While Orange County may be better known for sun, surf and theme parks, there is no shortage of versatile off-site venues that showcase the county’s historical and cultural side.
With a $15 million expansion just completed, the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana is coming into its own as a world-class art museum that can handle major touring shows.
The museum’s new Dorothy and Donald Kennedy Wing is currently exhibiting Treasures from Shanghai: 500 Years of Chinese Art and Culture, which runs through Aug. 19.
“We’re really excited about this new addition. It’s not just a local museum anymore,” says Candace Bisconte, manager of Access Destination Services, a DMC based in Irvine. “What we like to do is have the group visit the museum during the day and then we can do an event back at the hotel based on the exhibit they saw. For instance, we’re going to be doing a Shanghai theme party based on the exhibit there now.”
The museum’s permanent exhibits, along with its Spanish Mission-style architecture, emphasize regional heritage. There are galleries devoted to California’s Native American inhabitants as well as to California artists and pioneer settlers.
For special events, the Bowers Museum has several new areas, including a 300-seat auditorium and an elegant courtyard seating up to 350 for a banquet. For more intimate gatherings of 125 people or less, the museum offers a covered balcony area and several gallery spaces.
With a strong focus on the art of California from the early 20th century to the present, the Orange County Museum of Art in Newport Beach is another respected arts facility that features both permanent and touring exhibitions.
Its most dramatic event space is the Pavilion, which has a soaring 20-foot ceiling and accommodates up to 270 people for a reception. The Pavilion opens onto the Orange Court, an outdoor space that is surrounded by lighted bamboo planters.
The contemporary museum also features a spacious lobby for receptions as well as a conference room seating up to 40 people. A 108-seat auditorium can be used for seminars, lectures, video screenings, and small performances.
The Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace, dedicated to the Orange County native son who became the 37th U.S. president, provides a fascinating slice of mid-20th century history.
The nine-acre complex in Yorba Linda features a museum with 22 galleries of interactive exhibits that detail the highs and lows of Nixon’s career, including his historic trip to China and the Watergate crisis. Visitors can also tour the simple white farmhouse where Nixon was born and raised.
The galleries, gardens and a re-creation of the Whitehouse’s palatial East Room are available for dinners and receptions for up to 2,000 people.
Anaheim’s Taco Bell Discovery Science Center, fronted by a giant tilting cube of photovoltaic panels that convert sunlight into energy, offers more than 100 interactive exhibits designed to teach and entertain kids of all ages. Visitors can play Virtual Volleyball, lie on the Bed of Nails, walk through the Tornado, and dance on the Musical Floor.
Available for private parties in the evening, the Discovery Science Center accommodates up to 300 people for a banquet or up to 1,000 guests for a reception.
A good place to appreciate California’s car culture is the Astor Classics Event Center in Anaheim, which displays the vintage automobile collection of radio broadcaster Art Astor.
The collection includes more than 270 rare cars, including Howard Hughes’ 1940 Cadillac Formal Town Sedan. The facility also houses a huge collection of working antique telephones and radios.
Function space at the Astor Classics Event Center includes a 20,000-square-foot banquet and exhibit facility, as well as several smaller meeting rooms.
For More Info
Astor Classics Event Center 714.502.9494
www.astorclassics.com
Bowers Museum 714.567.3600
www.bowers.org
Orange County Museum of Art 949.280.0624
www.ocma.net
Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace 714.993.5075
www.nixonlibrary.org
Taco Bell Discovery Science Center 714.913.5038
www.discoverycube.org
