May the Force of Narrative Be With You: Inside George Lucas’s New L.A. Museum ✨

Sixteen years ago, George Lucas first floated the idea of a museum built around storytelling itself, something that never really had a home anywhere else. This September 22nd, it opens. The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, co-founded by Lucas and his wife Mellody Hobson, is what Lucas himself has called “a temple to the people’s art.” That’s exactly what it feels like from everything I’ve read.

What You’re Actually Walking Into 🎨

Forget the stuffy museum image, hushed voices, and velvet ropes. This place has more than thirty galleries and over thirteen hundred objects, and it treats fine art and pop culture as equals. Norman Rockwell hangs near Maxfield Parrish’s illustrations. Jack Kirby and Alison Bechdel get the same wall space as classical American painters. There’s a full wing of movie production art and costumes from the Lucas Archives, including pieces from the original Star Wars films and the first four Indiana Jones movies, plus galleries on children’s book illustration, photography, manga and anime, and stories of the American West.

You could stand in front of a Frida Kahlo self-portrait one minute and an original Star Wars costume the next, and it all fits together. That’s the idea: a story is a story, whether it’s painted, drawn, or filmed.

The Campus 🏛️

The scale of this place is worth sitting with for a second. The museum sits on an 11-acre campus, with a 300,000-square-foot building at its center holding 100,000 square feet of gallery space across five stories, plus two state-of-the-art cinematic theaters and dedicated spaces for learning, dining, and retail. This isn’t a single building you pop into for an hour; it’s closer to a small campus built around one idea: that stories deserve room to breathe.

The Architecture 🏗️

Architect Ma Yansong, founder of MAD, designed the building as a sculptural, organic form shaped by light, clouds, and the surrounding tree canopy, something that reads as both grounded and ethereal, rising out of the park around it. The building is the product of a fifteen-year collaboration between Ma and the museum’s founders, with Michael Siegel of Stantec serving as executive architect.

Lucas has said of the project, “This art is important. Let’s put it in an important building.” And Ma, describing his creative partnership with Lucas, put it simply: “Sometimes I don’t need words to explain. He can just feel it.” Lifted above the ground, the building engages the street at a human scale, encouraging people to gather and interact while still preserving views across the park.

The Park and Gardens 🌳

The grounds around the museum are just as intentional as what’s inside it. Landscape architect Mia Lehrer and her team at Studio-MLA transformed what used to be surface parking lots into a genuinely living landscape, with over 200 new trees, native and drought-tolerant plantings, and landforms inspired by L.A.’s own geography. The result is a network of paths, meadows, and shaded gathering spaces that add real green space to South L.A.

The Wall Street Journal’s John Jurgensen described the effect well, writing that the museum “seems to hover over the undulating gardens, paths, and meadows at its base.” The sustainability piece is baked in too: the landscaping captures rainwater for irrigation, a waterfall-like fountain contributes to renewable cooling, and rooftop solar panels supply clean energy to the building.

The Library 📚

Tucked into the museum is a library built to function as both a serious research center and a quiet space for reflection, meant for scholars and students, sure, but just as much for any curious visitor who wants to go a layer deeper into the collection.

Worth the Wait ⏳

Lucas broke ground on this back in 2018 and stuck with it through a long string of delays. Last summer he made his first-ever Comic-Con appearance just to talk about the project, sharing the stage with Guillermo del Toro in front of a packed Hall H. It’s rare to see someone at his level still this hands-on with a passion project this many years in. This is shaping up to be one of the bigger cultural openings L.A. has seen in a while.

Tickets and Membership 🎟️

Tickets are on sale now for visits between September 22, 2026 and February 28, 2027. General admission is $25 for adults, $21 for seniors 65+, and free for anyone 17 and under (also free for active-duty military and EBT cardholders). Everything is timed entry, so book ahead.

If you want in early, Founding Membership has four tiers: Access ($140), Social ($270), Insider ($375), and Alliance ($600). Higher tiers get you more guest passes and members-only events, up through a private Lucas Archive celebration at the top level. Join before opening day, and your membership runs through September 2027, and every member gets first access during Member Previews, September 5th through 11th.

You can browse tickets and membership options directly at lucasmuseum.org.

Retail, Dining, and Theaters 🍽️

This museum is designed for you to spend a full day and evening in one place. Beyond the galleries and the two cinematic theaters, there’s an all-day café at the lobby level plus a rooftop restaurant with sweeping views of the city, a real destination in its own right, not just a place to grab a quick bite between galleries.

Both are run by Rhubarb Hospitality Collection, the London-based hospitality group behind venues like the Royal Albert Hall, the Ra Ra Room at PHX Arena in Phoenix, and Curtain Call at Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center. That kind of pedigree, running two distinct concepts with their own dedicated kitchen leadership, tells you they’re treating food here as a real program, not just a generic concession. There’s also retail throughout offering signature merchandise inspired by pieces in the collection.

My advice, especially if you appreciate good hospitality: build real time into your visit. Coffee on the way in, a proper meal at the rooftop restaurant on the way out, or treat dinner there as its own separate outing entirely.

A Few Practical Notes 🅿️

Hours:

• Monday, Wednesday, Thursday: 10am – 5pm
• Friday: 10am – 9pm
• Saturday: 9am – 9pm
• Sunday: 9am – 5pm
• Closed Tuesdays

Last entry is 45 minutes before closing.

Parking: Available on-site and throughout Exposition Park for $20/day ($24 for special events or after 5pm). Pay by card or QR code once you arrive; there’s no advance purchase option, so budget a few extra minutes. Full details at expositionpark.ca.gov/parking.

Skip the drive: The Metro E Line runs straight to Expo Park/USC, a short walk from the museum entrance.

Whichever way you get there, September 22nd feels like the right day to remember that the Force has always been about stories worth telling. ⭐

(And just joined as a founding member, so see you there during the SNEAK PEAK in early Sept)

Here for you, always! Your Real Estate JED.i 🥷