Petersen Automotive Museum

A Building That Makes a Statement

The Petersen announces itself before you reach the door. The 308 stainless-steel ribbons curling over the building’s hot-rod-red exterior were designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox to suggest air flowing over a moving car, and up close the effect holds. At night, 866 LED fixtures light the facade from within. It’s one of the few cases in LA where museum architecture feels like a genuine match for its subject matter, and the building routinely stops people on the sidewalk.

Three Floors, One Big Story

The museum is organized thematically across three floors totaling 95,000 square feet of exhibition space. The top floor covers the history of the automobile, including LA’s specific relationship with car culture, with interactive displays showing how the city grew around the car rather than the other way around. The middle level leans into design and artistry: Art Deco coach-built cars from the 1930s, the BMW Art Cars collection (including the original 1975 3.0 CSL painted by Alexander Calder), and a 166-foot display wall of motion graphics. The ground floor handles motorsports and contemporary design, with a 134-foot, 180-degree projection wall that puts you at the edge of a race circuit.

Across the three floors, you’ll find 25 galleries and more than 100 vehicles on display at any given time. The rotating format keeps things current, so what’s on the floor this visit may be swapped for something else the next time.

The Vault

The main floors give you plenty to work with, but the Vault is where the collection’s true depth becomes clear. Located in the basement, it holds more than 300 vehicles, including rare prototypes, celebrity-owned cars, race machines, and historically significant vehicles that don’t fit the current upstairs rotation. A Vault ticket costs extra (around $29 above general admission for adults), and it’s worth it if cars are your thing. Budget an additional 90 minutes at minimum.

For those who want even deeper access, Saturday Shop Tours add a guided walk through the Vault and the restoration workshop, limited to 25 guests per session and priced at $99 for adults (general admission and Vault included).

Hollywood Cars and Crowd Pleasers

The Petersen has long understood how to pull in visitors who aren’t deeply into cars. The Hollywood vehicles, a DeLorean from Back to the Future, KITT from Knight Rider, cars from Christine and Herbie, are among the most photographed objects in the building. The lowrider exhibits tend to catch people off guard. The level of craft in those cars is serious, and they’re treated as such here, integral to a broader story about what cars have meant to Southern California rather than a novelty sidebar.

Dining: Meyers Manx Café

The ground floor café is open to anyone, museum ticket or not. Named after the iconic fiberglass dune buggy born in 1960s Southern California, the Meyers Manx Café leans into a casual, beach-casual theme without becoming a theme-park cafeteria. The food is a step above standard museum fare.

Planning Your Visit

Give yourself at least two to three hours for the main galleries. A full Vault visit adds another 90 minutes. The museum gets busy on weekends; weekday mornings are noticeably quieter. Photography is welcome throughout, but tripods and gimbals are not permitted. Parking is available in the attached garage, with the entrance on Fairfax Avenue. The first 15 minutes are free; parking rates beyond that are not published on the museum’s website, so confirm on arrival or check before you go. The museum also has EV charging stations on Level P1.