Fullerton Museum Center

Cute small museum! I enjoyed the comic exhibit that they had awhile back. If your around the area hanging out in downtown Fullerton, I would definitely stop by~

We checked out the Haunted Fullerton Walking Tour. I have to say the highlight was seeing the inside of the Fox theater. The rest was nothing special at all. After a 30 min briefing on paranormal stuff by the guys from NOPS (No Orange Co Paranormal Society) we followed our guide on foot to Angelo’s and Vinci’s (not Fullerton High or the Plummer Auditorium as advertised), sat in the third floor dining room to hear about more paranormal activity that takes place in the restaurant and around Fullerton. From there we walked across Harbor to the former home of Lillian Yeager (first female mechanic of Fullerton) and stood outside (the owner was not there to have us inside as advertised) to hear about more paranormal activity that takes place inside which is now a curio shop called Le Potager. We then walked back across Harbor to the Fox Theater and went inside, sat and heard a few more paranormal stories. We then crossed Harbor again and went to the old California Hotel and sat in the courtyard of the Villa Del Sol to hear about the hauntings that take place there. The tour ended there at Café Hidalgo where we redeemed our free beverage coupon given to us in the beginning at check in.
Overall the people were nice however the tour seemed unorganized and incomplete and I can’t say it was worth the money.

Not much to see here. And the people who work here are not friendly and will not tell you about anything until you give them 20 $

I just happened to be working in the area and ran into this little gem. It’s the Fullerton Museum Center. The museum has one stationary exhibit for Fender. The traveling exhibit is about the Johnny Carson show. I didn’t get a chance to get a peak because they didn’t open their doors until noon, but it looks interesting enough to make a visit in the future and provide a more detailed review.
Avoid using the restroom here. It smells like a cat pee’d and poo’d for a month inside, then died in the pipes. Yuck!!!
Exhibit = unknown
Walking area = clean
Service = friendly staff
Restroom = God aweful. Enter only if you want to pass out.

I’ve done enough bitching and whining lately that I’m due for a positive review, and the Fullerton Museum Center gets it.
This place is great. Quirky and unique, it never has your run-​of-​the-​mill-​shows. The last one had incredible paintings of superheroes that were stunning. Stunning I tell you! The next show is about Johnny Carson, which I expect will be great.
My favorites have been really fun. There was the 100 Worst Album Covers of All Time; Nudie Suites, which was about the guy who made all those fancy sequined and glittery costumes country singers used to wear; dramatic photographs form WWII, and of course the British Invasion.
You won’t find boring stuff here. It’s small enough to do what it wants, but it is in a city that won’t let them be too radical. So the exhibits always meet a curious safe place off to the side of the middle of the road.
If you haven’t been, you should. Thursday is a great day to introduce yourself, as it is Downtown Market day, which the museum folks run. There is a beer garden, live music, an incredibly welcoming social town square atmosphere, and an opportunity to sign up and become a member. It’s cheap to do and the benefit is immediate in the form of coupons for free beer.
Best yet is that the staff and folks who operate the place are great to work with. Last year I’m told there was a problem with people sneaking in their own booze, which is a major no-​no. The problem went away without notice because of how well it was handled. (Beer sales at the Market is how the museum pays for exhibits, so the cheap folks who can’t contribute should stay home anyway).
Okay, I’ve said nice things about something, so now I’ll go back to being snippy about something else. Hmmm, what should it be? Stay tuned.

Hidden gem. Visited for the recent photography exhibit Where Children Sleep by James Mollison. After reading Unilocal reviews, I was pleasantly surprised at how beautifully curated the exhibit was. The Leo Fender exhibit was small, with mostly newer guitars, but it was interesting to see a few from the 40’s. Despite lacking in size, it was very educational. I had no idea Fender’s history was so deeply rooted in Orange County. The gift shop had a cute collection of items, with a good price range. The cashiers/​docents were very friendly & happy to see the public. Definitely worth a visit!

Haven’t been into the museum portion of this building, but I have strolled into their gift shop, it is small, yet totally darling.
The gift shop has many quirky and eclectic items.
From art books, to figurines, post cards, stationery, purses and tumblers. I like walking over here to take a break from work. Looking at all the cool stuff transports my corporate brain.
When I decide to check out the museum, I will update this review. Until then, if you’re into avant-​garde gifts and rare literature, and you happen to be in the area, I recommend you stop by.

