As I recently moved back to Los Angeles, I’ve been on a mission to do all of the things that I didn’t get to do the first time that I was here. Of course there is no rush, but it is quite fun waking up knowing I will be doing something exciting everyday. On one of those days, I went to the Grammy Museum. When I lived here in 2008, the museum was still being built and I believe I left right after the museum opened. So I was thrilled to be able to finally visit the museum that I had been anticipating to visit since the announcement of it being created.

There are four floors to the museum (including the first entrance floor) and for some reason I feel like even though I walked around every nook and cranny, I still missed a few things. There is just so much to see and look back on, so much to come to learn, and so much to do here. One of the floors includes “Roland Live” where there is an interactive room for museum goers to learn how to play the piano, drums, and guitar. I took a moment to play around on the piano to Norah Jones’ “Don’t Know Why.”

When you first walk into the museum on the fourth floor, you’ll see the very first Grammy award and each Grammy award upgrade over the years. The award has gone through some great changes and is quite big nowadays. Then there’s the Michael Jackson legacy exhibit. Museum goers will get to see a few of Michael’s costumes, a pair of his gloves, and fedora which are all on display. Even Designer, Rick Pallack’s original 1991 costume drawings for Michael are on display. There really is a quite fascinating amount of music history artifacts in just the first floor and that’s just the beginning.

The third floor has studio session booths that are interactive. The booth that I walked into was a video of Manny Marroquin teaching me how to mix a song and more. In this particular booth there were 4 sessions to learn, the 1st section of the first session being 10 minutes long. if you have time to spare, you can learn tons from all of the booths.

The second floor is home to the 200 seat Grammy Sound Stage known as the Clive Davis Theater. As I walked in, a Janis Joplin interview was being aired and that was quite fun to watch. I watched as she answered the 3-4 last questions of the interview and then performed a song. Right outside of the theater was a Janis Joplin/Jimi Hendrix/late 60s music exhibit. As I just recently got into Janis in the past few years, I am always fascinated with learning more about her, so I was thrilled to see some of her paintings, jewelry, and more.

On that same floor there are Grammy Portraits lined up on the walls of many Grammy winners with their awards, including everyone from Outkast to Norah Jones. It really is quite a beautiful collection. There are also walls throughout the museum dedicated to Elvis Presley, Miles Davis, and Neil Diamond to name a few. There are so many other fascinating treasures to discover. The original handwritten lyrics from “Tim McGraw” by Taylor Swift is showcased as well as the handwritten lyrics from the songwriters of Carrie Underwood’s “Jesus Take the Wheel.”

The Songwriter’s Hall of Fame Chart from the 1970s to the present is quite a list to look at. Though Taylor Swift was inducted this past May and has not yet been added to the wall so it will be quite exciting to go back to the museum and see her name alongside the others. One incredible artifact is the loan note from 1959 in which Berry Goldy Jr. borrowed $800 from the family savings club to start Motown Records Corp. One can only wish if that loan was not accepted, Motown Records would have still become what it is today. But it was, so it is quite an accomplishment to look back on…asking for a loan…to making millions, probably billions.

As for fashion…Billie Holiday’s costume jewelery from the 1940s and Louis Armstrong’s necktie from the 1950s is showcased. If you want some present day fashion history thrown your way you can take a look at Gwen Stefani’s L.A.M.B dress that she wore to the 2004 Grammys, the dress Katy Perry wore during her 2008 Grammy performance, and “the dress” Jennifer Lopez wore in 2000 among many others. I wish I had more time to check out the music history wall from the 50s – 2005 and the video area where artists discussed their musical inspiration/influences. Nelly Furtado and Taylor Swift spoke about theirs as I walked past. There is also another video area where museum goers can watch great Grammy performances over the years. Playing as I was passing by was Alicia Keys’ “No One” performance. Also important to mention are the areas dedicated to the Latin Grammys and Grammy charities.

All that I have mentioned is really just an overall look at all of the fascinating artifacts there are to see in the Grammy Museum, so definitely check this out when you are in the Los Angeles area. The only things missing…a Lady Gaga exhibit, Madonna exhibit, and cafe. If there were a cafe attached to the museum, I would make this my music haven. But there is a Grammy store on the second floor, where I picked up a key chain from The Beatles store area! There are also occasional events/programs that occur so visit the official website for more information.

The Grammy Museum is located at 800 W. Olympic Blvd., Ste. A245, Los Angeles, CA 90015. Click here for tickets.