Autry Museum Finds Home on the Griffith Park Range

Almost two years after beginning its search for a home, the $25-million Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum found one Wednesday when the Los Angeles City Council gave final and unanimous approval to the museum’s placement in Griffith Park.

Without discussion, the council voted 10 to 0 to approve a 50-year lease--at $1 a year--for the 2 1/2-acre site between the Los Angeles Zoo parking lot and the Golden State Freeway, where the museum will be situated.

The vote paved the way for ground breaking for the 139,436-square-foot museum on Nov. 12. Museum representatives did not speak at Wednesday’s council session and could not be reached for comment later.

Approval marked the end of a tortuous path for the museum’s backers and specifically for the Autry Foundation, a charitable trust run by Jackie Autry, wife of the former cowboy star.

Jackie Autry first suggested the museum nearly two years ago to Burbank officials, envisioning then that it would be built in Buena Vista Park. That proposal met with strong opposition from environmentalists and neighbors, who argued that it would destroy the spaciousness of Buena Vista Park.

The protests led Jackie Autry to withdraw the Burbank proposal and instead offer to build it in the nearby Griffith Park area.

That offer, too, spurred opposition from the Los Angeles Recrea

tion and Parks Department, the League of Women Voters and a handful of environmental groups that criticized the loss of scarce flat parkland.

But no one spoke against the project when it was tentatively approved by the council last week, nor when it gained final approval Wednesday.

The Autry Foundation plans to house collections of Western artifacts in the museum, including a 10,000-piece exhibit acquired last year from the Frontier Museum in Temecula in Riverside County.

Artworks--including some by artists such as Frederic Remington and Charles Russell--will be on display, as will saddles, firearms and other memorabilia from movie cowboys including John Wayne, Gary Cooper and Autry.

Theater Is Planned

A 250-seat theater is planned for showings of Western movies.

The museum itself--a two-story, Spanish-style structure complete with bell tower--is expected to open in June, 1988. All construction expenses will be paid by the Autry Foundation, museum officials have said.

Although they had no comment on the museum Wednesday, council members have effusively backed the project since it first came before the city more than a year ago.

“We should get down on our hands and knees and thank God for Mr. Autry bringing this to Los Angeles,” said Councilman John Ferraro.

“We’re going to have in this city the finest museum of its type,” said Councilman Joel Wachs. “I dare to say that, when the museum is completed, it will probably be one of the leading attractions in the city.”