Pretty cool place, pretty cool exhibit. But the employees are rude! I heard you the first time I know you close at 4. I don’t need you to tell me 5 times that you close in a few minutes. Settle down Beavis.

if you are a fender guitar fan then get over there !
very nice students run the counter nyu and tech students
only 4 bucks– you should check out my fullerton pizza place review and do both in the same day — pizza and fender guitars and free public parking what is not too like about downtown fullerton

There was a groupon for a membership at the museum. «ooh» i thought to myself «this is what adults do– have memberships at museums.»
We finally got there and walked around the museum. It was nice, but small. There was an exhibit on inventions and pattens. Great fender display. If you are going to go to this mueseum-​get a membership. It makes it worth the price. Otherwise, I’m not sure. You get invited to events and can bring your whole family. Aside from that you are helping out the local community– they do a lot of events for kids.
The gift shop is great for finding unusual items for gifts.
Go to the museum then grab a coffee at the Night Owl.

The place was interesting for me since there was an exhibit about the founder of Fender, who was raised in Fullerton and founded Fender there. It was interesting since it revealed some history about one of the places where I grew up. The other exhibit was a display of historic citrus fruit crate labels… not as exciting. The most exciting items were (1) the orange time capsule I discovered next to the staircase tucked away from the normal path and (2) the giant roach sitting below me, below an air duct grate.

Little place with small, interesting exhibits. It’s only $ 4 to get in and their gift shop is pretty cool!
I saw the Frida Kahlo photo exhibit here on a Saturday afternoon and it was quiet and fantastic!

I recently attended the Frida Kahlo: Through the Lens of Nickolas Muray exhibit at the Fullerton Museum Center. Though I have visited the museum several times to see the featured artist unveiled during the monthly art walks and to peruse the eclectic gift shop, this is the first exhibition I have seen in the museum’s main gallery. I am so glad I attended! Seeing how one artist interprets another through photography, especially since the subject artist used a different medium for her own self portraits, was what initially intrigued me. Adding on the fact that Kahlo and Muray had a decade-​long affair, I knew I must witness this.
Walking through the towering white doors, your eyes are immediately inundated with color — vibrant, beautiful color perfectly framing the portraits of the chromatic Frida Kahlo. The portraits underwent various processing techniques and were featured in full prismatic color, as well as black and white. The viewer can see how the photographer equally lusted and admired his subject; however, the portraits I enjoyed the most, oddly enough, were those of Kahlo and husband Diego Rivera. Muray posed them in such a regal fashion, representing where Rivera stood within the art world and what Frida aspired to be (and would recently become). Muray beautifully captured moments of the married couple embracing and kissing. Though seemingly ambivalent through his lens, I wonder how Muray processed his what-​appeared-​to-​be constant fluctuating relationship with Kahlo, seeing this woman manipulate every shot. Brilliant!
The exhibition included letters written by Kahlo to Muray, depicting her aggravation with the art world, her appreciation of Rivera and her love for Muray. They were deeply personal letters that brought you into the mind of this surrealist painter — who was often in physical and emotional pain — gaining insight into her self-​reflective work. I consider myself appreciative and knowledgeable of many art forms, so I am particularly pleased when my museum experience turns out to be a learning one, as it should be and this was. Keep up the good work FMC! I’m excited to see your future exhibitions.
What prevented this from being a 5-​star experience was not having an engaging staff. As the only museum attendee during my visit, I would have expected the staff to be an informative source, providing exhibition material, briefly describing what will be seen or suggesting a favorite piece. Even without these factors, I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Don’t expect much from this place. It’s a very small museum and you probably won’t like it unless you are into Fender guitars. There was another exhibit at the time I went — Julius Schulman, an architectural photographer who is known for photographing many of the mid century modern homes in Palm Springs. I think the Julius Schulman exhibit is temporary and will probably get replaced with something else shortly but the Leo Fender exhibit seems to be a permanent display since he got his business started in Fullerton and has a long history in the city.
Entrance is fee is $ 4/​person. There’s a small gift shop at the entrance that sells items related to current exhibits. Saw some cool Fender shirts but they didn’t have my size and the price is ridiculously high.

