Monterey Museum of Art-La Mirada

Third Thursday at MMA La Mirada: Open until 8:00 pm the third Thursday of the month.
So here I am, fresh from a four hour drive across our beautiful state, fresh from checking into my hotel, ready to spend a little time looking at some beautiful local arts n culture. Now, pay careful attention to your GPS, folks, because I totally missed the drive the first time. I arrived, but was afraid I had arrived at someone very fancy’s personal estate. It was dark, oh so dark. But there must have been 30 cars, so I parked with all the others and walked toward the building.
I guess first I walked around the building. There were two places I could see light coming from, and I picked the one on the left. Folks, go for the one on the right. I walked around back and into the rose garden. I was still a little afraid the master of the house would set his royal guard dogs on me for prowling.
Back to my car. I’m hustling. I’m thinking, «there was a sister museum that was also advertised to be open late, maybe I should go there!» (apparently that was wrong anyway, cause it;s First Friday at MMA Pacific Street not Third Thursday, but in retrospect I was pretty confused all around).
But first I try the other place where light beckoned. It is an adorable, old fashioned door. And all of a sudden, I’m on the other side and inside this beautiful land of art, curated by beautiful people and enchanting enclosed within a historic estate (see, eg., chandeliers, dainty little bathrooms, gift shop in what feels like a dining room).
Almost everyone was already in a lecture about art restoration, so I slowly wandered through the collection without having to navigate a crowd. It was super enjoyable. The kids area/​library was a place I’d like to spend more time, and the gift shop was well priced. I’d definitely like to go back and see the outdoor area. It was, as hinted at above, almost pitch black at night.

Tiffani Munsey is awesome!!! I’ve worked a couple of weddings here at La Mirada and the scenery is beautiful here with the rose garden and the lake across the way! If your getting married in Monterey definitely check this place out and ask for Tiffani!!!

Nice collection and space to enjoy their changing exhibits. Some snootiness with some volunteers but a nice museum.

I’ve visited yesterday around noon for the first time. There were barely any other visitors and at times it felt like I was the only one. I loved it! The building itself is natural and beautiful with exposed high ceilings and large windows looking out into gardens and paths. I’ve visited most of the LA museums and most of the Smithsonian in DC and the layout, design, selection and use of organic lighting of the Monterey museum matches or surpasses most of them. I rated as followed: one star for cleanliness and friendly service, one star for the easy parking, one star for location and creative garden spaces and one major star to the wonderfully curated temporary shows and interactive exhibits. Totally family friendly place to visit.

Chris and I had the amazing privilege of having our wedding reception for about 100 people at La Mirada in September 2013, and it was amazing. Everyone was completely blown away by the beauty of the space and the versatility of the venue. And Melanie, what a dynamo! She worked with us all along the way, helping to make sure the event was a success, coordinating with vendors and graciously meeting with us multiple times to set plans. It was rather stressful planning the wedding ourselves, so when the big day came, it was wonderful to find everything seamlessly taken care of, and better than I could have imagined. I’m no bridezilla, but I certainly had clear ideas of how things should be. But Melanie brought her expertise to bear and gave it to us straight, while always leaving us feeling listened to and respected. I’d recommend the venue to anyone. The only downside (for us) was how early the event was expected to end. 10pm. But it was fine! We all ended up at the Mucky Duck and had a grand ol’ time. Wound up at Denny’s by the end of the night, with me asleep in my wedding gown, waiting for my Moons-​over-​my-​hammy to arrive. That’s the long and short of it! Good luck!

Words cannot describe how lovely La Mirada is! I was married there May 18, 2013, and it was everything I had dreamed of and more.
The setting of the estate is intimate, comfortable, warm, and the roses add amazing color. For our May wedding, the roses were in their first bloom. They were gorgeous and the scent during the ceremony was heavenly. The guests enjoyed having cocktail hour in the rose garden; they were snapping photos of the blooms and it made for a beautiful back drop.
Reading some of the other reviews; it makes me sad to think people picked this place apart! My husband, family, and I had a wonderful experience from start to finish. Our events coordinator was Mel Cota. She is FANTASTIC! This gal does not skip a beat! Not only is she kind, detailed oriented, compassionate, and communicative; she was able to turn my vision and my wants into a perfect wedding day. The day of flowed effortlessly and was seamless, all thanks to Mel.
Having recently received my wedding photos from Michele Beckwith Photography; I am so thankful we went with La Mirada. The grounds of the venue came out amazing in the photos. Classy and elegant! Being able to take photo’s upstairs in Elizabeth Taylor’s room with my groom was such a treat!
This place truly is a five! Thank you La Mirada!
— Alixandra

Went to a wedding here ~ very quaint and gorgeous gardens outside. Old art and a few neat pieces inside. The outside is old brick patio, multi-​level gardens, pretty roses and succulents. There was a view of Dennis Menace Park and pond and the ocean from the back patio. The staff was pretty friendly too.

