:Museums and collections

Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University
Lomita Drive at Museum Way, Stanford. Exhibits art in 24 galleries, many from its collection of 30,000 objects including European and American drawings, prints and photographs. Free admission. Cafe and bookstore. Introductory tour (Sat, Sun 1 p.m., meet in main lobby) features objects from a variety of cultures and historic periods. Rodin Sculpture Garden and New Guinea Sculpture Garden outside. Free docent tours begin with marble statues at main entrance. Closed Monday and Tuesday. Call 650-723-4177; 650-723-3469 for tours.

Computer History Museum
1401 N. Shoreline Blvd., Mtn. View. Dedicated to the preservation and celebration of computing history, and home to a large international collection of computing artifacts. Speaker series, tours, physical and online exhibits. Call 650-810-1010.

CuriOdyssey (formerly Coyote Point Museum)
1651 Coyote Point Drive, San Mateo. Located in a park overlooking San Francisco Bay, CuriOdyssey connects families with the natural world though hands-on science exhibits and animal encounters. More than 100 mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates. Nearby picnic facilities, beach, playgrounds, a marina and walking trails. Call 650-342-7755.
E-mail: info@CuriOdyssey.org.

Hiller Aviation Museum
601 Skyway Road, San Carlos. At the San Carlos Airport. Aircraft on display tell stories about past, future of aviation. Educational videos, interactive displays, museum library and restoration shop. Call 650-654-0200.
E-mail: museum@hiller.org.

Hoover Institution
434 Galvez Mall, Stanford. Free exhibits on President Herbert Hoover and his wife Lou Henry Hoover) and rotating exhibits that focus on archival holdings in the Herbert Hoover Memorial Exhibit Pavilion, adjacent to Hoover Tower. Call 650-723-1754; Hoover Library, 650-723-2054; Hoover Archives ,650-723-3563.

Jehning Family Lock Museum of Mountain View, The
175 Castro St., Mtn. View. Nearly 1,000 locks and 5,000 keys from around the world, plus safes, keyrings and handcuffs, make up the collection. Changing exhibits. Call 650-968-2285.

Lathrop House
627 Hamilton St. (County Center), Redwood City. Built in 1863, listed on the National Registry of historic places, run by the Redwood City Heritage Association. Changing displays in the dining room. Vintage clothing display upstairs. Gift shop. Admission by donation. Tours by arrangement. Call 650-365-5564.

Los Altos History Museum
51 S. San Antonio Road, Los Altos. Permanent interactive and two to four changing exhibits yearly, a museum store, the J. Gilbert Smith History House and ongoing educational programs, lectures and docent-led or audio history tours. Free admission and parking, wheelchair/stroller accessible. Call 650-948-9427.

Moffett Field Historical Society Museum
Moffett Field, Severyns Ave., Bldg. 126, Mtn. View. Displays unique and historic military uniforms, aircraft models and artifacts depicting the history of aviation at Moffett Field. An actual TF-104G Starfighter, AH-1S Cobra helicopter, P2 Neptune and P3 Orion are outside the museum. Tours of the museum and air park. Call 650-964-4024.
E-mail: moffettmuseum@sbcglobal.net.

Mountain View History Center
585 Franklin St., Mtn. View. Second floor of the Mountain View Public Library. Photos, memorabilia and other historical items of Mountain View's early days; Mountain View High School yearbooks beginning 1904, phone books from 1950, several directories of the early 1900s, clipping file from 1967, and the Mountain View Register Leader from turn of the century to the 1960s. Call 650-903-6890.

Museum of American Heritage
351 Homer Ave., Palo Alto. Early inventions of the 19th and 20th centuries are brought to life. In the Livermore Learning Center, classes and workshops teach the public, especially youth, to understand the principles and history of technology and consider careers in science and technology. Call 650-321-1004.
E-mail: mail@moah.org.

NASA Ames Exploration Center
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Mtn. View. Within view of the historic Hangar One at Moffett Field, the Exploration Center offers rotating interactive exhibits and displays describing Ames' inventions for NASA space and aeronautics missions. The center also features an SGI Reality Theater. Children grades 4-6 can sign up for Aerospace Encounter, an interactive program to stir enthusiasm for science, math and technology. Call 650-604-6274.

Outdoor Sculpture Walk
Cantor Arts Center, corner of Museum Drive and Lomita Way, Stanford. Guided tours of Stanford University's outdoor art collection of more than 70 sculptures. Campus Sculpture Walk meets where The Oval meets Serra Street. Tour lasts about one-and-a-half hours and explores the Stanford campus and many 20th-century sculptures in the quad and south campus area. Other tours include the collection of Rodin bronzes inside and outside the museum, art and architecture of Memorial Church and temporary-exhibit tours. Free. Call 650-723-3469 or 650-723-4177.

Palo Alto Art Center
1313 Newell Road, Palo Alto. Offers year-round art classes and workshops for children ages preschool and up. Project LOOK! offers a docent-led tour of current exhibitions with a hands-on activity that follows in the Project LOOK! studio. Call 650-329-2366.
E-mail: artcenter@cityofpaloalto.org.

Palo Alto Junior Museum and Zoo
1451 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. Displays and mini-zoo for children and their families. The zoo houses raccoons, bobcats, ferrets, tortoises, geese, bugs and snakes. The museum emphasizes hands-on, interactive exhibits. Call 650-329-2111.
E-mail: funscience@cityofpaloalto.org.

Rodin Sculpture Garden and Galleries
Lomita Drive and Roth Way, Stanford. Twenty of Rodin's bronze sculptures are adjacent to the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University. The “Burghers of Calais” is nearby on campus. Rodin tours meet in the Cantor Arts Center lobby. Call 650-723-3469.

San Mateo County History Museum
2200 Broadway, Redwood City. Housed in the 1910 county courthouse, the Museum operates the courthouse museum along with the Woodside Store and Sanchez Adobe in Pacifica, and offers tours, monthly programs and historical demonstrations. It also publishes a twice-yearly journal, books on county history and a monthly newsletter. Call 650-299-0104.

Sanchez Adobe
1000 Linda Mar Blvd., Pacifica. Operated by the San Mateo County Historical Association, the adobe was constructed in 1846 by Francisco Sanchez and later restored as the Sanchez family home. Free admission. Tours and educational programs by appointment. Call 650-359-1462.
E-mail: sanchezadobe@historysmc.org.

Stanford Papua New Guinea Sculpture Garden
Stanford . Located at Santa Teresa Street (off Campus Drive West) and Lomita Drive, near Roble Hall. Large, carved wood and stone relief sculptures by artists from the Sepik River region of New Guinea can be found among the trees. Call 650-723-3469.

Tech Museum, The
201 S. Market St., San Jose. Museum experiences include the new The Tech Studio, which features digital fabrication, exhibit production and prototyping, as well as experiences on genetics, innovation and space. The Hackworth IMAX Dome Theater features crystal clear images on its eight-story screen and 13,000 watts of wrap-around digital surround sound. Call 408-294-TECH.
E-mail: info@thetech.org.

Woodside Community Museum
2961 Woodside Road, Woodside. Located in the restored Mathisen Family farmhouse, on the west side of Town Hall, the original house was completed the day before the 1906 earthquake. Exhibit space is used for changing displays, and artifacts related to Woodside history. Call 650-851-1294.

Woodside Store
3300 Tripp Road, Woodside. The store has been restored to its 1800s appearance and offers hands-on displays and an educational slide show available to pre-arranged groups for a fee. General admission is free. Tours available. Call 650-851-7615.
E-mail: woodsidestore@historysmc.org .