6-Acre Nonprofit Discovery Pavilion Envisioned : Science Buff Campaigns for Museum at Pierce

There’s a science to raising $10 million for an unusual museum project, Nelson Brestoff has discovered.

Brestoff is a Woodland Hills science buff who hopes to do just that after he proves there is a need for a nonprofit science center and museum on an unused corner of the Los Angeles Pierce College campus.

He envisions building a 6-acre Discovery Pavilion that would feature a large lecture hall and seminar center, a science museum and a specialized science education facility called the “Mr. Wizard Institute,” for the popular TV personality.

For children, it would be a fun-filled, hands-on learning center, Brestoff says. For adults, it would be something of a monument to the San Fernando Valley’s important aerospace and technological industries.

Low-Rise Buildings

Its low-rise buildings could attract as many as 500,000 visitors a year, he predicts. Most would be schoolchildren who would visit for free. Adults would be charged $4.50 or so.

“It’s the right cultural product” for the Valley area, he said. “I’m going to push this idea along until somebody says it’s a big mistake.”

So far, no one has said that.

Brestoff hatched the idea for his pavilion about 18 months ago after failing to drum up interest from the Cultural Foundation in a science museum at Warner Park. The foundation is considering creation of a performing arts center at the Woodland Hills park site.

“I thought about families and the large number of science-based industries in the Valley. I thought that the idea of a science museum had more currency than a cultural center at Warner Park,” Brestoff said. “But they didn’t think it fit in with their idea of an arts park environment.”

Drive Launched

He launched his do-it-yourself museum drive when he learned that Pierce College might have space available.

Brestoff decided from the start that his campaign would have to be scientifically run.

He said he has had a passion for science since his first year in college, when he read a worrisome article about acid rain that persuaded him to change his major from English to engineering.

He eventually earned a master’s degree in environmental engineering from Caltech. After that, Brestoff went to law school with thoughts of handling environmental law cases. His law practice never led to that, although it taught him the value of cultivating contacts.

So Brestoff began his museum campaign by seeking the support of local education leaders and aerospace executives. Then he lined up tentative endorsements from a diverse group that included TV personality Dr. George Fischbeck and Don Muchmore, head of the Museum of Science and Industry’s California Museum Foundation.

After that, he created a nonprofit Valley Science Foundation to be the eventual operator of the pavilion. Then he obtained help from private companies ranging from a $10,000 donation from an aerospace company to a scale model of the potential science center from a well-known architectural firm.

This month, Brestoff has signed up for an international seminar on new science centers, to be held next week in Ann Arbor, Mich. He also hit the local lecture circuit to begin promoting public interest in his project.

Endorsements Won

So far, he’s won endorsements from the 17-association Las Virgenes Homeowners Federation in the Calabasas-Agoura area, the West Hills Property Owners Assn. and the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn. Brestoff is awaiting word from the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn., whose members heard his preliminary plans Wednesday night.

“It’s a terrific idea that’s long, long, long overdue for the Valley,” Los Angeles School Board member Julie Korenstein said Friday. “It would be a marvelous extension of the Museum of Science and Industry downtown. It would be great for our schoolchildren.”

Korenstein, who represents the West Valley on the School Board, said the Los Angeles Unified School District might be able to provide an unused school site for the pavilion if the Pierce College site is not made available.

Parcel Suggested

David Wolf, Pierce College’s president, said he hopes that some unused college land is set aside for the project. He has suggested a parcel off Victory Boulevard next to the school’s 2,000-car parking lot. College district trustees may be asked next month to vote on the idea.

“I personally feel it would be a wonderful addition to Pierce College,” Wolf said Friday. “It would link up rather nicely with our Agriculture Department and our Natural Sciences Department. Most of its visitors would be school kids and, for us, that’s a fairly ordinary thing. We have lots of school kids who already visit our farm.”

Television’s “Mr. Wizard,” long time video personality Don Herbert, said he is flattered that his name is being considered for the proposed teaching center and that he is being asked to help plan the pavilion.

“There’s much work to be done to define it in more detail, but I want to encourage him to do something like this,” said Herbert, a Bell Canyon resident. “This is a technically responsive area, and there are a lot of people here who would use it.”

Muchmore, of the Museum of Science and Industry, sees no conflict between the pavilion and his popular Exposition Park museum. He said Friday he hoped there could eventually be a sharing of exhibits between the state museum and the pavilion.

“Certainly there is a need in the Valley for such a project,” he said.

“We see it as an augmentation rather than competition. . . . We need desperately to turn America around in order to keep our place among the nations of the world. To do that we need most of all to excite young people about careers in science and engineering.”

No Competition

The Woodland Hills-based Cultural Foundation--whose cold shoulder initially triggered Brestoff’s campaign--feels the same way. One of its top leaders said the pavilion would not compete with its proposed $95-million Sepulveda Basin arts park and Warner Park performance center.

“I think people will go to the science museum and to the gallery and to the theater,” Linda Kinnee, chief fund-raiser for the Cultural Foundation, said Friday. “There’s plenty of money for all of us.”

Brestoff acknowledged that such support may not be universal, however. He said the use of Pierce College land may be fought by those opposed to development of the school’s farmland.

Some Opposition

Among those opponents is the Woodland Hills Homeowners Organization, which recently warned in its membership newsletter to “look out for this Trojan Horse of a science museum.”

According to Brestoff, he has asked to meet with Woodland Hills leaders to explain his proposal, which he envisions being mostly paid for with grants and large corporate donations.

“I’ll talk to any group that’s interested,” he said. “I’ve got a set of 71 color slides from the Assn. of Science and Technology Centers that show what could be done here.

“I’m trying to gauge public interest in this. I’m not trying to cram something down people’s throat. If people don’t want this, I want to know sooner than later.”