Pacific Island Ethnic Art Museum

It’s small, but awesome for what we were looking for the day we went. My kids are only 1 and 5 years old, so it only took us an hour to see everything.

Cool place to represent the culture of Pacific Islanders. They have real artifacts that indigenous tribes from the Pacific Islands. From shark spears, ritual masks, and even stone carvings. It is $ 5 admission; I suggest going here with a student ID to be discounted. Their garden is pretty chill. This museum is fairly smaller than any other museums in Long Beach, but then again what lacks in quantity of items, they make it up on how good is the quality of their presentation to their audiences. I will definitely recommend this to people new in the city.

My review are simple. Always start with 5 stars and depending on the experience there may be a falling star here or there.
Five stars for making the investment to establish this place in the first place and for the location. How cool to have a Museum on islands actually one a single building/​single city block. It is literary an urban island block between Los Alamitos and Martin Luther King Ave in Long Beach. Quaint and Quirky LA all the way…
There is no parking lot, street parking only, but its free. Actually right across the street is the MoLAA (Museum of Latin American Art) with parking lot and all. I recommend a day trip to visit both museums. The PIEAM is super small, my friend and I spent about ½ hour on site and pretty much saw everything. The cover charge is only $ 5, super affordable.
Falling star 1: I get that Pacific Island art is a reflection of a culture were family and fertility is important. The first installation were photos of stone carvings, I looked up and told my friend… is that a … yes penis… okay I’m a grown up and no prude I can look past the phallic stone statue and the wooden carving of a bare chested female figure inside. Let’s go outside to the sculpture garden. It did not get much better, the first piece a prominent wood carving of a woman with legs spread wide open and «vajayjay» in full view. I was like wow, having children is/​was important to the cultures, I just don’t think I would bring grade school children here unless I was ready to have the talk with them.
Falling star 2: While the interior of the museum very clean and well taken care of, the exterior landscape is overgrown, full of weeds and I would have enjoyed a small bench to sit and contemplate (well maybe not right in front of the first wood carving). The small city block was also weed-​grown and trash-​filled.
Just to sandwich my review with more positive attributes: the murals on the exterior of the building is pretty cool. The palm tree shaped bike rack shows great attention to detail and the trade mark motto is priceless: «many island, many stories, one museum.»

How fun! Loved it! There was even face painting and can even play dress up. I recommend this place for everybody… young and young at heart.

I’m posting this momentous occasion for all Pacific Islanders in support of the Pacific Island Ethnic Art Museum in Long Beach. Their mission is to incorporate the diverse cultures of the Pacific Islands, with a focus on Micronesia, into a permanent collection, educational programs, rotating exhibits, and living arts. Please visit
for more information.