AT A GLANCE
Why go?
The Autry Museum of the American West is one of Los Angeles's most distinctive cultural institutions — a sprawling Griffith Park campus dedicated to telling the full, complex story of the American West through art, history, and the living cultures of its Indigenous peoples. Founded in 1988 by singing cowboy legend Gene Autry, the museum holds more than 600,000 objects and cultural materials across twelve galleries, making it one of the premier destinations for understanding Western Americana, cowboy culture, and Native American art in the United States.↗↗↗
What Makes the Autry Special
Gene Autry — the Silver Screen star whose radio voice and rodeo dreams defined a generation's image of the West — built this museum not as a monument to himself but as a place to explore the region's layered stories. The collection spans everything from the first custom-made cowboy boots Autry owned (now on loan) to his iconic Martin D-45 guitar, from John Gast's monumental 1872 painting American Progress to a Thomas Jefferson-era Indian Peace Medal once carried by Lewis and Clark.↗
