Locals more than make up for tourist gap at area museums.

Museums across L.A. County experienced record attendance levels this summer, bringing a badly needed boost to their revenue streams.

Spurred by well-promoted exhibitions attended largely by local and regional visitors, museums have posted gains for each of the past 12 months compared with the like periods a year earlier, according to museum officials and figures from LA Inc., which tracks monthly museum attendance.

This activity has compensated for the falloff in overseas tourists, according to LA Inc. data.

Besides marketing exhibitions not likely to be duplicated anytime soon, the museums have been the beneficiaries of increased drive-market travel.

"Following 9/11, and even to this day, people are taking shorter trips," said David Sheatsley, vice president of research at LA Inc., the convention and visitors bureau. "For all intents and purposes people are rediscovering what Los Angeles has to offer in their own backyard."

Leading the pack has been the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, where halfway through its exhibit of French masterworks from the State Pushkin Museum in Moscow, an additional 42 employees have been hired to sell tickets, sign up new members and work in the museum's restaurant.

More than 120,326 people have purchased tickets to see the exhibit. That comes to "about half of those who attended the popular Van Gogh exhibition in 1999 and it puts LACMA over the 370,000-visitor mark for the Memorial Day to Labor Day summer season, more than twice the level in the same period last year.

"I think more people stayed home this summer than Wavering abroad or elsewhere," said Andrea Rich, president and director of LACMA. "And I think people realized they have these wonderful jewels in their own backyard and they don't have to go to London or Paris to see great works of art."

So far, LACMA has leveraged the increase in attendance into 8,500 new memberships since July 1, in part because of a deal offering two tickets to the Puskin show (usually $20 each) with a $75 membership.

"The more activities in these institutions the more it raises the consciousness level for people in the area," Rich said. "It makes Los Angeles more of a museum town."

Broad appeal

Besides LACMA, the California Science Center's seven-month-long Titanic exhibit that ended this month drew about 235,000 visitors--the best performance ever by a single exhibit at the center.

"Our attendance is up significantly," said Jeff Rudolph, the Science Center's president and chief executive. "Our numbers are the best we've ever seen."

The Titanic exhibit was the first time the Science Center charged for admission, and ticket sales helped boost the center's revenues by 20 percent.

"We don't charge admission so it's hard to spend a dollar on marketing when you don't see revenue coming from it," Rudolph said. "Our sponsors and the media attention really made this a success and put us in a place where we can get our message out there now."

Marking an earlier contribution to the yearlong gains was the Autry Museum of Western Heritage's exhibit on Jewish life in the American West, which attracted 206,857 visitors during its six-month stint that ended in January.

"It's probably an all-time record breaker attendance for us," said Jay Aldrich, the museum's tourism and public "affairs director.

Aldrich said the Autry expects to increase its average annual attendance of 350,000 visitors by t0 percent to 12 percent this year.

"In Southern California there are a lot of choices people have and you keep your fingers crossed that you're making the right choices," Aldrich said. "So far we have been able to do that."

Directors at some of the region's largest museums said the trend in increased attendance shows no signs of waning. Still, Rich cautioned that attendance can't rise forever. "Things have cycles," she said. "It's nice to be on an upswing but we know there will always be a dip."

Rich's cautions aside, the pick-up appears to be continuing into the fall.

An exhibit on the work of local architect Frank O. Gehry at the Museum of Contemporary Art drew 9,000 in the three days following its Sept. 7 opening. Museum officials expect the exhibit will draw even larger crowds as the October opening date nears for the Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall, a block away from the museum. By the time the exhibit closes in January, museum officials expect to draw 60,000 to 70,000 people.

At the J. Paul Getty Museum, the 8 percent increase in attendance over the 2002 summer season was also attributed in large part to locals. Museum officials said they are seeing more college students and young families strolling the museum's grounds and picnicking on the lawn near the garden.

"Our sense is that people are staying close to home and they see the Getty as a friendly place where: they can come sometimes just to hangout," said Maureen McGlynn, a museum spokeswoman.