From guest blogger Marsha Takeda-Morrison of Sweatpantsmom

As in most major cities, there is no shortage of great museums in Los Angeles.  We’ve got our Natural History Museum, our Museum of Contemporary Art, and our Aerospace Museum.  We’ve the one with the Tar Pits, the (relatively) newly revamped Getty Museum and recently facelifted Getty Villa.  And no list would be complete without the cultural gems like the Japanese American National Museum and the African American Museum.

But it’s safe to say that here in L.A. we’ve got something that no one else has, a museum that’s like no other, a shining beacon in galaxy of museums.  If this were American Idol, it would be David Cook

We’ve got the Museum of Jurassic Technology.

I’m not sure I can even explain what this museum is all about. Don’t let the word ‘Jurassic’ fool you – there’s not a dinosaur to be found.  The website describes it as a “specialized repository of relics and artifacts from the Lower Jurassic, with an emphasis on those that demonstrate unusual or curious technological qualities.”  Huh?

That means you won’t see any triceratops, but you can find an exhibit of decaying dice, and a rather large display case devoted to an exhibit consisting entirely of some fake plants and single ant, titled ‘Megolaponera Foetens: Stink Ant of the Cameroon of West Central Africa.’  The most curious thing is you can press a button and hear a buzzing sound, which is apparently what the stink ant of the Cameroon sounds like – although I’m sure I will never be able to verify this.  Also, don’t miss the unbelievably bizarre collection of letters to the Mt. Wilson Observatory titled, ‘No One May Ever Have The Same Knowledge Again’ and contains, among others, the following letter from a Mrs. Alice May Williams to Dr. Edison Pettit and Dr. Seth B. Nicholson (No, I don’t have any idea who these people are.)  This is an excerpt, and I kept the spelling as they had it:

“…I have got half a house with another woman some years older. She will not let me sit quite a moment it is terriable she keeps wanting to no the inds & outs of everythink. She keeps running up & down the stairs in & out of the doors slamming them about & keeps wanting to talk & keeps wanting me to get ready to go out. It is awfull I dont no wether I am standing on my head or feet & still I am going through that treatment I told you. At times somethink works my mouth to talk out loud & I have got to be carefull of her hearing as she thinks I am mad…”

See what I mean?

The last time I visited the museum, which was a few years ago, there was a guy around four-feet-tall playing the accordion on the sidewalk out front.  When he saw us approaching he stopped, ran inside and took his place behind the ticket counter to collect our admission fees.  Even the pricing is odd; where else is a child considered anyone from ages 12 to 21?  Here’s their entire price list:

Adults, $ 5.00
Children aged 12 to 21, $ 3.00
Students in full time education, $ 3.00
Persons 60 years or older, $ 3.00
Unemployed persons, $ 3.00
Disabled Persons $2.00
Active service personnel in uniform $ 2.00
Children under 12, Free

Also, their hours:

The Museum is open Thursday from 2:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 12:00 noon to 6:00 pm

Oh, and then there’s their membership page, which starts off with the oddest, off-topic paragraph I’ve ever read on a museum website:

On March 25, 1961 Zvezdochka, daughter of the stars, the last of a group of 11 remarkable dogs, was hurtled into space amidst the flaming cacophony of a Vostok four thousand kN rocket launch known to the world as Sputnik 10.

Here at the Museum we feel a strange affinity for these first exceptional, earth-born creatures to leave our planet. Like the dogs, we feel ourselves to be lonely vanguards in a rarefied and unknown atmosphere. But, like Zvezdochka, we are emboldened by those who have gone before while knowing full well the risks and hardships of the journey.

Seriously, you must visit the Museum of Jurassic Technology, if only to say that you have.  You’ll never be the same again.  Zvezdochka and the dogs thank you.

Photo: From the exhibit ‘Rotton Luck: The Decaying Dice of Ricky Jay’

From guest blogger Marsha Takeda-Morrison of Sweatpantsmom

It’s time for another Thursday Thirteen! I was driving around the other day, thinking about how much I love this city. Of course, that was before that lousy driver cut me off on the 405 Freeway and totally harshed my mellow, but that’s a blog post for another day. For now, here a few of my favorite things:

1. Pink’s Hot Dogs – To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure what makes Pink’s Hot Dogs so popular, but for some reason I just feel better knowing it’s there.

2. Guy who sells maps to the stars’ homes on Sunset Blvd. near Doheny – I’ve never actually bought one of these maps, but it’s nice to know that if I ever act on my urge to start stalking Will Smith, there’s somebody who can tell me how to find him.

3. Giant Chair Statue at Pacific Design Center – I love this humongous 30-foot chair, not only for its aesthetics but because we have a running joke: whenever I drive by it with my husband and kids, we always talk about how we’re going to somehow hoist the 10-year old up there and take a picture of her perched on its edge. It’s going to happen, I promise.

4. La Brea Tar Pits – Besides being a great place to take my kids, this place reminds me of my childhood. Also, I have friends who live in the area and have stories of (prehistoric!) tar bubbling up through cracks in their street, which is way more exciting than anything that ever happens on the block where I live.

5. Grauman’s Chinese Theater – Totally overrun with tourists, but where else can you get a close-up look at celebrities’ handprints? Nah, sneaking a look at Shia LeBeouf’s fingerprints at the LAPD isn’t the same.

6. Capitol Records Building – Because it was designed to look like a stack of records! Also, because they’re one of the first buildings every year to put up their Christmas tree made out of lights.

7. Book Soup – Absolutely the coolest book store in the city. Although it makes me sad to go there now, because the legendary Tower Records across the street on Sunset is no longer there.

8. Hollywood and Vine – This famous intersection provides some of the best people-watching in the city. Stopping at that traffic light for thirty seconds always makes me feel like I’ve stepped into a David Lynch movie.

9. Angelyne – I don’t really like Angelyne but she’s my favorite in more of a ‘fascinatingly hideous’ sort of way. Talk to ten different people, and you’ll get ten different Angelyne stories. I once saw her buying clothes at the drug store. She bought some pants, hopped into her pink Corvette and drove away.

10. Watt’s Towers –I urge everyone to get over your fear of driving into this area, and check out these amazing works of art, at least once. Personally, I think your life may be in more danger while trying to shop at Costco during the Christmas rush.

11. Self Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine – I know it sounds all new age-y and touchy-feely, but you should really check this place out. And don’t worry – you don’t have to have a religious bone in your body to appreciate it. A couple of walks around the serene path that winds around the lake and you’ll feel like a new person. If not, at least make yourself useful by feeding the ducks.

12. First Street, Little Tokyo – There’s nowhere else in the city that can say it’s home to my favorite spa, my favorite restaurant and my favorite coffee shop. I’d tell you about all these secret places, but then I’d have to kill you.

13. The Beverly Center – Yeah, it’s just a mall to most people, but it takes me back to my Sex And The City days, when I’d spend hours trolling the stores just to find a perfect dress to wear on a dinner date. Who has that kind of time anymore?