Unique museum named for legendary horror movie actor Vincent Price is a thriller for art enthusiasts

ByJose Mayorquin Localish logo
Wednesday, November 22, 2023
Museum named for legend Vincent Price is a thriller for art lovers
The Vincent Price Art Museum in Monterey Park is named for the legendary horror movie actor who was a passionate community art advocate.

MONTEREY PARK, Calif. -- Vincent Price is known for his many horror film roles from the 50s through the 90s, including the classic House of Wax. Younger generations also know him for his role in Edward Scissor Hands, and as the creepy voice in Michael Jackson's Thriller. What few know is that he was a passionate advocate for community art, and that a museum on a community college campus in Los Angeles' eastside named in his honor pays homage to this support.

"The history goes back to 1951. Vincent Price was asked to be a keynote speaker for the graduation commencement," said Vincent Price Art Museum director Steven Wong. "And in 1957 he donated 90 art objects as a teaching collection to East Los Angeles College. It was the first community college in the nation to have a teaching collection."

"I did not know that Vincent Price was an art collector, and I think a lot of people don't," said Yoshie Sakai a Los Angeles-based artist who has an exhibition showing at the museum. "It's a very interesting fact, because people are like 'What, he has a museum?'"

For more information, go to: https://vincentpriceartmuseum.org/