This is a beautiful building with lovely gardens, and a little pond on the street below. They also get some really good exhibits. You can cruise through there quickly without getting museum fatigue, or spend longer there. My favorite part is the little section on the second floor set aside for crafts and interactive whatnot related to the exhibits.

Outstanding setting, very romantic, nice tour, like a little slice of a long gone world in old Monterey. The art on the walls can be your thing or not depending on the exhibit, but you can’t help but be impressed with the setting and volunteers.

La Mirada is the ideal venue for a wedding. It is a gorgeous eclectic place with wonderful indoor and outdoor spaces, so many great photo opportunities, and the potential to offer amazing artwork to share with your guests if you get lucky with exhibition timing. The facility coordinators, Barbara and Mel, are warm and accommodating and will help you figure out how to realize your vision for your wedding day. They have a great list of wedding vendors and a range of wedding packages. We’re so glad we had our wedding here and we strongly recommend La Mirada.

They get some excellent exhibits, and I like the architecture, surroundings (gardens, a pond…), etc., but it’s small. Combine it with a visit to the Pacific St. location & you’ve got a couple good hours of art viewing.

This building is much nicer than their Pacific St. location. It’s so beautiful and made me feel like I was at someone’s home, not at a museum. The entrance is a little hidden from the main road, though. You can see the museum and the banners from Fremont St., but that’s not the entrance – strange.
I saw the Edward Weston exhibit here, which was nice. In fact, the whole interior of the building seemed very artsy.

manager was horrible. When planning our special wedding date the manager gave us 3 dates to choose from. I asked her what was the one she reccommended and if the roses would be blooming during those dates. She kept pushing for August 14, 2010. We took the date and told all our out-​of-​country and state families to book their flights. We are no where from Monterey, CA. A month goes by and as we were calling around their list of caters we had a hard time finding one. Finally one cater asked why we were having our wedding on the most busiest weekend of the year. I asked what she was talking about. She said its Concorse weekend. We had no idea what it was nor when it was. The cater said she was shocked that the manager didn’t inform us. And boy was she right. When I confronted the manager why she left this little detail out she told us it wasn’t her job to inform us. I told her that our families already bought tickets for that date and now both my husband nor our families had anywhere to stay and that she needs to help us out. Then she told us we would be given a credit for the inconvenience. Later she called back and told us she spoke to her boss and she couldn’t give us a reduced pricing. She was really rude to us and had no compassion. If she wasn’t in the position to say she WILL credit us some money back she should have never said that! Finally after so many phone calls of wanting to talk to the BOSS or OWNER we finally got a hold of the boss. She finally said she can give us $ 200.00 back to us. WOW thanks. And keep in mind this whole process took 1 month to handle. Any of you who are planning a wedding would know just how stressed out we were. My family were so hurt by La Mirada. This is just the beginning of everything that went wrong. The day of the wedding the main manager wasn’t there. They had the even coordinator there. I know she was TRYING to help but boy did she stress out everyone on that day; our cater, our photographers, us, the whole family. She was so rude to all of them. Everyone thought she was a nut job. She kept screaming at our guest that they couldn’t be standing near the bathrooms that were available to them. She was bossing the photographers WHOM did the pictures for the handouts of LA MIRADA. She rushed our whole wedding and right when it turned 9:30pm (even though we had the place till 11pm) she made sure EVERYONE of our guest and vendors were getting the heck out of their. Because apparently the last 2 hours is for breakdown and noone is allowed there. Its sad to say that the most beautiful day of life it was ruined by these people. We were on a budget had we know how much they were going to ruin our wedding we would have eaten up the 1500 dollar deposit we gave and walked away from them. They wanted to charge for everything. The first time we did a walk through the event coordinator at that time (she was let go apparently right before our wedding) was stating how even though they charge to get the rug rolled out for the dinning room she would do it for us at no charge. She also showed a room that can be used at no additional charge for the bridal party to get ready in. They did not want to provide anything for us. We had small wedding 65 people and no kids– all mature sophiscated adults. The event coordinator at the end of the wedding when she was kicking everyone out exactly at 9:30pm grabbed all our wedding things and put it outside. Mixed up the caters stuff, our wedding gifts, our guests things, everything got lost and disorganized. It breaks my heart to have to look back on this day and have so many regrets. It breaks my heart how people have lost their compassion these days. If they were a good business and ethical people they would have understood how they messed up by never letting us know about the busiest weekend of the year. And in case you were wondering I had to push the manager to allow me (the bride) to get ready at the venue. So she finally gave me her office to get ready in. Which was not private at all. And also my husband and I had to book a hotel in los gatos because that was the only area that wasn’t overbooked. And all my family members had to do the same. Drive 2 hours away from where we had our wedding. Just ridiculous. I hope the owner and manager (Barbara) one day realize how scandalous they really are. Such a beautiful place but the ugliest and unethical people work there. They are by no means professional. I swear it seems like our wedding was the first wedding they ever hosted at their location.

