Also On View: Unique and Unexpected Museums of Greater Los Angeles

Also On View: Unique and Unexpected Museums of Greater Los Angeles

Author Talk & Booksigning with Todd Lerew

In the Library!

Please join us in the PRS Library for a special illustrated conversation with author Todd Lerew on his new book Also On View: Unique and Unexpected Museums of Greater Los Angeles (Angel City Press),celebrating LA’s most fascinating and underappreciated collections, from the deeply culturally significant—such as the Garifuna Museum—to the highly specific and unusual, like the City of Los Angeles’s Streetlight Museum. There are more than 750 museums in the greater Los Angeles area, many of which may not be familiar to even the most seasoned explorers.

“After spending the better part of a decade seeking out hundreds of local museums large and small, I am grateful for this opportunity to turn a private obsession into a public celebration of these incredible institutions,” says author Todd Lerew. “It has been an honor to work with the stewards and caretakers of the 64 featured museums to share stories of the collections and communities that they are dedicated to helping preserve.”

Written with charm, humor, and remarkable tenderness, the text explores the worlds of fascination and enchantment that lie just beyond one’s doorstep. Readers will learn about Nan Songer, the “spider lady” of Yucaipa, a World War II-era pioneer known for harvesting black widow spider silk to support the American war effort. They will read about the Los Angeles Poverty Department (“the other LAPD”), the first performance group in the country composed primarily of homeless artists and activists, which has created the Skid Row History Museum and Archive downtown. And they will get an introduction to Albert “The Chicken Man” Okura, the late founder of the unofficial and unauthorized First Original McDonald’s Museum in San Bernardino, who believed it was his destiny to sell more chicken than anyone in the world.

With striking photographs by Ryan Schude and a staggering range of critical, curious, and incredible histories, Also On View presents an unparalleled survey of all the diversity and wonder that Los Angeles has to offer.

Todd Lerew is Director of Special Projects for the Library Foundation of Los Angeles, curating eclectic exhibitions and programs in support of the Los Angeles Public Library. He is a composer of experimental music and inventor of acoustic instruments such as the Quartz Cantabile, which converts heat into sound. He was winner of the 2014 American Composers Forum National Composition Contest and has had his work performed across the US and Europe. He received the 2022 National Outstanding Eagle Scout Award, and has served as a volunteer fire lookout at Keller Peak in the San Bernardino National Forest since 2016. He holds a BFA from Hampshire College and an MFA from CalArts, and collects library cards, pictorial maps, and all-black postcards that claim to depict a certain location at night.

Ryan Schude is an editorial, advertising, and fine art photographer. Had it remained viable, he might still be working at the rollerblade magazine that shaped his formative years, but a pivot into commercial photography happily funded his personal projects for the past two decades. Often employing a staged narrative approach akin to theatrical tableaux, environmental portraiture remains integral to his work, connecting him with artists, educational institutions, and just about any character willing to engage in the process. He recently moved to a small town just outside of Los Angeles with his wife, Agatha, daughter Antonia, and mother-in-law, Jessie. Ryan teaches photography and media arts at the Ojai Valley School.

Following the presentation Todd Lerew will be available to sign copies of the book, available for purchase that night at PRS.

Special Thanks to Elliot Kane of Angel City Press.

Ticket Price: $10 (in-person event only).

Please email [email protected] or phone 323-663-2167 with any questions.

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Host or Publisher The Philosophical Research Society