Trip: Nethercutt Museum

So this week I got a chance to visit Nethercutt Museum in Sylmar, California. This quiet building is filled with antique cars from late 1800s to 1960s. The owner of this museum is no one other than... the Nethercutt family, of course. Actually, Jack Boison Nethercutt, an avid car collector, was the man that started the collection, but he died in 2004. His wife, Dorothy, also passed away in the same year. His son has taken over the operation of the museum since then.

From outside, the car museum didn't look too impressive; however, there are 8 rows of classic cars in the damn museum!!! That's right, that is 8 rows, not 8 cars, which totaled to over 100 classic cars -- shoulder to shoulder. Even an antique car collector, like Jay Leno, would drool over this. On the wall, there are several collections, including car emblems, toy cars, and items from the early 1900s.

In addition, there is a FREE two hours tour(with reservation) to visit the second building, which normally is not open to the public. Now, I have been working in Sylmar for a couple of years, but accidentally saw it on wikimapia earlier this year. Anyways, after some thought, I decided to visit here, and join the free tour. A word of caution, be prepare to shock and awe...

On the bottom floor of the second building is filled with classic cars, including the little wooden buggy you see in the photos. On the wall, there are car trophies, classic musical boxes, and two feet dolls from late 1800s.

Moving on to the second floor... Woh!! Wah! Wow!!!! The whole floor and the columns are made out of marble from Italy, Africa, and Virginia. The ceiling is approximately 50 feet high, and one of the wall is a mirror. Each grand chandelier on the ceiling is over 6 feet tall. Apparently, this floor is made to look like a car show room back in the early 1900s. Amazing. While we were looking around, a piano was playing George Gershwin's "Rhapsody In Blue", but... the pace didn't feel right. That's because the paper roll replayed the actual record of Gershwin himself. Neat.

The third floor is a collection of car emblems. Very comprehensive. There are tons of emblems from car companies that shut down. Also, you can see the evolutions of emblems through the years.

The fourth floor is a musical hall. There are several orchestrions in the hall, and, yes, "orchestrion" is a real word (time to add the word to the spell checker)! Basically, an orchestrion is like orchestra in a box... err... make that a giant cabinet! Popper and Hubfeld are among the biggest orchestrions in the world. Both of them are over 10 feet wide, 10 feet tall, and about 3 feet deep. However, the grand finale is an overwhelming 500 pipes organ orchestra playing the Star War theme mixed with two famous early 1900s musics (one is something with Chu Chu Train). Needless to say, the experience is incredible. It really felt like you are in an orchestral theater.

To sum my thought in few words... a must see in your life time!!!









Links:
* Wikipedia - Orchestrion
* Nethercutt Museum
* Youtube - Nethercutt Museum