1. Museum of Jurassic Technology (9341 Venice Boulevard, Culver City, California 90232)
From its name to its introductory slideshow to its lighting to its exhibits to its top-floor tea room and aviary, everything about this museum is enigmatic and conducive to the sensation of exploring some sort of bizarre alternate universe; its mysterious atmosphere is steeped in epistemological questioning that creeps up on you the further back you go; the overall experience is well worth the admission price of $8.

Velaslavasay Panorama

2.Velaslavasay Panorama (1122 W 24th St, Los Angeles, CA 90007)
Inside a quaint old-time theater, visitors ascend a spiral staircase leading to a dim circular room containing a painted mural scene accompanied by lighting and sound effects to produce an experience that is immersing, peaceful, and a bit eerie; downstairs are smaller displays, and outside, an eccentric garden; though its exhibits are small and few, this destination is a must for anyone interested in old-fashioned spectacle.

3. Velveteria (711 New High St, Los Angeles, CA 90012)
Kitsch aficionados will revel in this celebration of paintings on velvet; even the snobbish may enjoy its eccentricity and perhaps even admit that some of the pieces are so good—or at least so curious—that they really do belong in a museum.

4. Museum of Broken Relationships (6751 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028)
Defunct relations are a universal phenomenon, and anyone can donate their own personal relics related to former relationships, accompanied by back-stories, to the museum’s permanent collection for potential display; the admission price of $18 seems rather incongruous with the museum’s accessible, personal theme and its stated missions of offering those who donate relics “a chance to overcome an emotional collapse” and offering visitors the opportunity to “feel the comfort that knowledge can bring”; but then again, it’s cheaper and more entertaining than psychotherapy.

Museum of Death

5. Museum of Death (6031 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90028)
This museum isn’t for everyone, least of all the squeamish; but those fascinated by serial killers and cult suicides, and other connoisseurs of the gruesome and grotesque aspects of death, are likely to enjoy it.

6. Angel’s Attic (516 Colorado Avenue, Santa Monica, CA 90401)
This beautiful old Victorian house is an apt setting for its abundance of antique and vintage dolls, dollhouses, and miniatures.

7. Center for Land Use Interpretation (9331 Venice Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232)
More of a library than a museum, this institution with an intellectual but artistically eccentric perspective towards researching various employments of terrain is difficult to categorize; it features small exhibits like a series of maps of dry lakes of the Mojave Desert, and for visitors’ perusal and reasonably cost purchases, a collection of texts including back issues of its own newsletters.

8. Museum of Neon Art (216 S. Brand Blvd., Glendale, CA 91204)
This relatively pricey but dazzling museum exhibits a small collection of neon signs and art pieces, and also offers nighttime tours of LA’s neon sign landscape.

Valley Relics Museum

9. Valley Relics Museum (21630 Marilla St., Chatsworth CA 91311)
This hodgepodge of memorabilia, ephemera, signs, and tchotchkes celebrates fairly obscure Valley celebrities and businesses; contextual information is notably lacking, making it feel like a bit like visiting an estate sale or the garage of an avid collector of ephemera.

10. Bearded Lady’s Mystic Museum (3204 W Magnolia Blvd, Burbank, CA 91505)
This impeccably curated one-room museum exhibits contemporary art alongside artifacts, games, and furniture relating to fortune-telling, magic and the occult; there isn’t a lot to see, so it’s probably not worth the $5 admission unless you’re fascinated by those topics; the best time to go might be during an opening when food and beverages are included with admission.