Below the warm glow of a colorful neon sign, and tucked away in a corner store in the heart of LA's Chinatown, contains the world's largest collection of velvet paintings. Throw a punny business name on top of that (Velveteria, get it?) and BOOM! you've got yourself the world famous Velvet Museum.
Imported, like a fine beer, from Portland, Oregon, the Velveteria has recently found local love amongst the other weird museums of Los Angeles. It might not have bunnies, Scientology or death, but still shines as one of our fair city's strangest, and most unique, collections. 
Stepping in, you get that "Lynchian" kind of vibe, as a bright wave of musty Velvet curtains usher you into a room filled with the first crop of paintings. The mood is mellow, no different than that of a 1970s rec room filled with stoners, and the lights are low, which makes the velvet glow a bit.
The curators are friendly and seem like true hippies. They're SoCal natives who are excited and chatty about finally spreading that sexy velvet love across their home state.
A lap through the museum offers a dazzling array of famous self portraits, all done in velvet, of course. You've got 400+ pieces of artwork covering the walls, with some featuring the likes of Michael Jackson, Jesus, Elvis, JFK, and Peewee Herman. There's also a "nudes room" and blacklight room, which all look really gnarly when done entirely in velvet.
The place has gotten some great press as of late and it deserves it. They're doing the lord’s work here.
HOW THE HELL DID THIS HAPPEN?
Caren Anderson and Carl Baldwin opened up the original Velveteria in 2005 in Portland, Oregon, using it as way to showcase some of the incredible velvet paintings they'd collected over the years. It was a hit with the local weirdos of Portland (why wouldn't it be?) right out the gate.
Originally located right near the famous Powell's Book Store, rising rent and a real bad-itude toward the fine folks of Portland (calling the town a bit "dull" and "muted" in a recent VICE article) would ultimately bring the duo back to their Native State of California.
In late 2010, with the dream of spreading the velvet gospel, Anderson and Baldwin packed up six trucks and headed down to LA, taking their 3k+ painting collection and intending to start fresh. Four years later, the collection re-opened as the 'Velveteria Epicenter of Art Fighting Cultural Deprivation,’ and the rest is silky smooth history.
