Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena

The Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena is one of my favorite art museums in Southern California because it packs such a concentration of well-known art into a manageable space. The Getty Center and LA County Museum of Art are great museums with plenty of masterpieces, but for art value per step, you can't beat the Norton Simon. Originally based on the private art collection of industrialist Norton Simon, the museum took over the Pasadena Art Museum in 1974 and the collection has continued to expand.