Inside the J.A. Cooley Museum (Google Images)
Museum, University Heights

Did You Know…

By Frank Sabatini Jr.

…that on Park Boulevard near El Cajon Boulevard is a 10,000-square-foot museum housing showstopping antiques as well as an impressive display of rare vehicles built between 1886 and 1933? Most of the autos are in their original condition or last in existence.

Known as the J.A. Cooley Museum, the items are from the private collection of Jim and Carmen Cooley. In addition to the vehicles, which includes a 1910 Hunt Special and a sleek 1981 Delorean, the family has amassed everything from ornate cuckoo clocks and vintage cameras to phonographs, whiskey flasks, model trains and more.

The museum is open from 11:00a to 4:00p seven days a week, and serves as a quirky, unexpected alternative from San Diego’s beaten track of museums in nearby Balboa Park.