Dream On

The LA singles scene is like a smorgasbord of stereotypes straight out of central casting. From the aspiring actor awaiting his big break to the Hollywood hotshot holding court at Katana, Los Angeles is like a pu-pu platter of personalities, preferences and professions.

So, what do all these disparate daters have in common? Well, to put it bluntly, they’re all just a little bit crazy. You have to be to live here. Nobody would willingly put down roots in a place where it takes twenty minutes to drive two miles unless they had a little bit of the Don Quixote dreamer in them. Of course, instead of fighting windmills, we flip off film crews when they block our boulevards. And our heroic quests tend to be more about making it through lunch without eating any carbs.

But, no matter how you slice it, it’s impossible to deny the fact that you have to be a little bit batty to be an Angeleno. After all, in a place where your neighbor makes movies, your waiter wants to be in them and your trainer is probably moonlighting on Mark Burnett’s latest mega-hit, you’d be crazy if you didn’t have a little bit of the dreamer in you.

The trick, when you’re dating in LA, is to find someone whose craziness complements yours. And what better way to do that than to take your date to a museum devoted to dreamers?

That’s right, Culver City-ians, I’m talking about your very own Museum of Jurassic Technology. The museum itself defies easy characterization, with current exhibits ranging from a collection of artifacts from local mobile home parks to x-ray photos of flowers. According to its website, “the Museum preserves something of the flavor of its roots in the early days of the natural history museum - a flavor which has been described as ‘incongruity born of the overzealous spirit in the face of unfathomable phenomena.’ ”

All in all, The Museum of Jurassic Technology is a lot like crawling into David Lynch’s head, “Being John Malkovich” style. It’s a little bit crazy and a little bit kitsch – the kind of place where creaking staircases lead to musty, moth-eaten rooms, and musty, moth-eaten rooms lead to dark, damp corners. If the exhibits don’t get you, the atmosphere will.

So why does this musty maze of madness make for the perfect date? Well, it’s like I said before. Dating in LA is all about finding the one, the one person in this sprawling city whose craziness complements your own. Someone you can laugh with, and adventure with and – dare I say it - dream with. Someone who will still want to hang out with you after you wax poetic about the magical modernism of that mobile home exhibit. The Museum of Jurassic Technology is like the ultimate litmus test for looking at all of these things in your date.

And, admission is free. And so are the cookies and tea at the top of that creaking staircase. Plus, if you park in the public lots off of Culver City’s main street, you get free parking for two hours too. And, as any Angeleno knows, free parking within walking distance of your dating destination is truly the stuff that dreams are made of.

Museum of Jurassic Technology - Culver City

Written by: Mollie Vandor - SpeedLA Dating Resident Blogger