One of the great things about living in the DC suburbs is the ability to head downtown for the day and see what’s new at the Smithsonian Museums. My wife and I took the day off and spent a beautiful day on the mall, and of course I was interested in seeing what kind of pop culture exhibits were currently on display. Here’s what I found…
We started in the Museum of Natural History, which features dinosaurs, mammals and gems, among other things. In the rotunda, there is a huge elephant that greets all the visitors, and strangely, next to the elephant was this case with Harry Potter’s robe. I have no idea why this display was in the Museum of Natural History, but it was a fun item to discover. This is the robe that Daniel Radcliffe wore in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
Next, we visited the American History Museum, which is where most of the pop culture items were on display. In the main foyer area, they had this guy behind glass. I honestly don’t see how a grown man could possibly fit inside this C3-PO costume.
The museum had a room to celebrate the year 1939, where I found these two vintage comic books. Superman was “born” into comic book history with Action Comics #1 in 1938.
1939 was also the year that The Wizard of Oz debuted in theaters. I got a kick out of seeing Dorothy’s ruby slippers.
In the next room, some really great items were on display, including this original Catwoman outfit worn by Julie Newmar in the 60’s Batman TV show.
The next display had three iconic items: Eddie Van Halen’s guitar, Farrah Fawcett’s swimsuit, and Tony hawk’s skateboard.
Bonus points for the Muppet-fans out there who recognize these guys. Hint: They appeared on Washington, DC’s WRCTV in the 1955.
On the lower level of the museum, there is a kids’ exploration area with interactive exhibits. Tucked away in the back is this neat display of vintage toys.
All of the Smithsonian museums have themed gift shops. Check out this groovy pop culture store.
Star Wars was well-represented in this shop.
I’ll be putting up another post about the pop culture lunchboxes that I found, so come back tomorrow to read about the rest of my trip to the Smithsonian museums.
That is cool i would so be there checking this out.
I remember visiting a few years ago when they had a big Star Wars exhibit at the Air and Space Museum. I wish they had kept that on permanent display.