Small museums threatened
It was never easy getting people to walk into the Altadena Bunny Museum.
With a dearth of paying customers to help keep it going, naturally occurring social distancing was already a thing at the small rabbit-inspired museum Candace Frazee co-founded in 1998.
Then the first coronavirus guidelines rolled through California, locking down many “nonessential” businesses in a dramatic effort to slow the spread of COVID-19. Soon, the provisions morphed into a stayat-home order from Gov. Gavin Newsom that closed down all museums, including Frazee’s.
“Now we have guidelines to follow, people are staying home for their safety and that’s going to make our survival difficult,” Frazee said.
The beginning of the lockdown process also kickstarted a debate over what was an essential business.
Pool halls and flower shop owners in San Jose considered their businesses essential, while Los Angeles County officials wrestled with whether gun stores were. Other businesses, such as radio parts manufacturers and even Tesla Inc., stayed open.
Easy to overlook was L.A. County’s constellation of small to medium-size museums such as the Gilb Museum of Arcadia Heritage, the Underground Museum in Arlington Heights, the African American Firefighter Museum in downtown L.A., Montebello’s Juan Matias Sanchez Adobe and the
American Military Museum in South El Monte.
Lake Balboa Valley Relics Museum and Event Space curator Tommy Gelinas summed up his frustration.
“This museum is not a big moneymaker for me or my partners,” he said. “We all have second jobs, so to close down is serious and difficult.”
For scores of curators, founders and directors of L.A. County museums, survival was a struggle before the novel coronavirus. Now mandatory closures could threaten some of Southern California’s most overlooked fountains of culture and history.
Opened in 2013, Valley Relics in Van Nuys is dedicated to preserving the history of the San Fernando Valley from the early 1900s to the 1980s and is home to original neon signs, from Pioneer Chicken to Dairy Queen, menus from defunct restaurants, pinball machines and arcade games and a slew of
BMX racing bikes from local legends.
“We’re strictly funded by the community, from memberships to entrance fees to programming, the hosting of historic events and our online store,” Gelinas said. “So the longer we’re closed, the more difficult it will be for us to stay alive.”
Gelinas believes he’ll be able to slide lease payments owed for the next two months to the back end of his contract. But a shutdown extended beyond May would complicate things, he said.
In the meantime, the museum is relying on online sales of items such as retro T-shirts.
For 22 years, the Bunny Museum has broken Guinness World Records for its collection of rabbit knickknacks and memorabilia, which currently stands at 37,653 pieces, including two living 16-pond Flemish Giant rabbits. Frazee is not optimistic about the museum’s ability to survive if there is a prolonged lockdown.
“We need about $500 a day to keep the museum open and we’re very upfront with people,” Frazee said. “If people want me to show them my electric bill or photocopy another bill ... I’ll gladly do it.”
Frazee did not want to speculate on how long she could hold out. But she said she was hopeful people would consider making donations or buying gift certificates.
“We’re not a nonprofit that has thousands of members or an endowment,” Frazee said. “We’re very much at the service and mercy of the public for our survival and we’re in a tough place.”
The 51-year-old Heritage Square Museum in Montecito Heights had seemed to be turning a financial corner.
Eight homes and businesses constructed during the late 19th century constitute the museum square and offer visitors a glimpse of life during the early statehood of California. Just last year, the museum had been profitable.
“Last year was the first year Heritage Square was in the black, and we were feeling very motivated to continue that trend,” said museum Executive Director Kori Capaldi.
The museum’s March 15 closure pauses that momentum. Visitors can no longer visit, and rentals for weddings, corporate events and film shoots have stopped.
“This is really scary for us,” Capaldi said. “We have no revenue coming in, no endowment to dip into.”