I am happy to announce I have an amazing guest post for you all to enjoy today. This post written by Mary Lansing from Along Comes Mary encourages us all to turn a bad day upside down and get out and explore all that Southern California has to offer.
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Recently, A Sunshine-y Sunday quickly turned to gloom for me. A dead car & finance concerns will do that to you. Being typical me, instead of hitting up a friend or trying to be social I found myself just wanting to be alone & mopey. However, in an attempt to have a “When life gives you lemons make lemonade” attitude, I decided to do something I have yet to do in my nearly three years down here: Go to The Long Beach Museum of Art!
The museum resides in a gorgeous 2-story home built in 1912(!) on Ocean Blvd, overlooking the beautiful beach. Downstairs holds their current exhibit; which is Buena Vista: California Painters in Mexico. Upstairs is their permanent pieces. What I really love about LBMA is that most of the painters are from California & while some have the Northern California flavor with lush green mountains & ocean, many of the pictures have a real feel of Southern California. One piece that I really admired was of a cul-de-sac of a typical ranch style home you would find anywhere in the suburbs of Los Angeles. It reminded me of my home in Pasadena growing up.
While I am a lover of the large museums like LACMA & MoMa, I really enjoyed the simplicity & intimacy of LBMA. There is no other way to describe it despite having nearly 5,000 pieces of art within that home-the size of the home is quite quaint.
I actually have talked with people who find some of my favorite museums to frequent overwhelming because they are so vast but I bet the quaint Long Beach Museum of Art would be perfect for them! However, what the LBMA may lack in size, it makes up for in sheer artistry.
Another sweet exhibit is their children’s gallery in the basement highlighting art by local Long Beach school kids! I love children & feel anytime their voice is heard it’s awesome, so to see they have an entire floor dedicated to local 5th grade artists made me smile:) 
Perhaps Evelyn, whose drawing is here is the next O’Keefe.
Next door is locals’ favorite: Claire’s! Claire’s offers fine dining overlooking the water. From the wait I saw, it must be good. They offer weekend brunch as well as a Happy Hour on Thursdays; in conjunction with free admission to the museum. It’s also a known great spot for bridal or baby showers, you can also have your wedding at the museum, too.
LBMA is open Thursday through Sunday, with free admission Thursday after 5pm, as well as all day Fridays. Otherwise, its $7 for adults & $6 for students/seniors. After your visit, definitely check out Claire’s, then maybe enjoy a walk on the beach or head downtown. Xo
For more information about the Long Beach Museum of Art, log on here.
*All photography copyrighted & by Along Comes Mary. Please contact her BEFORE using in your own media. Thank you!
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This guest post has been submitted by Mary, a 20 something year old woman living in Southern California. Her blog, “Along Comes Mary” reflects her passions, adventures (sometimes, mis-adventures), comings & goings. To read more about here, you can check her out here.
You can also find Mary on Twitter.
The LBMA is a cute little museum that did have a decent collection. As I browse through I often get lost in the art surrounding it. I usually stop in on Thursday nights when admission is free, and have tried out Claire’s in the past (the server even gave us free dessert) for our group 😉
A cute little spot in my favorite SoCal town 😉
Thanks so much for this, Desiree!!!