Happy Place : Pop Up Museum

 

Interactive pop up art museums are a new attraction. Similar ones include the Museum of Ice Cream and Wonderspaces. Happy Place was located in LA and will be moving to Chicago this summer. There are 15 different exhibits (I’ve included 13), along with free treats, and opportunities to buy rainbow flavored anything at the end.

 

 

Happy Place starts out with bright yellow shoes and gumball machines! Free smiling M&M’s will set you off to a sweet start. They also provided cake pops later on.

Another neat thing besides the free treats, is a FREE photographer. They have photographers everywhere to take pictures of you and they scan it to your wristband and you can access and download them for FREE! I personally enjoy taking my own pictures and didn’t take advantage of this, but I think it’s a great option for non-photographers and families.

First off: some logistics. It is in the Staples center so parking is EXPENSIVE. On a Monday morning they expected us to pay $30. We went to Shamrock Parking which was a four minute walk and only cost us $10.

Also, we went to the 10 am (earliest time slot) on a Monday morning. We definitely had enough time in each room and it was slow enough that we didn’t feel to pressured to move on too quick (most of the time) and didn’t have to wait a long time for others. However by noon, it was filling up quickly. My advice: go EARLY on a weekday!

 

 

Happy Place is filled with color and imagination. It brings you back to a child like state of wonder. I think this is why so many of the exhibits made me reminisce. This room weirdly reminded me of Pooh Bear… heffalumps and woozles!

This child like wonder could be why so many children and middle schoolers were there. I was shocked that the majority of goers were young families.

 

 

A few rules about the Happy Place: there are no bathrooms once you enter. You cannot go back, you can only go forward, and there are always people waiting for you so they can have a turn.

Basically, bloggers and photographers, there are no outfit changes. Layers and Props are a MUST!

 

 

The colors are so bright and fun but they do come out pretty harsh in photos. The first photo is true to color, where the following two I shifted hues and saturation for a more flattering affect.

 

 

This flower room was pretty neat. It is just a layer of flowers on a standing wooden board. There are little peep holes carved out in different sections and you can climb a ladder to poke through.

 

 

The upside down child’s room was what originally drew me to Happy Place! I’m still in awe, and slightly confused on how they got all of that to hang upside down.

On the opposite side is a polar bear set up, but no bed.

 

 

I can’t help but laugh at and love the photos above. It’s like I went back in time to 8 year old pop-star Leanna.

Towards the end of the exhibits there are several “mini” exhibits. Instead of taking up an entire room, these exhibits take up about a closet. But they are just as fun!

 

 

Weirdly enough, these chains are actually white. But they appear as a pale pink when reflecting the hot pink from the walls.

 

 

The RUBBER DUCKY ROOM. So first of all, all I could think of was that episode in Veggie Tales where Larry has all of the rubber duckies.

Second off, this was one of my favorite exhibits. But it is hard to  pose in a small tub when surrounded by plastic balls.

 

 

The confetti globe! Basically you go in this enclosed globe and when they press the start buttons fans turn on and you can start throwing confetti everywhere. It’s seriously as awesome as it sounds, it was blast.

 

 

The butterfly display is in the last room, which is also the snack room. The snack room contains rainbow treats including cotton candy, popcorn, ice cream, grill cheeses, and more. Be advised, they are, of course, incredibly over priced. Looking back I the cotton candy was not worth it…

Overall, the Happy Place was definitely worth it and I would 100% recommend visiting it next time it’s in town.