We had our wedding at La Mirada in June — it was perfect for our group of 60, with an intimate feel but not too crowded. There is a lovely rose garden for photos and cocktail hour. We had our reception in the drawing room and dancing on the outdoor patio. Rental fees are in line with the rest of Monterey. The staff was very helpful throughout the process. Had a wonderful time!

Nice facility, though there was a wedding happening at the time so I couldn’t see the whole place. Has great potential for fantastic exhibitions (although I went during the Ansel Adams show and I’m not a big fan of his work) but didn’t go when there was something I was excited about.
The gardens just across the parking lot is peaceful, but again, I didn’t go at the right time and there were no flowers.

I went here on a field trip with my class and it’s the best of both worlds, the age of antiquity and modernism combined.
Outside there is a rose garden that is just starting to bloom and is very Alice in Wonderland-​esque. Once you head inside you see a very 1940’s parlor with murals and this rad wallpaper. Check out the bathroom too, they have a «tiffany» blue sink with really rad wallpaper too. It’s all about patterns and swatches mixed with simple furniture with a classic and vintage feel.
Since my professor used to once be the board of directors of La Mirada, we went upstairs in the otherwise no entry area. You can go in there if you schedule a tour with a docent. We saw beautifully decorated rooms filled with filligree’d furniture and brightly lit spaces.
one of the cons: the usher. pretentious and rude. Full of self importance. Just because a bunch of college students were going in, he felt he had to follow us around to tell us not to touch anything.
The other half of La Mirada is a new wing full of contemporary art. It is a huge open space filled with bright colorful paintings and high beamed ceilings, almost like a ballroom.
I definitely reccomend this place as a nice outing.

We had our wedding at La Mirada and it was the perfect spot for us. It was so nice being outside in the Rose Garden for the ceremony and not having to travel anywhere for the reception on site was great. The rental fee was fair and as a bonus, we were able to take pictures in the funky living quarters upstairs. We rented the guesthouse and were happy we did, as that was a good staging area for the wedding. Would highly recommend it as a wedding venue.

I never thought someone would get married at a museum, but two of my friends pulled it off. This is a gorgeous place for a wedding. The setting is wonderful, especially if the weather cooperates. You can take lots of nice pictures and the garden is beautiful. I guess this used to be Elizabeth Taylor’s house but don’t quote me on that. I’ve never been to the museum itself but now I want to check it out. It’s pretty easy to find as well… right off the Fremont St exit.

Gorgeous building, first of all. I enjoy the drive into the museum’s parking lot, surrounded by colorful flowers and gardens; then, entering into the museum, you’re welcomed by a serene courtyard. If you’re a photographer who loves gardens, rustic settings, or nature… you’ll love to take advantage of this spot!
The exhibit featured art from children’s books-​the exhibit «Over Rainbows and Down Rabbit Holes». It definitely took me back to my childhood flipping through picture books and getting lost in the imagination these pictures evoked.
The museum really set up an enjoyable space for adults and kids to appreciate the art work. From wall graphics, storytelling centered areas, bean bag chairs, and paintings, I’d LOVE to take my kids here… or rent-​a-​kids for a nice afternoon!
Oh, and I want to go back and take my grandma who loves gardens-​so she’d get a kick out of the outside features.
I just wish it was bigger and housed more to see…

We came here today after finding the Cooper-​Molera Museum store closed. Last time we looked for it (in April) we were unable to find it or it was closed. Either way, today it was open and we found it, although the photography exhibit closed Sunday and the new exhibit was not yet open. However, the man at the front desk was friendly and helpful, explaining a bit of the history of the house and showing us the rose garden in the back. The original house was built on a Mexican land grant, then bought and expanded in the early part of the last century by a Hollywood screenwriter who lost it in the Depression. I won’t go into the rest of the story. You can go and read it on the sign on the wall. The house is gracious and the gardens extensive and beautiful. We walked through some of the house and then into a large, lovely patio shaded by trees and adorned w/​simple and beautiful statues. The large room that looks onto it was being set up for a wedding reception. We walked around the corner to the rose garden. Many were in bloom and I gave myself a little tutorial on hybrid teas vs glandifloras, then got overwhelmed w/​the addition of florabundas and shrubs. I have no idea how many other types there are. Maybe one of these years I’ll go to the Festival of Old Roses in El Cerrito. But for now, I found a great looking Betty Boop grandiflora that will look lovely near my Joseph’s Coat climber. The garden was graciously arranged w/​brick patios, more statuary hidden amongst the vegetation and it made me dream about things I could do to my garden.