Were the haters right about LACMA?

Good morning, it’s Thursday, April 16. Today will be a cloudy one, with temps in the mid-70s.

In today’s newsletter, the jacarandas are out early, fatal car crashes are up, and there’s a Golden Globe available for your purchase if you want one. But first, a dispatch from the new LACMA, and a rundown on why it’s made so many people so mad for so long.

The new LACMA has arrived! The great big slab of curvy concrete — which sprawls low-slung across Wilshire Boulevard like the world’s most expensive pedestrian overpass — opened Wednesday for a press preview. Members can check it out starting Sunday; the general public can stream in May 4.

At Wednesday morning’s event, museum staff and L.A.’s art press — many of whom have been wary about the project — mingled over snacks from Erewhon, which will run a pop-up cafe on site. One writer, met with the remark that it was an exciting morning, responded “Is it?” Museum director Michael Govan knocked back a green juice before stepping to the podium with twinkly aplomb, thanking donors and his team, and releasing the assembled crowd into the new David Geffen Galleries, which will complement a few pre-existing LACMA buildings. 

Christopher Knight, the longtime art critic of the L.A. Times, who is now retired and won a Pulitzer for his criticism of the museum, said he hadn’t yet seen the art installed as he headed for the entrance. “I’m nervous,” he said. “I am hoping to be relieved.”