The
Nethercutt Museum
15151 Bledsoe St.
Sylmar, CA
818-367-2252
For anyone who lives in or visits the Southern California area and who has
any interest whatsoever in old cars and/or music, this is a must-see....and best
of all, it is free!
The preceding paragraph could be considered a little disingenuous on my part
because I lived in SoCal for around 30 years now and for two years lived not
four miles from the Nethercutt Museum....and only first visited it a few years
ago.
Anyway, J. B. Nethercutt is the man who built up the Merle Norman Cosmetics
empire. For the past 45 years or so he has devoted an astonishing amount
of time, interest and cold hard cash to the collection and restoration of
classic motorcars and automated mechanical musical instruments. And for
us, the public, the best part is he loves to show it off. To do so he has
created one of the most astonishing venues I have ever seen, and in one of the
most unlikely places.
The museum complex has two primary buildings: The museum proper and across
the street a restricted access multi-story exhibition building he named San
Sylmar (presumably a riff on Hurst's San Simeon). The museum is open all
day, Tuesday through Saturday. However, to get the full impact of Mr.
Nethercutt's collection and creation, you need to pre-book a guided tour of the
San Sylmar building. Check their
WEBSITE for details on this
(the tour also is free).
Here are a handful of pictures taken on our recent visit, but there is more,
much more, to see! Click on the thumbnails to bring up the full-size
picture.
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Quality
The quality of restoration is essentially faultless. |
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Ready to Run
All restorations are to "full operating condition". This oldie could fight
again. |
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Pierce-Arrow Package
This was the equivalent of today's half-million dollar motor homes.(& thanx
to J. Graff for correction on the mfgr.) |
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Custom Rail Car
For a step up in travel, your own private rail car was the way to go. |
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Rail Car Interior
No expense was spared on the rail car's interior furnishings. |
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Rail Car - Owner's Bedroom
This particular car had two smaller Pullman-style bedrooms for guests, plus
lesser accomodations for the servants. |
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San Sylmar Tour
The guided tours, scheduled in advance, get you into to the high-rise
building....definitely a must. |
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San Sylmar
Compare this to your run of the mill museum! |
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San Sylmar
Note there are no ropes or barriers. "Please don't touch"...but you can get
as close as you wish. |
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Cloud 99
The music floor, nicknamed "Cloud 99", houses the mechanical musical
instrument collection. They all work! |
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Music Machines
You are treated to a mini-concert from the various machines. |
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Pipe Organ
They have one of the nation's finest theater "Orchestra Organs", on which
concerts are given. During the tour, a computerized recording re-creates some
concert performances |
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Organ Console
The console is by-passed for the tour demo playback, but is fully functional. |
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Violin "Jukebox"
This nickle-operated music maker treats you to a real violin, mechanically
played. |
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Double Violin
If one is good, two must be better! Accompanying the violins, the machines
also have chimes & various precussion devices |
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