Visiting the Valley Relics Museum

When I planned my recent valley adventure there was one place I knew I had to see. As a person obsessed with both pop culture and local history I’d long been wanting to visit Valley Relics Museum.

Founded by Tommy Gelinas, a lifelong valley resident, it opened in Chatsworth in 2013.  Mr. Gelinas has been collecting valley artifacts for over 20 years and opened the museum to share his love of local history with others. I’d long been wanting to visit and finally made it.

The museum is home to every kind of object imaginable. There are lots of neon signs and various artifacts from valley institutions.

LOVE’S! To this day I still miss this beloved SoCal BBQ joint. When I was a kid there were locations all over and many’s the time my family would stop by for dinner. They made the absolute best barbecue beans and on every visit I would make sure to order them as one of my sides. I would also order their delicious steak fries and dip them in the beans. Mmmmmm. To this day I can still taste them.

For fans of all things Country Western the museum also has a large collection of Nudie memorabilia. Nudie designed the colorful rhinestone suits favored by both country and rock stars. Among his many artifacts you can see some of the incredible suits he designed as well as a couple of crazy cars!

There’s also a large selection of Jack Oakie artifacts and as a classic film fan I loved seeing all the items from his personal collection. That Paramount key chain! I love it!

In every corner there was relic upon relic upon relic and I absolutely loved it. After waiting 2 years to visit the museum it turned out to be better than I could have ever imagined.