I helped the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures create a self-guided app tour for fans to discover iconic film locations on the streets of Los Angeles when their planned opening in 2020 was delayed due to the pandemic.

An original concept for Hollywood Past & Present was to allow museum visitors to discover information about locations visible from the terrace, including the Hollywood Hills, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Westwood and the iconic Hollywood sign.

When the opening was delayed, the museum wanted to provide digital experiences for their waiting visitors, so we modified and extended the original concept to take the app out on the streets of LA, with a fun, educational and COVID-safe way to explore early film history.

Hollywood Past & Present, a feature of the museum’s iOS and Android apps, that lets users discover notable and interesting locations in film history to unlock exclusive content and badges.

The default view prompts users to explore LA in Augmented Reality (AR). When they enter the defined radius of a location, they can unlock that location for details and secrets. Users can also explore locations and plan their route with map and list views.
The museum designed custom badges for unlocking locations, as well as reaching milestones like number of locations unlocked, visiting multiple locations in one day, visiting locations at certain times of the day, and more.

The project was recently awarded a production grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to expand the museum’s existing Hollywood Past & Present initiative with on- and offsite experiences in support of the upcoming Hollywoodland exhibition in 2023.