customize."

I'm aiming to become a Museum Ambassador, twice a month, so today I went to a volunteer info session, where I had the pleasure of learning more about the museum and even got to participate in a short mock tour for our "fourth grade group." Here are some pics I took - again, with my camera phone and Instagram. I need to start brining my camera with me.

The short tour related to the Gold Rush of California, where we could spin a "wheel of fortune" to see what our fate was, after the gold was gone. Most involved dying or going broke, but it was a fun, interactive way for kids to learn about California's history.

Along the way was an original miner's cabin, with an interactive woman seen on a screen through the open cabin door. Children could pick up a phone and speak with her, to hear her story. 

There was also a John Hook street sign, introducing the modern controversy of immigration to California, as well as a "garage" exhibit, in homage to the birth place of much technological innovation in California.

At the entrance/exit:

Here's one half! Vive la France!

I could have visited this gallery alone ALL day. In order to motivate myself to move on, I decided to visit the museum gift shop. I ADORE museum gift shops - you can always find the most creative gifts there, although you usually pay the price. This shop was great. Of course, they had a very unique selection of locally made gifts (hooray!) as well as a great deal of SALE items. (Did you say SALE??)

Everyone at the museum was very kind, personable, and helpful. The attendants in the museum shop were interested in my story and went the extra mile to help me. They even forgave me for breaking a porcelain origami crane ornament... I bought another, I promise! But goodness, I don't know what's wrong with me these days, breaking ornaments left and right. 

Some particularly neat gifts I found were:

A print of Oakland's neighborhoods, $24.00

Grow your own mushroom kit. Another inspiring local story. Reminds me of the Tom's story, too. Post a pic with your fully grown kit on their Facebook page and they'll donate a kit and sustainability curriculum to an elementary school classroom of your choice! 

They had several DIY camera kits - a twin lens camera that you assemble yourself that takes lovely flare and saturated low-fi images. HOW COOL IS THAT? One was $11.00, the other $42.00. 

Finally, a sweet $8.00 birthday music box. You turn the handle and it plays "Happy Birthday" to you.

Better, and more original than a card, I think!

I made it out of there, SCATHED, with the aforementioned ornament, a Dios de los Muertos shirt from 2012 (I love local tees and hope to participate in this year's celebration at the museum), and a California flag necklace from the Yellow Owl Workshop, based in the Mission in San Francisco.