Museum in Laguna Beach immerses visitors in make believe

Editor’s Note: This is part of a monthly feature on arts and culture offerings in Orange County, which is rich with indoor and outdoor, often inexpensive or even free, options that you might not know about.

When visitors enter the Museum of Make Believe in Laguna Beach, they leave behind the everyday rush of activity along Pacific Coast Highway and are instantly thrust into a fully immersive fantasy world.

The dimly lit space is bursting with art presented in virtually every medium, from traditional paintings and murals to miniatures, found-object sculptures, hand-cut Japanese shadow puppets and original audio installations.

“We wanted people to feel like they’re inside a work of art,” said co-founder Amy Mitchell, who opened the nonprofit museum with her husband, artist Geof Mitchell, in 2020. “How do you make art not stuffy and fun and not scary for people who might not normally go to a gallery?”

Visitors wind through a storybook land, meeting dreamed-up characters who have a deep personal connection to the artists and were placed in the museum as a tribute.

“Fricka the Brave” is a 7-foot-long, 5-foot-tall snowdrop dragon sculpture originally created for the 2019 Anaheim Halloween Parade.

“Oscar the Princely Cat” is a heartfelt homage to the Mitchells’ real-life cat, Oscar. When the Mitchells discovered their beloved pet had only weeks to live, they created an impeccably dressed puppet figure using some of Oscar’s actual whiskers.

“He holds a special spot in the museum,” Geoff Mitchell said. “He’s in our logo and there is a whole story around that.”

“Sparrow, the Shooting Star Dog” pays tribute to the Mitchells’ actual pet dog, Sparrow, who died during early construction of the museum. The Shooting Star Dog serves as a guide for the museum’s interactive scavenger hunt, in which visitors can earn a special prize.

Adults earn collectible pins, children choose prizes from a treasure chest and everyone receives a “golden egg” with a surprise inside.

Laguna Beach mixed-media artist Kelsey Irvin sits on the museum’s board of directors and is a core creative team artist and influencer for the space.

Irvin played a major role in establishing its location by encouraging the Mitchells to base their fairytale museum within the heart of the artsy community of Laguna Beach.

“There’s some kind of a yearning… a wanting,” Irvin said of the community’s desire for such a whimsical space. “It’s literally every form of art, including performing art.”

Among Irvin’s contributions in the museum is “The Watchdog,” a collage painting displayed on the wall near the entrance, depicting a cowboy composed of vintage leather, denim and wood.

An audio drama penned by Geof Mitchell titled “Strange Secrets of Starlight Park” is a cinematic radio story performed by local voice actors, including Irvin’s son. Visitors can sit inside the museum’s miniature theater and listen as the tale unfolds.

“It’s a legacy,” Irvin said. “It’s meant to be like a legacy that we get to leave.”

The Davis family — Kate, her husband and their four children — were in Orange County visiting friends when they discovered a brochure on the museum in their hotel and decided to spend the final day of their vacation checking out the unique space.

“The kids generally like fantasy and fairytales and they make up their own,” Davis said. “So this is right up their alley. I wasn’t expecting the immersive artwork. The maps and the treasure hunt … even my little guy … he said, ‘Oh yeah, I’m going to do this.’”

Aside from a grant from the California Arts Council, the museum has received no major funding or financial backing and is run entirely by volunteers.

The space thrives off sweat and a shared belief in the power of imagination … and many late nights, Amy Mitchell said.

“We spend four hours every night cleaning because we get so much foot traffic,” she said. “I never cared about getting paid. It’s just a labor of love. We’d love to see it grow so the world can enjoy it more.”

If you go

What: Museum of Make Believe

Where: 1590 S. Coast Highway, Laguna Beach

Hours: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays

Cost: $10 for children up to age 12; $15 for those 13 and older

The Storybook Experience: $35, includes entry to the exhibits and the treasures inside a golden dragon’s egg, including a “tomorrow stone” gem and fortune prize and a treasure hunter’s map to complete throughout your visit and a “Ghost Stories & Fairy Tales” storybook from the Museum of Make Believe

Information: museumofmakebelieve.org