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Once upon a time in Los Angeles, there was a museum that had a passion for automobiles. The Petersen Automotive Museum was situated on Wilshire Boulevard, along Museum Row in the Miracle Mile neighborhood. It was founded on June 11, 1994, by magazine publisher Robert E. Petersen and his wife Margie. The museum was a nonprofit organization specializing in automobile history, with over 100 vehicles on display in its 25 galleries.

Originally, the Petersen Automotive Museum was located within the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. But it later moved to a historic department store designed by Welton Becket. The building first served as a short-lived U.S. branch of Seibu Department Stores, before operating as an Ohrbach’s department store from 1965 to 1986. Six years after Ohrbach’s closed, Robert Petersen selected the largely windowless site as an ideal space for a museum, allowing artifacts to be displayed without harmful exposure to direct sunlight.

The museum underwent an extensive $125 million renovation in 2015. The building’s façade was redesigned by the architectural firm Kohn Pedersen Fox, featuring a stainless-steel ribbon assembly made of 100 tons of 14-gauge type 304 steel in 308 sections, 25 supports, and 140,000 custom stainless-steel screws. Designers at The Scenic Route configured interior spaces to accommodate changing exhibits. The remodeled museum opened to the public on December 7, 2015.

The museum’s ground floor focuses on automotive artistry, showcasing an array of extravagant automobiles. Visitors could marvel at the sleek curves and bold designs of the vehicles on display. The second floor was principally concerned with industrial engineering, including design, performance, and a collection of interactive teaching exhibits. Special displays on the industry floor cover racing, motorcycles, hot rods, and customs.

But the third floor was the true gem of the Petersen Automotive Museum. It chronicled the history of the automobile, with an emphasis on the car culture of Southern California. Visitors could learn about the evolution of cars and the car culture in Southern California.