Museum Parties

[emptym]

This is when a museum is open at night, typically with alcohol served, sometimes with music, possibly with dancing. Anyone ever gone to one of these things? I'd been to a few in Europe and loved them. Went to one a couple weeks ago in San Francisco: NightLife at the new California Academy of Sciences. Among their advantages: lower entrance fee than normal hours, smaller crowds looking at the exhibits, and interesting people watching. A friend said the most interesting exhibit in the whole place was the dance floor. Very high gal to guy ratio too. I went w/ several single women friends and they all want to go back tomorrow night. I probably will. Happy to introduce them to SF guys btw... Any other museums you know have these things? Any other people enjoy them?

 

[MetroStyles]

Orientation week of college was a party at the Museum of Natural History here in NY. My university rented out the room with the biiig T-Rex skeleton in the middle. I don't think booze was served as we were only freshman, but I recall most people had a few drinks in them regardless.

Ah, imagine hundreds of young, first-week coeds shaking their sweet, sweet booties to the DJ's music, and in the middle of this bizarre chaos, a menacing dinosaur just towering over it all. I was stupid and wild back then, so I went around the room looking for pairs of girls, and asking them to make "MetroStyles" sandwiches (real name removed to protect the innocent). The silly gals, these being their first days away from home, played along. I probably made seven or eight sandwiches that night and finished it off with some jelly. Unfortunately, the rest of university wouldn't be nearly so exciting.

So, in a nutshell, yes I love museum parties.

 

[JayJay]

I have, but there was no dancing. Lots of good food though.

 

[emptym]

Got back a little while ago. The museum aspect is the best part, imo. The rainforest, coral reefs, and planetarium are truly amazing. Loved the exhibits on evolution too. I'd like to say the coral reefs were my favorite since they replicate reefs in the Philippines. And I do love how the fish seem to come up to you and stare back. But probably my favorite was the planetarium. There's an omnimax screen that pans out from the room to the museum interior to Golden Gate part, to the city, the peninsula, the earth, the solar system, the Milky Way galaxy, the entire universe. Made me feel insignificant yet happy. The whole place just reminds me of Gerard Manley Hopkins' famous line that "the world is charged with the grandeur of God." The universe is so amazing, in the real sense of the word: the complexity, the fragility, the prodigal beauty of it all.

Can't wait to visit the place w/ brother and his wife. He's an architect and she's an interior designer. To my eyes, the building is interesting, but through their eyes, I'll get to appreciate all kinds of things I missed.

 

[v0rtex]

Originally Posted by emptym

Any other museums you know have these things? Any other people enjoy them?

Orlando Museum of Art has them regularly, with exhibits by 10-15 local artists at each, a band, and you can wander round the museum.

Not bad, but like many cultural things in this city, tends to be frequented by the same people over and over with not many new faces.

 

[freshcutgrass]

The first thursday of the month is new gallery opening reception time at most independent galleries, and they are generally open to anyone.

In my area (West Queen West), there's quite a concentrated number of them. The beer, wine & nibblies are cheap, the art hit and miss, and the social scene nauseating (yea ok...you tattooed your face...you're officially cooler than a 14 year-old school girl now), but you could start at Trinity Belwoods Park (home of the allusive albino squirrels), and be drunk & full by the time you hit Dufferin.