AWESOME new Museum in Washington DC!

[Hello Kitty]

I had a the opportunity to visit DC's newest museum - Newseum - over the weekend. It's on the corner of 6th St and Pennsylvania Ave, NW. It won't open to the public until April 11th, but I work for the company that installed the elevators so we were invited to contractor's day.

 

It's a museum about news. I think the museum existed before - over in Arlington maybe? This place is outstanding! I think it's $20 to get in. A little steep, but since most museums in town are free, you can look at it as an average cost if you visit several!

 

They have a 4-D theatre that I didn't go to but heard was wonderful. There's a big section of the Berlin Wall and a portion of one of the antenas that was on top of the WTC prior to 9/11. I couldn't talk in the 9/11 exhibit, still too fresh a wound for me, but it was moving. (if you haven't visited the crash site in Shanksville, PA that's also very moving - especially I was there on a very cold, damp, windy, raw day, all the more gloomy) They had front page newspaper stories on a huge wall as well - very very moving for me.

 

They have a studio where kids (and I suppose adults too) can read the news off a teleprompter and be recorded - you can buy the video. I don't know how much, but think I heard someone say $20. My coworker's 16 year old daughter did that and said the teleprompter was too slow - she didn't feel natural speaking.

 

There's also a studio that overlooks the Capitol (6 blocks from it on Penn Ave NW) that is intended to be used by reporters - maybe a Meet the Press type show. It was cool looking. There were movie theatre style seats for the public to sit and watch as well. THAT would be cool I think!!

 

There was a car (white Datsun B210 I think) that had a car bomb put in it by the mafia to kill a news reporter in AZ. That display wasn't complete, but the car had AZ tags and the little bit I could see said something about the mafia in Phoenix reaching to Tucson or the other way around.

 

There was also a HUGE screen that had a reel of news stories through time. I walked in during the late 70's and stayed until they started showing the 9/11 footage. I just can't tolerate that.

 

There was also that days front pages from all over the place. There was a whole wall with a front page from every state in the country - I imagine different newspapers on different days.

 

Overall, I was very impressed with the museum. The HUGE hydraulic elevators are very impressive as well.

 

I hope a few of you get a chance to visit!

[ESokoloff]

 

I hope a few of you get a chance to visit!

 

I feel like I just did...

 

Thanks for the guided tour

[Francois_Dumas]

Being a former news paper man, that sounds like a place to visit when I ever find myself in town ! Thanks fo the tour !!

[azkaisr]

The AZ reporter was Don Bolles.

 

From Wiki:

 

On June 2, 1976, Bolles left behind a short note in his office typewriter explaining he would meet with an informant, then go to a luncheon meeting, and be back about 1:30 p.m. He was responsible for covering a routine hearing at the State Capitol, and planned to attend a movie with second wife Rosalie Kasse that night in celebration of their eighth wedding anniversary. The source promised information on a land deal involving top state politicians and possibly the mob. A wait of several minutes in the lobby of the Hotel Clarendon (now known as the Clarendon Hotel) was concluded with a call for Bolles himself to the front desk, where the conversation lasted no more than two minutes. Bolles then exited the hotel, his car in the adjacent parking lot just south of the hotel on Fourth Avenue.

 

Apparently, Bolles started the car, even moving a few feet, before a remote detonated bomb consisting of six sticks of dynamite taped to the underside of the car beneath the driver's seat was detonated, the impact shattering his lower body, opening the driver's door, and leaving him mortally wounded while half outside the vehicle. Both legs and one arm were amputated over a ten day stay in St. Joseph's Hospital, the eleventh day was the reporter's last. However, his last words after being found in the parking lot the day of the bombing were: "They finally got me. The Mafia. Emprise. Find John (Harvey Adamson)."

 

The exact motive for the crime remains a mystery, but many speculate the Mafia holds responsibility, as a large concentration of his work involved organized crime, even going as far as to run a story naming over 200 known mafia members operating in the state of Arizona. Kemper Marley, whose Emprise Corp. was target for a Bolles' investigation because of its alleged links to the mob, was also considered a major suspect. The millionaire and Arizona Racing Commission seat-holder eluded arrest, and continued conducting business in Arizona until meeting his own death, cancer-related, on June 25, 1990 in La Jolla, California.

 

The incident sparked an investigation in the months that followed, known as the Arizona Project, with Bob Greene assuming the head and drawing nearly 40 reporters and editors from 23 newspapers including The Milwaukee Journal and Newsday.

 

 

I remember in High School in the early 80's I had a journalism class and we talked at length about this case.

 

Thanks for passing this along as it makes me want to go next time I am in DC.

 

Kaisr

[BFish]

Al Neuharth, the "founder" of USA Today and former Gannett Chairman, is very involved with this museum. He lives in Cocoa Beach and frequently mentions the museum during his public commentaries. sounds pretty interesting.

[Ben_Ricci]

Thanks for the reminder Nancy. That is on my list of places to see and I almost forgot about it. I have to wait until all the "newness" wears off of it a bit and the crowds that filter through DC during the spring and summer leave. Very cool place from what I've read!

[Hello Kitty]

Thanks for the info Kaisr. That's the car! The driver's seat obviously had a bomb under it. I was surprised by the lack of charring in the vehicle. My coworker that I was walking through the museum with said that it may have been more concussion than fireball. I dunno much about bombs, nor do I care to learn! But it was cool to see. And yes, if you are or were a newsman, you NEED to see this place. It really is impressive.

 

I live in Baltimore, though work in DC, so don't see the DC news and commercials on TV much. I don't know how much hype there is on TV. In other words, I don't know if the place will be packed to the gills after it opens. It's not exactly surrounded by museums, though not out of the way either. Right next to the Canadian Embassy!

 

A morbid note about the place - it was in the papers, so I don't feel like I'm spilling company secrets. There was a very troubled young man working for us who took his life on this jobsite. Very sad day, he was about 24 years old. I didn't know him - we've got literally hundreds of mechanics and he is in another department - but boy did I feel for his family, especially his mom. Still do. Thought of her often when we were there, wondering if she'd have liked to been invited, or if she'd just as soon the place disappear.

[doc47]

What's 4-D????

[Berkley]

sounds sweet