Sawt Falasteen - 'Star Wars' fans and art lovers line up for new Lucas museum

The Los Angeles museum built by the 82-year-old "Star Wars" franchise creator alongside his wife and business partner Mellody Hobson is intended to be a "people's temple of art," according to its creators.

The duo stood at the museum's entrance as its first 100 visitors were invited in, shaking hands with each of them as they entered the biomorphic building.

Eric Cheung, a dentist and realtor who arrived in a Star Wars X-wing pilot costume -- a get-up featuring a bright orange jumpsuit and distinct combat helmet, like that worn by Luke Skywalker himself -- said he was quick to become a museum member and even trained as a volunteer.

"Each art piece tells a story," he told AFP of the museum's intentions. "Everybody can look at the same thing, and then we can create different stories."

The museum was built on what used to be a parking lot next to the University of Southern California, the filmmaker's alma mater.

For Brenda Chambliss, a resident of the area in south Los Angeles for more than a decade, it "means everything" that Lucas put the museum in the neighborhood.

The area can carry a "stigma" tied to crime or poverty she said, and the "breathtaking" building filled with art is a positive new attraction, not least for its surrounding park that's open to the public without a ticket.

- 'Help local artists' -

At the entrance, visitors are greeted by the yellow Naboo N-1 starfighter from "Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace" (1999), but with more than 9,300 square meters of exhibition space, the offerings go far beyond the beloved saga.

Its more than 30 galleries feature works by artists including Banksy, Frida Kahlo, Jacob Lawrence, Charles White and Robert Colescott; comics by Winsor McCay, Jack Kirby and Frank Frazetta; and illustrations by Norman Rockwell, Jessie Willcox Smith and N.C. Wyeth.

"I really love that Lucas is using his platform to bring other artists together," Sandi Granados told AFP in the gift shop, where she was purchasing a trippy, colorful print of a Darth Vader flanked by stormtroopers.

"It's not just for him," said the 30-year-old cosmetologist who works in the film industry. "He's using his name to help local artists and big artists come together."

R.Shaban--SF-PST