If you've spent any time around Seattle Center, you've probably noticed the colorful, curved building sitting right next to the Space Needle, and thought to yourself "what the heck is that?". Well, The Museum of Pop Culture, aka: The MoPOP, actually starts with Jimi Hendrix.
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen was a huge Hendrix fan, and in the early 1990s, he began imagining a museum dedicated to the Seattle-born musician and his legacy. That idea continued to grow, eventually becoming the Experience Music Project, which opened at Seattle Center in 2000. Over time, the museum expanded far beyond music to explore science fiction, fantasy, film, gaming, fashion, horror, and just about every corner of pop culture.
Even the building itself was designed to feel like a piece of pop culture. MoPOP was created by world-renowned architect Frank Gehry, who wanted the building to capture the energy, movement, and freedom of rock 'n' roll. During the design process, Gehry famously experimented with cutting electric guitars into pieces and rearranging their shapes, which helped inspire the building's unusual curves and almost melted appearance. The exterior is covered in thousands of individually shaped stainless steel and painted aluminum panels, creating the bright red, blue, gold, silver, and purple surfaces you see from Seattle Center. As the sunlight and weather change throughout the day, the building seems to change with them. Even some of the colors have musical meaning, including the purple exterior, a nod Hendrix and "Purple Haze." And if you've ever ridden the Seattle Center Monorail, you've experienced another unusual part of the design without even realizing it: the Monorail actually travels directly through the building. It's strange, colorful, unconventional, and almost impossible to describe without seeing it in person, which feels pretty appropriate for a museum dedicated to creativity and pop culture.
With Halloween right around the corner, there's one exhibit that feels especially exciting to share! Scared to Death: The Thrill of Horror Film is MoPOP's permanent horror exhibition, and if you're someone who loves scary movies, this might be the perfect time of year to visit. The exhibit features more than 50 original props and costumes spanning more than a century of horror movies. You'll find yourself surrounded by creepy movie memorabilia, unsettling displays, famous masks, and plenty of reminders of the films that have kept generations of us awake at night. And it's not just about making you jump. The exhibit digs into why we're so fascinated by horror in the first place, exploring how scary movies tap into our fears, emotions, and the things society sometimes doesn't like talking about. You can also explore more than 100 horror films recommended by MoPOP, which might help build your Halloween movie list while you're there.
Of course, that's only one small piece of what you can explore. Current exhibitions take visitors into the worlds of science fiction, fantasy, independent gaming, music, fashion, and more. There's even Sound Lab, where you can stop looking at artifacts for a minute and actually pick up an instrument and make some noise yourself.
There's something very Seattle about having a museum like this in our backyard. A museum that began because of a love for one of our city's most legendary musicians has grown into a place celebrating the movies we quote, the music we grew up with, the characters we love, and the creative ideas that become part of our culture. So if you've driven past MoPOP countless times but haven't actually been inside in a while, October might be the perfect excuse to change that!
