Hollywood Museum

Top choice


For a taste of Old Hollywood, do not miss this musty temple to the stars, its four floors crammed with movie and TV costumes and props. The museum is housed inside the Max Factor Building, built in 1914 and relaunched as a glamorous beauty salon in 1935. At the helm was Polish-Jewish businessman Max Factor, Hollywood's leading authority on cosmetics. And it was right here that he worked his magic on Hollywood's most famous screen queens.

The makeup rooms, complete with custom hues and lighting to complement the ladies’ varying complexions and hair colors, are still located on the ground floor, along with personal items from the likes of Joan Crawford, Judy Garland and Marilyn Monroe. Also on the floor is the 1965 Silver Cloud Rolls-Royce once owned by Cary Grant. Lurking downstairs is Hannibal Lecter's cell from The Silence of the Lambs.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Ripley’s Believe It or Not!

0.03 MILES

Life’s pretty strange and it’ll feel stranger still after you’ve visited Ripley’s, where exhibits range from the gross to the grotesque. If shrunken heads…

2. Guinness World Records Museum

0.04 MILES

You know the drill: the Guinness is all about the fastest, tallest, biggest, fattest and other superlatives. Frankly it's an underwhelming tourist trap…

3. Hollywood Wax Museum

0.07 MILES

Starved for celeb sightings? Don’t fret: at this museum Angelina Jolie, Halle Berry and other red-carpet royalty will stand still – very still – for your…

4. Egyptian Theatre

0.11 MILES

The Egyptian, the first of the grand movie palaces on Hollywood Blvd, premiered Robin Hood in 1922. The theater’s lavish getup – complete with hieroglyphs…

5. El Capitan Theatre

0.12 MILES

Spanish Colonial meets East Indian at the flamboyant El Capitan movie palace, built for live performances in 1926 and now run by Disney. The first flick…

6. Dolby Theatre

0.12 MILES

The Academy Awards are handed out at the Dolby Theatre, which has also hosted the American Idol finale, the Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly (ESPY)…

7. Hollywood Walk of Fame

0.13 MILES

Big Bird, Bob Hope, Marilyn Monroe and Aretha Franklin are among the more than 2600 stars of big and small screens and the music industry being sought out…

8. TCL Chinese Theatre

0.16 MILES

Ever wondered what it’s like to be in George Clooney’s shoes? Find his foot- and handprints alongside dozens of other stars', forever set in the concrete…