The latest chapter in the ongoing, ill-fated saga of Santa Monica’s Sci-Fi Museum seems like it might be the last, certainly for a while at least.
The fate of the museum was confirmed in the last City Council meeting when a gentleman named Aubrey West approached the podium during public comment on non-agenda items. In a statement that lasted less than 40 seconds, he said, "I'm Aubrey West from Sci-Fi World. I appeared before you last year when we were acquiring the space at 302 Colorado. We were — after a lot of setbacks — we were slated to open our museum experience next month, but the building owners, Seritage, have decided, in their wisdom, not to renew our lease on the building at 302 Colorado."
"So unfortunately, we're going to have to move to a new location. I wanted to thank all of you who were so supportive of us here and during this process, city, police, fire and we'll see where the project goes from here. We appreciate your help and thank you for your time."
However, even before we got to this stage, the story was marred with controversy. Back in August 2011, three Star Trek fans were able to rescue a replica USS Enterprise bridge from Star Trek: The Next Generation before it was taken away from a warehouse in Long Beach to be trashed. It was built for the Las Vegas installation, Star Trek: The Experience, which was closed in 2008 after a successful 10-year run.
Not long after, one of the three, a Star Trek superfan named Floyd Huston Huddleston, announced an ambitious crowdfunding campaign to raise "$175,000 to bring the bridge to life — complete with a viewscreen, the captain's chair, and even operational touchscreen computers."
Two years later, in 2014, Huddleston announced additional fundraising for an ambitious museum that would become the permanent home of the legendary Star Trek bridge, plus a host of other iconic science fiction and horror film sets, props and related memorabilia.
Then in March, 2018, Huddleston was arrested in Southern California on child pornography and other related felony charges after a five-year FBI investigation. Huddleston originally pleaded not guilty. Needless to say, volunteers and board members abandoned ship and resigned in protest. However, as Ars Technica reported, he was also "slammed" for poor financial management and for "his inability to make good on his grand promises."
Following a jury trial in June 2018, it was revealed that Huddleston withdrew his "not guilty" plea on the charge of possessing pornography produced with the use of a person under 18 and instead entered a plea of "no contest." He was found guilty, convicted and placed on a three year probation. He was ordered to serve 126 days in a Los Angeles county jail, pay a total of $520 in fines and complete a 52-week sex offender counseling program. Huddleston was also registered as a sex offender.
After all of this, it was unclear what Huddleston’s level of involvement with the project was. According to the Los Angeles Times, "Huddleston said he knew that any association with the museum after his conviction would be toxic for an organization that hopes to attract young fans, so he gave up control of the nonprofit and its collection of film and TV ephemera to the museum’s chief executive."
The Los Angeles Times adds that, "several Sci-Fi World volunteers past and present [said] that Huddleston remains active — if not central — in museum operations and preparations for opening. Lee Grimwade, one of the museum’s lead volunteers who quit a day before the gala, said Huddleston is ‘definitely 100% involved.’"
For some time, John Purdy was listed as the CEO of the Sci-Fi World Museum, but Huddleston's mother remained as the museum's Chief Financial Officer. However, confusion over who was actually in charge reached a crescendo when Purdy and General Manager Cory Dacy recently resigned.
Dacy told the Los Angeles Times that he resigned partly because the museum was not remotely ready to open.
"It’s been haphazardly handled," Dacy said. "It’s being treated the way a pop-up would be treated, in my opinion, where you go in with the idea that you’re going to be open for a few weeks."
Credit: Scott Snowden
To top everything off, the restored Enterprise bridge is not even assembled inside the Sci-Fi World museum. The organization announced that Santa Monica city inspectors, together with the owners of the building, will not issue a permit allowing it to be displayed because the ceiling is not equipped with sprinklers, thus creating a fire hazard.
Regardless, the "red carpet" gala opening went ahead on May 27, as advertised on the organization’s website and social media. Even with just a sneaky peak through the doors, it was plain to see that the interior of the building was very far from finished. Unless the team behind the project were deliberately going for an Incomplete Chic, a significant amount of work still needed to be done.
Upon arrival, it soon became clear that no one was going to be allowed inside the building because of the fire code violation. Meanwhile, tables and chairs were hastily being set up near the entrance of the venue as any display item inside that could be moved outside was so in a desperate, improvised attempt to create something worth the $200 ticket price many had paid.
A group who had dressed in Star Trek cosplay had flown down from San Francisco specifically for this event and another had traveled from Minneapolis.
Moreover, $500 VIP tickets had been advertised and according to a page now removed from the website, a VIP ticket included, "exclusive walkthrough the museum, free food and drinks, 1980s classic arcade games on free play, live band performance with special seating, exclusive goody bag, autographed photos and photo ops with celebrities and access to the VIP room."
A glance at the invite list showed that at least a few stars of television sci-fi might be in attendance and sure enough, Gigi Edgley, probably most well known for playing the character Chiana in the sensational sci-fi show Farscape showed up. Wearing a stunning blue cocktail dress, she hung around for less than five minutes then walked back to her car. Granted, it’s entirely possible she had another function to go to, who knows.
Credit: Scott Snowden
The "red carpet" was a small scrap of material placed next to the outdoor toilets and the food and beverages on offer consisted of Buca di Beppo self-served from a tin tray and discount soda. Oh, and a rubber Tyrannosaurus rex was wheeled out periodically in an attempt to placate the people scratching their heads and wondering if they could still make it home in time to catch Last Week Tonight.
Regarding potential refunds and possibly even legal action, the visitors from San Francisco said, like several others, that they were desperate to see this succeed and indeed, many had been behind the project since the very beginning, when the crowdfund campaign had been launched.
It’s hard to imagine how anyone might have thought it was a good idea to proceed with the opening, but the passion for this project still remains among the fan faithful. Hopefully, it will sort itself out in time.
A spokesperson from the organization said in an email to the Daily Press regarding the decision by Seritage to not renew their lease, "Sadly that is the case, but we are trying our best to fight it. They gave us no reason, and as of mid-May, they said they would renew our lease for another six months, then changed their minds.
"It's really sad and has caused us all a lot of stress, but all we can do is our best and to keep fighting, because this is something so many people really want."
