''A CABINET OF WONDER''

The Museum of Jurassic Technology celebrates a time when science mingled with poetry in its pursuit of answers to life's mysterious questions ...

There is something uniquely disorienting about the Museum of Jurassic Technology. Amid the gritty sprawl of Los Angeles, tucked behind a nondescript storefront on Venice Boulevard, a dark maze of rooms houses a “repository of relics and artefacts from the Lower Jurassic, with an emphasis on those that demonstrate unusual or curious technological qualities.” This description of the museum's collection, intoned in the scratchy film that greets visitors upon entry, captures the mix of inquiry, intrigue and anachronistic romance that defines this rare place.
The atmosphere is much like the curio library of a Victorian gentleman scholar, full of elegant glass-and-wood vitrines, dimly ornate wall coverings, velvet curtains and engagingly stuffy wall-text. The absence of windows lends the space a theatrical air.
One of the first display cases houses something that looks like a walnut or a fruit pit; the accompanying text states that the stone features the detailed carving of a bearded man with an array of animals in the background: “an elephant ridden by a monkey, a boar, a dog, a donkey, a stag, a camel, a horse, a bird a goat...” The list goes on, and the carving sounds amazing. Yet the stone looks ordinary, despite the dramatic spotlight. Alas, the text explains that these etched details have been more or less worn away by time. We are left with an odd and possibly fictional story: what we see, after all, is a plain old fruit pit.......