La Mesa Institution to Open July 20 at Downtown Location
When the Computer Museum of America opens in its new Downtown location next month, it will mark a new starting point for the 18-year-old institution.
Leaving La Mesa to head Downtown on C Street, with a grand opening planned for July 20, is a move that is expected to increase attendance, said David Weil, the museum’s executive director and head curator.
In La Mesa, the museum’s visitor count averages 5,000 annually. In the first year at the new location, Weil said that number could mushroom to 25,000 or even 50,000.
The museum had been looking for a Downtown site, and a “favorable lease situation” within that area, Weil said.
“We really wanted to be closer to tourists and make it easier for people to come visit,” Weil said. “While we enjoyed our time out at La Mesa at Coleman College, it was kind of off the beaten path, and fairly difficult for tourists and conventioneers to visit the museum.”
Theresa Kosen, executive director of the San Diego Museum Council, thinks the museum’s move is a favorable one.
“I think La Mesa was a good location to start, but I think a new site in the Downtown area will increase its visibility,” Kosen said.
“This area has grown in computer technology, with Gateway and Qualcomm and different companies, that the fact that we have a museum devoted to computers is unique to San Diego and probably Southern California,” she continued. “I think (the computer museum) moving Downtown will create more excitement for the industry.”
A new home had long been a part of the overall plan for the museum, Weil said.
“We knew that one day we’d probably want to be in Balboa Park or Downtown, so this opportunity presented itself and we were happy to take it up,” Weil said.
The museum is paying between $1 and $1.10 per square foot for the new 9,000-square-foot site, for which they signed a three-year lease, he said. The museum occupies the ground and second floor.
At the Coleman campus, the museum had less than 2,000 square feet.
Currently on a budget of less than $300,000 a year, the museum has three full-time employees. By the time it completes its move from La Mesa to Downtown next month, that number will double, Weil said.
Weil also expects the budget will increase, but it will depend on the interest generated from other sponsors, he said.
Currently, the museum’s main source of funding is technology school Coleman College, which has housed the facility at its La Mesa campus. The museum was founded in 1983 by Jim and Marie Petroff, who also founded the San Diego Chapter of Independent Computer Consultants Association.
In La Mesa, the museum had a general admission charge of $2 per person. For the first year in the new location, the museum will not charge admission. Coleman College is absorbing the cost.
The museum has lined up several items to be on exhibit in time for the new location’s grand opening. Among them: punch-card machines, a rare millionaire calculator and vintage video games.
According to Weil, another item on display will be a one-of-a-kind kaleidoscope designed in the ’70s. Called the hectotron, it is a sound-responsive vacuum tube that creates a light show, he said.
Through the museum, Coleman offers classes at the technology center’s 10 Internet-ready stations. The classes are free for people who do not have access to computers.
When not being used for classes, the center will be open to tourists to check their e-mail, Weil said.
Jeff Zinner, project manager at Downtown redevelopment agency Centre City Development Corp., assisted the museum with finding a site.
CCDC is excited to have the museum Downtown because it’s trying to create an environment which has a variety of activities for visitors, Zinner said.
“A museum such as the computer museum, which shows the origins of technology, is a great fit for Downtown, where we are promoting new technology,” he said.
Kosen, of the local museum council, agreed. “I think it’s a great location Downtown, especially with growth between the Gaslamp area and now with the ballpark district,” she said. “With those two things bringing in more people, I think Downtown locations would definitely see some growth.”
Although the museum is closed until it reopens Downtown next month, its second online exhibit, “A History of Personal Computing,” continues to be available on the museum’s Web site (www. computer-museum.org).
