Nethercutt Museum — Attraction in Los Angeles

Wow. Wow. Wow. Can't stop talking about this place. Luxury, world winning car collection lovingly looked after. All original parts, all driven on California freeways to keep them healthy. Two buildings in Sylmar. One for the eye popping car collection and the other for the musical instruments and elegant entertaining space for the family's guests. Orchestras in cabinets that used to provide music in hotels and restaurants from the late 1800s to the 40s or so. One of a kind pieces that are conserved lovingly by this family and here to stay, free for the public. The mighty Wurlitzer organ with 5200 pipes throughout the walls and under the floor. Everything is run by air and paper music rolls. No electricity! And the man who takes care of these wonders and plays them is your tour guide. A very devoted and charming man whose life is these cars and musical wonders, and he loves and honors his position. Just looking at a modest sized cabinet I could see two violins playing themselves. A larger full orchestra beautiful wood cabinet can be opened to see drums actually drumming. It's fascinating and unbelievable. You cannot help but marvel at what was possible in the early 1900s for musical entertainment in dance halls and hotels. I may be wrong but I think it was the Merle Noman cosmetics line that made this all possible. Tours Thursday Friday and Saturday. You can wander around the building with most of the car collection on your own then cross the street to an odd looking 4 story museum and guided tour. This is where the circular Stairway to the Stars is. The Nethercutt family would entertain the Hollywood elite and politicians in a grand dining room which was transported from some castle in Europe. Endless mirrors in the elegant dining room that seats something like 24. Standing at either end will put you in the endless mirror reflection state. This place is one of a kind, always free to the public kept up and shown for the love of it. A short hop to the valley you will never forget, never regret. The...

We had been to the museum, across the street, but weren't able to make the tour. The tours are in the multistory collections building across the street from the museum. Came back specifically for the tour, and it was more than worth the drive. You can't buy this stuff. A lot of it is one of a kind. The Duesenberg Torpedo is a custom-built automobile. You can only see it here, and it is amazing. It's priceless in value. For us to see it? It's free! You can't get in it, but you can get so close to it that they ask gents to remove their belt buckles, rings, and watches. There are other automobiles that are almost as impressive. Not into cars? How about mechanical music boxes? Not the little ones. Some are as big as a living room wall, and sound amazing. The Imperial piano--97 keys, instead of the standard 88. It's big, and unique. The Mighty Wurlitzer theater organ--over 5,000 pipes, and able to reproduce all kinds of sound effects. This is not a sterile tour giving you the technical facts. Guide, curator and head of maintenance, Kyle, has an encyclopedic knowledge of the items, all kinds of weird and funny tidbits about the collection. Really worth experiencing. The building has elevators and is wheelchair and walker accessible. Stroller accessible, but not the best place for young children. There are excellent restrooms and water fountains. Free parking...

An amazing museum that specializes in antique luxury vehicles from the turn of the century. I highly recommend doing the guided tour of the Nethercutt's private collection across the street. It's only done on Thursdays-Saturdays twice a day by reservation on first come first serve basis. Take full advantage of looking at the collection in the first 15 minutes of the tour because you will not come back (I assume it gives time for late comers to make it before the rest of the tour starts, some people got irritated that there wasn't enough time to view everything and we weren't allowed back). Great for the wives because there are doll collections, musical instruments, furniture, etc. The curator was a great tour guide and I was glad to see/hear the third largest organ in the world with all the silent movie sound effects. Great collections of things you probably wouldn't get to see. After that guided tour is done, you could catch the quick 15 minute tour of the steam engine train and private car in the back of the museum across the street, then finish up looking at the rest of the museum at your own pace. We were glad to come back the next day for the guided tour of the nethercutt's private collection, a real privilege. The best part is that it is all free! Probably LA's best...