If you love contemporary art or are otherwise fascinated and intrigued by the creativity of contemporary artists, you can’t miss a visit to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, one of the world’s leading contemporary art museums. Admission is free for the next few years – so don’t miss this opportunity!
PS: If you are interested in other types of attractions, read our article on the places to visit in Los Angeles.
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What is MOCA
MOCA is the Museum of Contemporary Art in the City of Angels. Opened in 1979, its main venue is the MOCA Grand located in Downtown Los Angeles. The building was designed by architect Arata Isozaki and opened in 1986. It houses the main collections, a café, store, and staff offices.
A second location is in Little Tokyo, also in Los Angeles, and is the MOCA Geffen Contemporary. The building was designed by Frank Gehry, the same architect as the nearby Walt Disney Concert Hall, and opened in 1983. This location offers an impressive 13,000 square feet of exhibition space.
Finally, MOCA considers its third location to be a landscape artwork purchased in 1985: artist Michael Heizer’s Double Negative (1969). Located in the Nevada desert, it is a work of landscape architecture that includes two large man-made canyons that follow the natural slope of the land. To understand its meaning, we can repeat the artist’s words, “There is nothing here, and yet it is still a sculpture.” As in all works of contemporary art, the real meaning can be found in the feelings the work evokes.
In 2001, the MOCA Pacific Design Center opened at 8687 Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood. A stunning building by Charles Cohen with more than 100 international showrooms and a 2.5 million-square-foot campus. The inaugural exhibition, Superflat, was by Takashi Murakami. Cohen guaranteed MOCA free use of the space and coverage of operating expenses for 20 years. However, the partnership between MOCA and the Pacific Design Center has come to an end, so today the PDC is no longer considered one of MOCA’s venues.
Directions
As mentioned above, MOCA currently has three venues: the MOCA Grand, MOCA Geffen, and Double Negative.
- MOCA Grand is located at 250 South Grand Avenue in Los Angeles.
- If you are driving, the closest parking lot is the California Plaza at 351 South Olive Street. The cost is $11.50 on weekends and evenings, while during the week the price varies up to a daily maximum of $40.50. Meter-payable parking can also be found on Grand Avenue.
- If you come by bus, the best stop is between Hope Street and 3rd Street.
- If, on the other hand, you arrive by subway you can get off at Civic Center/Grand Park Station and the entrance to MOCA Grand is just a short walk away.
- MOCA Geffen is located at 152 North Central Avenue in the Little Tokyo neighborhood of Los Angeles.
- If you are driving there are two parking lots nearby: Parking Lot 2 at 300 East Temple Street and Parking Lot 7 at 140 North Judge John Aiso Street. Both have a one-time fee of $9 on weekdays. The former is closed on weekends and after 4 p.m., times when you can instead use the latter for $7. On Temple Street you can also find metered parking spaces.
- The building is also easily accessible by bus using the yellow line and getting off at the stop between Temple Street and Alameda Street.
- If you are on the subway, get off at Civic Center/Grand Park Station, take First Street and then a 15-minute walk will bring you to the Geffen Contemporary.
- The Double Negative is located in the Moapa Valley desert on Mormon Mesa, near Overton, Nevada. From Los Angeles, it is about a 7-hour drive. Being in the desert, MOCA’s official website suggests that you inform someone about your trip, not travel alone, and of course bring water and supplies. The use of a 4×4 vehicle is also highly recommended, since the last 45 minutes of the journey are on an unpaved road.
From Los Angeles you need to reach the small town of Overton. At that point take Cooper Street, then Airport Road to the top of the mesa where a dirt road begins. Do not turn onto the roads to the right or left, but rather drive along the mesa for 2.6 miles. At this point take the small road to the left and continue north for 1.3 miles where the view of the opera Double Negative (1969) will open before you at a fork in the road.
To make the best arrangements you can read our guide on how to get around Los Angeles.
MOCA Tickets and Opening Hours
Thanks to a major donation of $10 million from museum board chair Carolyn Clark in 2019, access to the museum is free and will remain so until 2024. This rule does not apply to special exhibitions, for which tickets cost $18.
- MOCA Grand is open Thursday through Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
- MOCA Geffen is open Thursday through Sunday from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm.
- The Double Negative is always open and is obviously free, although, as mentioned, it requires a special trip to see it and is not easy to get to.
MOCA Los Angeles Collection
Among Los Angeles museums, MOCA is the only one to have been funded entirely by a group of artists. Many works have, moreover, been donated by the artists themselves. Today, with more than 7,000 pieces, the museum houses one of the most important collections of contemporary art, with international artists and works from 1940 to the present.
In addition to the permanent collections, there are numerous temporary exhibitions of contemporary artists from various parts of the world. If you are in Los Angeles and fascinated by contemporary art, this museum is an interesting place to devote a few hours to. The main venue is located in downtown Los Angeles, is easily accessible, and admission is free – a combination of reasons why it’s worth a visit!
Where to stay in the area
The MOCA Grand is located in Downtown Los Angeles, so finding the right place to spend the night will not be difficult, but I recommend reading our article on where to stay in Los Angeles to get a better idea of which neighborhood to choose.
