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man who designed the museum is
Gil Mangels. Born in 1942, he has
spent his life collecting anything
he could find. It started with an old
arrowhead, and it continues apace.
He first opened his collection in the
early 1970s before opening the mu-
seum at its current location in 1985.
He was 43 at the time.
The museum appears to be a trib-
ute to the American Dream circa
1925-1967, featuring a wealth of
art, technology, and cultural objects
from the post-war era, arranged into
displays that can only be called di-
oramas. Yet unlike the mountain
gorillas of Manhattan's encased en-
closures, the scenes depicted in Gil's
giant collection are not, decidedly,
realistic.
