L.A. or San Francisco?
Lucas museum saga becomes a cliffhanger
SAN FRANCISCO — George Lucas is no stranger to epic struggles on the big screen, but he didn’t expect one off-camera when it came to his art collection.
For nearly a decade, the filmmaker has tried to build a museum to house an extensive personal collection that includes 40,000 paintings, illustrations and film-related items. But legal entanglements and other complications have thwarted his efforts.
After several false starts, Lucas and his art team say they will decide later this month whether to put the museum in San Francisco or Los Angeles, a strategy that has stirred a California rivalry.
The prize is big, and both cities want it badly.
“This is the largest civic gift in American history,” L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti said. “I think Los Angeles is the natural home for it” — a notion that San Francisco officials enthusiastically contest.
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, as it will be called, promises hundreds of jobs and a high-profile attraction — and it’s essentially free.
The Star Wars creator is financing the project himself. He plans to spend more than US$1 billion to build the museum, endow it and provide a trove of initial artworks valued at more than $400 million. Together with architect Ma Yansong, Lucas has proposed a sleek, futuristic design that looks like a cross between the Guggenheim (a New York museum) and a galactic starfighter.
The museum’s bold design and concept make clear that the 72-year-old filmmaker sees it as part of his legacy and he is increasingly impatient to break ground.
In 2010, Lucas first pitched his project to San Francisco and considered a site in the Presidio, but the trust that oversaw the park ultimately rebuffed him. He then took his project to Chicago, his wife’s hometown, but preservationists sued to keep it off the lakefront.
Lengthy delays prompted Lucas to abandon that bid in June and change strategy. In October, Lucas unveiled similar but competing designs for Los Angeles and San Francisco sites, turning the project into a public competition. It seems to have worked.
Government leaders in both cities have unanimously approved it. And officials are quick to stress that this time there is no apparent opposition, and construction could begin quickly ahead of a projected 2020 finish date.