Todd Lerew, who is the Director of Special Projects for the Los Angeles Library Foundation, estimates that there are some 800 museums in the greater Los Angeles area including large institutions such as The Getty, The Broad, The Hammer and LACMA. But that is not what most interests Lerew. For almost a decade, Lerew has sought out Los Angeles’ unique and unexpected collections, many of which are in storefronts, basements, and private homes, and often the collections of one dedicated enthusiast.

“It’s fair to say that it started as a hobby,” Lerew told me recently. “Since I was very young, growing up in rural South Dakota, I was extremely interested in roadside attractions, [such as] ‘The World Famous Corn Palace’… By the time I moved to Los Angeles for grad school in 2012, I was seeking out folk art environment like, most famously, the Watts Towers… at some point I came to realize that very often local historical societies, museums in particular, have really fascinating and unpredictable, sometimes unusual collections and stories, and that there was no way to know what was there without just going to see them.”

In his new book, Also On View: Unique and Unexpected Museums of Greater Los Angeles (Angel City Press), Lerew showcases 64 places that he has found and visited. “I am grateful for this opportunity to turn a private obsession into a public celebration of these incredible institutions,” Lerew said in the book’s press release.

Some of them you may know or have heard of, such as The Magic Castle, a club for magicians and magic afficionados in Hollywood, the Mt. Wilson Observatory which makes an appearance on many local LA weather broadcasts, and Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena or the quirky Museum of Jurassic Technology that continues to attract visitors and writers delighted by the deadpan humor of its exhibits (and which Lerew admits to be one of his favorites).

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To Lerew, what constitutes a museum is an elastic term: Some are open to the public; others by appointment only. Some have permanent collections; others don’t. Some are nonprofits; others not. To Lerew, it’s a case by case situation.

In Lerew’s book, these compendiums of curiosities are gathered in nine thematic chapters such as Hearth and Home, Faith and Spirit, Technology and Science, and Portals in Time and Space.

Some of the collections are quite niche, such as the Museum of the Republic of Vietnam, located on the second floor of a strip mall in Westminster, or the Bhagavad-Gita Museum in Culver City, or even the Hathaway Ranch & Oil Museum in Santa Fe Springs. Others such as the Horace Heidt Big Band Museum, are –well—one-man bands. There is also a Skateboarding Hall of Fame and Museum in Simi Valley and a Surfing Heritage and Culture Center in San Clemente, and a Martial Arts Museum in Glendale.

The book is enlivened by great photography by Ryan Schude, which makes the book that much more enjoyable, and which is, Lerew said, “a hundred percent original new photography.” Reading the book, Lerew’s delight, and curiosity, for each museum is palpable.

There is the First Original McDonald’s Museum, the Southern California Railway Museum, the Hsi Lai Temple Museum, the Rubel Castle and Tin Palace Museum, and the Compton Art & History Museum. You can learn about the Garifuna about a museum devoted to their history in South Central, or considering visiting the Mousley Museum of Yucaipa History, which Lerew says offers, “unexpected delights.” Or perhaps, the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology in Camarillo is more your speed. One thing’s for sure, places, spaces, and adventures you never imagined are yours for the exploration just by reading Lerew’s book.

Just a word about the book’s publisher, Angel City Press. For years led by Paddy Calistro and Scott McAuley, Angel City Press published historical tome after tome about Los Angeles. Lerew’s book was the last that Paddy and Scott personally signed to publish, they told him recently. Ironically, Angel City has now become part of the Los Angeles Public Library, and although there are not many libraries with their own publishing imprint, in this case, it serves the library, the press, and the reader well.

Perhaps you will be called to visit The Velaslavasay Panorama, or the Compton Art & History Museum, or the Skid Row History Museum & Archive. or even a museum devoted to illumination, The Street Light Museum.

As for finding all of LA’s museums, Lerew has established a website, everymuseum.la that offers information about the hundreds of museums in the greater Los Angeles region he has uncovered. But you should not delay visiting the ones that interest you. Some of the places in the book have already closed; some may be closing soon.

Lerew sees “Also On View: Unique and Unexpected Museums of Greater Los Angeles as less of a guidebook, and more as, as he put it, “A collection of stories, as a depository for this incredible history and a way to share it, whether or not it’s still possible to go, or even if you don’t live here anymore.”