Behind the Museum: The Hammer Museum Gift Shop

Kate Provisor, Art Muse LA Spring Intern

In the heart of Westwood, bustling with UCLA students and employees, The Hammer Museum boasts a curation of contemporary art exhibitions. Most recently, Made in LA took the city by storm, closing at the end of December. With only the small but mighty Groove exhibition open right now, The Hammer lingers in a limbo in between larger shows. So what happens behind the gallery doors? Well, the gift shop stays open. 

The Hammer Museum Store, renovated in 2022, boasts an eclectic collection ranging from art catalogs to tarot cards to Japanese candles. What do they not sell?: magnets, pins, and stereotypical souvenirs. At least once a day, visitors will mention how much they enjoyed perusing the store, and were pleasantly surprised by the careful curation of items. Brooke, the Store Buying Manager, has worked at The Hammer for so long she can't say. She and Sara, the Operations Manager, create a creative and diverse selection of gifts. They travel to small craft fairs, search for the esoteric, and experiment with smaller vendors to curate the unique Hammer Store and make sure there is art for every age and price range. 

Typically, visitors will spend around 15 to 30 minutes wandering around the incense smelling pathways filled with Baggu socks, Naoshi tarot cards, and Last Chance Textiles bandanas. Some of my personal favorite items are located in the permanent magic-themed table in the store. This arrangement includes a sound bath bowl, several variations of incense, a book titled Seance and an extended collection of Leonora Carrington. It seems that every visitor finds a section of the store that speaks to them, often concluding with guests cuddling up in one of the window couches overlooking the city with an art catalog or self-help book.

A normal day includes a variety of visitors, from returning customers to foreign tourists, entranced by the colorful interior of the gift shop. The music in the store changes day to day, based on who claims the speaker first. Some days have a melancholic theme with Sade, some are electrified with French indie-pop, and some are serenaded by Clairo and Men I Trust. While the galleries in The Hammer are patrolled by UCLA students, the Hammer Store employees vary in age and interests. The collection of diverse employees makes the Hammer Store even more interesting, setting the mood for the creative and magical gift shop. Next time you stop by The Hammer Museum make sure to check out the gift shop, it is an aesthetic and curated work of art in its own right.