So knowing the local Bowers Museum was an awesome place, I thought Fullerton Museum Center was the same case, but I guess I was totally wrong.
The place is very neat and well-​organized, but as far as artifacts and items on display go, it wasn’t much. I understand they mostly display local things from within Orange County, but I thought it could be way better. Currently they are having a «10,000 Years of Beer» exhibit going on, and me being someone who does not drink alcohol whatsoever found it a bit boring. It was a little interesting to see how beer cans have evolved throughout the years, but other than that — eh.
Only thing I found interesting was the gift shop area. Since Halloween is around the corner, there was a small notebook for sale about the haunted places around the Downtown Fullerton area. I looked through it and discovered some haunted places, and took them into consideration. I ended up checking those places out like Villa del Sol and had a much more fascinating time than this «museum center.»

I think the smartest thing to do is just to become a member of the museum. This way you support a great local community art center. The membership pays for itself in so many ways. The first month of when the Farmers’ Market opens, you can sign up for under $ 40 for a full year membership. The market lasts 8 months and you get a drink coupon mailed to you each month, your collector market mug and special members only invitations to exhibit openings. The Museum Center also has a phenomenal gift shop with tons of great gifts that I know art/​design freaks would love to snag up.
The Museum center also offers summer art programs for kids which I think is spectacular and they even offer up adult classes too, last night the Mr. and I took a simple silk screening class for $ 8 and it was really fun to do something different and creative for a date night.
Right now the exhibit is Technicolor Dreaming: Psychedelic Posters from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. I love this era, I love all things mid-​1960s and i adore the rock and roll hall of fame in Cleveland and I think it is great that they loaned these posters to FMC for the exhibit. In an age of technology, you just don’t find design and art out there like these posters. These are authentic hand drawn and lithographed posters where the design was inspired by amazing music.
The permanent Fender Guitar exhibit is definitely worth seeing and as I always say, I was born in the wrong decade.

The hun surprised me with an excursion to the Fullerton Museum. Why, you ask would he want to take me there on a date? Well, he knows me well enough that I’m a purse junky and the museum had a purse exhibit. It was a little more than just a collection of purses, they also discussed the social impact that purses made. I thought that it was a decent exhibit that was worth $ 4 for an hour of walking around.

I know a cultural faux pas when I step in one…
Knowing most Unilocalers as a frugal bunch, allow me to save you some time and money so you can spend it getting wasted versus wasting it at this museum. I understand culturalists will say «How can you be so cold and callous? Our children simply love this place!» And all I have to say is life is tough, I’m not a child and it is what it is… not worth $ 4. But I’ll help pay the light bill today (actually, my friend did, hehe)
You want some details.
After my friend bought an early birthday AYCE Italian buffet lunch, we felt the need to walk some of it off. There was a lot to walk off. «Hey, there’s a museum, let’s get some kultcha!» We enter the Fullerton Museum Center (I haven’t a clue what makes it a «center») and find:
A bunch of photographs you’ll find in any California history book.
1 (one) tiny gold ingot as the headliner item of «Gold Fever!», the core exhibit.
1 (one) rusted iron Spanish helmet with rusted sword, bfd.
1 (one) metal panning pan, again bfd.
1 (one) mini-​scale, do I need say bfd again?
Got Gold Fever yet? I felt fine with no hint of a high temperature.
Now, the special exhibit: Fender guitars. I’m not a guitar purist and admittedly don’t know a fret from a chord. But they had several guitars hanging on the walls and described the story of Leo Fender and his contribution to modern music. Al got a picture of me strumming a six-​string and somewhere I swear I smelled shrimp beginning to boil. But I broke a nail and maybe that’s why I’m so callous and cold, culturally lacking. At least I didn’t have to fly home. But I’d had a manicure just the day before, was stuffed blind, had my glasses on with no make-​up, it was a rainy, cold, bad-​hair day, and whatever… this place was as dead as the Conquistador that once wore that iron rust bucket.
That’s it! Think of all that time and money I just saved you…
Of course, you can spend $ 4 and see if I’m wrong… OR you can mail me the $ 4 because you’ve saved all that gas money
P. S., my friend thought the gold was fake but I thought it was real. He tried shoving the plexiglass case aside a few times but it wouldn’t budge.
(just kidding).
P. P. S., the museum store had a bunch of trash kitschy stuff in it but that’s not why we came in. A hunk of iron pyrite for the kid perhaps?

The exhibits are really well organized and interesting… the permanent Fender Guitar exhibit is worth seeing. A great place to take kids on a field trip. The creative staff here is really, really skilled. A fun way to spend a couple hours.