DC Film Society: Adam's Rib April 2019

A Tale of Two Museums

A week ago I traveled to Las Vegas for a friend’s 50th birthday party. On the last day, the rest of the group took earlier flights home, so I was on my own. I had a ticket for a show that evening, but had time to kill beforehand. Not wanting to spend any more money than I already had, I walked up and down the Las Vegas strip. On the strip, everything is an advertisement for itself. The signs, the lights, and the sounds can become overwhelming. As a lone man taking a walk I felt more than a little out of place.

Finally, as I approached one end of the strip, I saw in the distance a sign for the Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N., and remembered an ad for it at the airport when I first arrived. The ad promised costumes and props from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). A movie museum seemed like a good fit for the day, or at least a couple of hours. I was hoping to learn a little more about how Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and their team created the characters and how they developed from the comic books to the big screen. Too bad, because the Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N. had none of that.

After paying the $42 admission fee, and dashing my hopes of saving money, I quickly realized that there was no mention of Stan Lee, MCU producer Kevin Feige, or anyone involved in the Avengers films. Hell, I couldn’t even find Robert Downey Jr. or Scarlett Johansson listed anywhere. Instead, it was a faux S.H.I.E.L.D (Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division, from the MCU) museum, tracking the origins of each MCU character, which of course you would already know if you watched the films. That was blended with S.H.I.E.L.D Agent “training,” which mostly involved some games along the way. The Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N. was part museum, part theme park attraction, which I suppose makes sense for a Disney-owned property. In fairness, I did see some cool costumes:

At the end of the training, each of my group was handed a remote control to aim at a video wall. We used these remotes to collectively repel and destroy Ultron. Once we passed that grueling final test, Maria Hill, a supporting character in the MCU, declared us all her fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.

Like any new agent I celebrated by going to the bathroom. Two guys next to me discussed their plans. Now generally I don’t eavesdrop on others talking in the men’s room because it’s not polite and I don’t like getting beat up. Nonetheless, I could not help overhearing them mention the Hollywood Car Museum. Why hadn’t I heard of that place before? After a Google search and a Lyft ride, I was there.

The Hollywood Car Museum was barely over two miles away from the Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N., but it might as well have been on another planet. I found it in what could best be described as an industrial section, in a complex of auto-themed businesses, including one that read “Exotic Collision Repair.” I assume that means repairing exotic cars, because I could only imagine what an exotic collision would be. Far from the strip’s crowds, this section was practically empty.

When I entered the museum, I asked the caretaker (and the only staff on-site) for the price. “Twenty dollars,” he replied, “Cash Only.” After paying less than half of what I did at the Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N., I walked into a huge warehouse filled with cars, trucks, and the smell of tires. No particular order, but all connected with movies and TV shows. As much as the Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N. felt corporate and antiseptic, this museum felt homemade and organic. It was a place where I was free to roam, and here’s a little bit of what I found:

Yes, that’s the DeLorean from Back to the Future. Actually in this case it was a replica, as some of these cars were.

A little tougher than the DeLorean, right? This one’s from Robocop.

The car from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. In the upper right hand corner you can see the Lotus from The Spy Who Loved Me. I don’t know how I missed that, but I did catch some other Bond cars, including ...

the jeep from the opening of Skyfall, and . . .

the plane/car from the opening of Octopussy.

Unfortunately, this was only a replica of the “death car” from Bonnie and Clyde, but it was timely, as I had just seen another depiction of their killing in the Netflix film The Highwaymen.

The good news is that the museum went beyond cars to include this lifeboat from Captain Phillips. The bad news is that the Grammar Check must have failed with “Tom Hank’s.” Unless of course there’s a Tom Hank who also starred in the movie.

This one may be cheating a little bit, since there’s no live-action version of Cars. Although given the rate Disney’s remaking/cannibalizing their classic films, it may be only a matter of time.

As an added bonus, the back room was a Liberace museum, with all of the subtlety you might expect.

Second best of all, the Museum featured dueling Batmobiles . . .

Nothing against this model from the Tim Burton films, but my heart goes with ...

the model from the 60’s TV show, which my wife and I agree will be our next car. OK, I might be lying about my wife agreeing, but she may come around if we could throw in this ...

Yes, the underrated Batcycle.

While I loved all of these, my favorite, and the one fueling my biggest nostalgia trip had to be ...

For those uninitiated, this is the Knight Industries Two Thousand, better known as KITT, from “Knight Rider” my favorite show as a preteen boy. This car could smash through anything, analyze anything, deflect bullets, talk, unlock doors, solve crimes, and get hot girls for its driver. I suppose there’s no real mystery why it appealed to me so much when I was ages 9-11. In fact, back then I was pretty steamed that “Knight Rider” never won a single Emmy. It was the early 80s, and “Hill Street Blues” was winning everything. But, to the best of my knowledge, “Hill Street Blues,” while admittedly garnering much critical acclaim, never had a talking car. “Knight Rider,” as we have already established, did have a talking car. How could the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences not understand this?

On the way out I learned that the Hollywood Car Museum was the brainchild of Michael Dezer and displayed part of his collection. Dezer is a real estate developer who was born and raised in Israel, which is perhaps a little karma as my wife is also Israeli. The caretaker told me that Dezer has another Hollywood Car Museum in Miami that dwarfs what I had just witnessed. Something to look forward to, I hope.

Las Vegas has changed many times since the Rat Pack glory days. I imagine the city, and the strip in particular, will continue to grow bigger, louder, and glitzier. That may include more attractions such as Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N. All well and good, but I hope there will still be room for homegrown discoveries like the Hollywood Car Museum. Those slices of Americana are what make traveling worth doing in the first place.

Adam Spector
April 1, 2019