Buy:mrpayroll
10-19-05, 06:48 PM
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051019/en_nm/wax_museum_dc
1 hour, 46 minutes ago
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Southern California's Movieland Wax Museum, opened in 1962 by silent-film star Mary Pickford, is closing its doors -- a victim of the thrills and spills of huge theme parks and action-packed video games.
The owners of the museum, one of the largest in the world and home to more than 300 wax celebrities, said the attraction would take its final bow on October 31.
"Times have changed," Rodney Fong, president of the family-owned museum, said on Wednesday. "Trying to compete as a small attraction in the Southern California area has become tougher and tougher."
The Movieland Wax Museum is a block from Knott's Berry Farm theme park in Orange County and a short drive from Disneyland, both of which have expanded dramatically in the past 20 years. The popularity of graphic video games may also have played a part in the museum's meltdown.
"It is a static display and I think the younger generation wants flash images and a lot of things happening in 30 seconds," Fong said.
Many of the wax figures depict movie and TV stars of a bygone era although the museum has added celebrities like Catherine Zeta-Jones and Britney Spears in recent years in a bid to attract more tourists.
Fong said some 10 million to 20 million people had visited the museum since 1962 but he declined to give recent attendance figures.
Many of the exhibits will be moved to the Wax Museum at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco but the Movieland site is likely to be redeveloped as a pizza restaurant.
This is too bad. I haven't been there in over 30 years!
Chris
1 hour, 46 minutes ago
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Southern California's Movieland Wax Museum, opened in 1962 by silent-film star Mary Pickford, is closing its doors -- a victim of the thrills and spills of huge theme parks and action-packed video games.
The owners of the museum, one of the largest in the world and home to more than 300 wax celebrities, said the attraction would take its final bow on October 31.
"Times have changed," Rodney Fong, president of the family-owned museum, said on Wednesday. "Trying to compete as a small attraction in the Southern California area has become tougher and tougher."
The Movieland Wax Museum is a block from Knott's Berry Farm theme park in Orange County and a short drive from Disneyland, both of which have expanded dramatically in the past 20 years. The popularity of graphic video games may also have played a part in the museum's meltdown.
"It is a static display and I think the younger generation wants flash images and a lot of things happening in 30 seconds," Fong said.
Many of the wax figures depict movie and TV stars of a bygone era although the museum has added celebrities like Catherine Zeta-Jones and Britney Spears in recent years in a bid to attract more tourists.
Fong said some 10 million to 20 million people had visited the museum since 1962 but he declined to give recent attendance figures.
Many of the exhibits will be moved to the Wax Museum at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco but the Movieland site is likely to be redeveloped as a pizza restaurant.
This is too bad. I haven't been there in over 30 years!
Chris