Annual Free Museum Day for Southern California and Nationwide

On the last Saturday in September plan on visiting your favorite museum, with your kids. This year's Museum Day will be on Saturday, September 25^th, 2010! Selecting which Southern California museum or gallery to view can be a daunting task, especially when there are so many Smithsonian affiliate museums participating across America, from Alaska to Puerto Rico, and Maine to Hawaii.

Unlike the Smithsonian museums in our nation's capitol, which are free every day of the year (including Museum Day) Southern Californians will need to have tickets for this special event. First decide which museum you would like to attend at http://Smithsonianmag.com/museumday/ and select "Find a Museum" in the top right-hand corner, then click on "Find a Location".

Selecting a Museum to Visit

Select your closest (or favorite) museum, by entering your zip code, or state on the American-map graphic, and then search the venues within your locale. Once you've decided which participating museum to visit, press the ticket for "Museum Day Free Admission", fill out their form, and print out your free admission for two.

Southern California Museums

Check online at the Smithsonian website, and your scheduled museum just prior to visiting, as last year we had to change museums due to a UCLA football game (traffic) occurring on the same day. You will want to get there early, and pay as much as $10.00 to park for the day.

There are at least 53 uniquely different, participating museums, galleries and science centers throughout the greater Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego County areas. One local choice is the Whaley House museum, in San Diego, California.

The Whaley House museum was San Diego's first county courthouse, public theater, and general store back in the 1800's, and has been called "America's Most Haunted House"! The Grammy Museum at LA Live, 800 W. Olympic Blvd. in Los Angeles, boasts an "interactive music experience" with the likes of Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and the Doors (from the 1960's) with rare photographs, music films, programs and artifact exhibits.

Also participating with free Museum-Day viewing in Los Angeles are the coveted Getty Museum, and Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades. San Pedro's Point Fermin Lighthouse is another participating museum, and was billed as the first lighthouse to guide ships into the Los Angeles Harbor, back in 1874. But uniquely Southern Californian, Orange County's own, Huntington Beach International Surfing Museum, is also participating.

I've only listed a few of the unique museums to visit in Southern California on Museum Day, but there are so many more. We have aviation, railroad, natural science, and history museums, as well as cultural centers, art galleries and archeological centers. Take your kids and enjoy Museum Day 2010, with free admission.