Must-See Museums
A U.S. News tour of the new and noteworthy with local experts in tow |c Washington, D.C.; Houston; Santa Ana, California; Portland, Oregon; New York; Atlanta; Birmingham, Alabama; Jersey City, New Jersey; Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles
SPACE CENTER HOUSTON Houston, (713) 244-2100 Plan to spend at least half a day--and then you probably won't see everything. Former astronaut Karol "Bo" Bobko, who piloted the maiden voyage of Challenger, suggests you begin at the mock-up of the planned space station for the "Living in Space" show, which takes a young volunteer from the crowd to demonstrate how astronauts eat, shower and even use a toilet in space. Visitors might also try simulating a shuttle landing by computer ("It's probably harder than the real thing," Bobko confides).
Of the museum's two tram rides, Bobko prefers the 75-minute Johnson Space Center Facilities Tour. It stops at the Space Environment Simulation Laboratory (an enormous vault that re-creates the vacuum of space for astronaut trainees), full-size mock-ups of the shuttle and the space station, and the Weightless Environment Training Facility (where astronauts train underwater in spacesuits). The other tram ride goes to the Mission Control Center--but only when no real launch is scheduled. The 45-minute tour is rather dull unless a flight simulation is going on. Daily 9-7 (summers, weekends and holidays); otherwise 10-6. Admission: $9.95 adults, $8.95 seniors, $5.95 children 3-11.
HISTORY BIRMINGHAM CIVIL RIGHTS INSTITUTE Birmingham, Ala., (205) 328-9696 Some locals picketed the opening of the museum last fall, protesting that not enough of the "foot soldiers" of the civil-rights struggle are included. But the Rev. Edward Gardner, president of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights and a leader of many early sit-ins, boycotts and marches, says he finds most of the exhibits "stirring and true to life." The first third of the tour, called "Barriers," displays replicas of such civil-rights-era symbols as a whites-only lunch counter and a segregated city bus. You might sidestep the "Confrontation" gallery, where Southern-accented voices swirl and overlap annoyingly as they spout cliches: "The Negro is only one step up from the chimpanzee." "The NAACP is a white man's organization fronted by Negro Uncle Toms."
The most affecting part of the exhibit is the "Movement" section. Efforts to stop discrimination are recounted in television footage, photos, original documents and newspaper coverage. The account of the 1961 Anniston, Ala., bus bombing is offered via a life-size replica of a burned-out Greyhound bus as well as arresting footage of Freedom Riders, white and black, being pulled off buses and beaten. Scenes of police wielding fire hoses against protesters, marches, tense sit-ins and packed jails are intermingled with present-day interviews with some of the people involved. Respite--and context--are provided by the voice of Martin Luther King Jr., reading from his "Letter From Birmingham Jail," explaining the necessity of bold action. His "I Have a Dream" speech is aired in its entirety. Sun. 1-5, Tues.-Sat. 10-6. Admission: free.
MUSEUM OF TOLERANCE Los Angeles, (310) 553-8403 From The Manipulator, the museum's host (brought to life on a 10-foot-tall stack of video monitors), to the Whisper Gallery in the Tolerance Center, where visitors are bombarded with racial and sexist epithets, fast and flashy interactive exhibits force museumgoers to confront their biases. In the section on the 1992 Los Angeles riot, for example, visitors watch videotape of Rodney King being beaten and are then asked whether they feel shock at what's happening to King or fear for themselves because they could have been in the same position. "This is a very powerful exhibit," says Cheryl Grills, associate professor of psychology at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. "For many people, becoming Rodney King seems like a very real possibility."
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