This museum has its share of campy Roy Rogers lunchboxes, but it's also got an authentic stagecoach inside (and a fake one outside), chuck wagons, and an OK Corral shootout reconstruction.

Part of the Autry National Center, The Museum of the American West opened in November 1988 as the Autry Museum of Western Heritage. Today, less than 20 years after opening, it is hailed as one of the finest museums of its kind. Singing cowboy Gene Autry magnanimously provided the seed funds to dismantle the myths pushed in the very films in which he starred. The museum has a lively calendar of events and exhibits that continue to celebrate the original Autry Museums vision: exploration of the cultures, peoples and histories of the West. The Imagination Gallery is packed with vivid images of the men and women of the Wild West shows and Western movies; the Community Gallery educates visitors about the diverse people that made up the old West and the Colt Firearms Collection showcases what it took to maintain law and order in the times of cowboy shootouts. Visitors can step back in time to the early days of the Spanish vaqueros and ranchers in the Cowboy Gallery, or search for artifacts from the gold rush or the Santa Fe Trail in the Opportunity Gallery. Replicas of a family antique store, restaurant, and home help convey the lives of Chinese-American families in the '30s. —Lindsey Lin