Museum of Riverside

Programs and Events 

COVID 19: The City of Riverside currently requires all members of the public to wear a mask indoors at city facilities and outdoors on city property when social distancing is not possible, and REGARDLESS of vaccination status. These rules are subject to change.


Upcoming Events at Main Museum (3580 Mission Inn Ave., Riverside, CA 92501) 
                 

First Sundays 2021-2022 First Sundays will be back on our front steps staring in October 2021! All First Sunday events are from 1-4 p.m. and free of charge.

Feb. 6 – Game On! – What if you didn’t have video games? What would you play? Learn about games children have played in the past and around the world. Learn the secrets of good game design and create your own boardgame. Giant Jenga, anyone?

Mar. 6 – Reptile Round-Up! – Join Riverside's own Reptile Joe who will bring some of this favorite snakes and lizards to share and talk about how these creatures adapt to their environments. Create youw own scale pattern with paints and upcycled bubble wrap for a paper snake or lizard to take home.

Apr. 3 – Captain Carl and His Mobile Tidepool – Be here for the return of Captain Carl and his amazing sea creatures! You'll be able to hold a starfish, squeeze a sea squirt, and touch an urchin as we bring a bit of the shore to Riverside. Learn about how you can reduce your use of plastics and make a sustainability pledge to help keep our oceans clean!

May 1 – Koinobori, Children's Day – May 5th is Kodomo no Hi, or Children's Day, in Japan! On this day, once known as Boys' Day, families fly carp banners called koinobori to represent all the members of the family. We’ll celebrate this holiday by making our own koinobori inspired by the art of Miné Okubo who was born and raised in Riverside.

Nights with the Museum    Always Different, Never Boring

Fascinating  discussions with people from our local communities, no previous experience necessary.
First Fridays of the month, 6:30 – 8:00 p.m.  FREE!

Back to the Grind, 3575 University Avenue, Riverside – directly behind the Museum of Riverside.

 

Friday, January 7, 2022     6:30 – 8:00 p.m.
Eric Scott, Cogstone Resource Management, Inc.; Dept. of Biology, California State University San Bernardino
“Treasures Beneath Our Feet - Finding Fossils and Dodging Bulldozers in Urban California”
Mr. Scott will share new discoveries of Ice Age fossils from the Purple Line Extension subway excavation in Los Angeles, near the world-famous La Brea Tar Pits, and will compare these finds with fossils found at construction sites right here in Riverside County.

Friday, February 4, 2022     6:30 – 8:00 p.m.
Gabriel Santos, Paleontologist & Educator, Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology
“Krayt Dragons to Indominus Rex: Paleontology in Pop Culture”
From Star Wars to Jurassic Park, let’s open the pages of time to see how the story of the ancient past has inspired some of our favorite stories of today.

Friday, March 4, 2022                      6:30 – 8:00 p.m.

Chris Clark, Ph.D. Professor of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology at UC Riverside
"How Hummingbirds Hum and Owls Fly Silently"
Dr. Clark will describe ongoing research into how and why animals make sounds with their wings, such as the humming of hummingbirds, or the ghostly silence of owl flight.

Friday, April 1, 2022            6:30 – 8:00 p.m.
Lei Lani Stelle, Ph.D. and Professor of Biology at University of Redlands
“Chasing Whales with High Technology” 
Dr. Stelle will show how her array of modern approaches to marine mammal research in southern California is unlocking secrets and providing keys to their protection and recovery.

Friday, May 6, 2022              6:30 – 8:00 p.m.

Edward T. Chang, Ph.D. and founding director of the Young Oak Kim Center for Korean American Studies and Professor of Ethnic Studies, UC Riverside
“Pachappa: America’s First Koreatown”
Dr. Chang will explain how Korean patriot Dosan Ahn Chang Ho founded Riverside’s Pachappa Camp in 1905, known as the first Koreatown in America. Home to Korean Americans who held jobs in the local citrus industry as farm laborers, Pachappa represented the earliest Korean culture and identity in America.

Friday, June 3, 2022             6:30 – 8:00 p.m.
Michael Viramontes, Land Steward, Rivers & Lands Conservancy
“I Protect Detestable Microfauna”
Conservation in the Inland Empire isn’t all about monarch butterflies and mountain lions. Learn more about Michael Miramontes’ public relations nightmare of fighting for rare and endangered flies, rats and suckers.

Friday, July 1, 2022              6:30-8:00 p.m.
Douglas J. Long, PhD, Museum of Riverside
“The King of Snakes, or, How to Eat a Rattlesnake Larger than You”
Some facts are better than myths, and Dr. long will share the secrets of our local California Kingsnake. Live kingsnakes might just be in attendance.

Friday, August 5, 2022.                    6:30-8:00 P.M.
Scott Watson, City of Riverside Historic Preservation.
“The Mid-century Modern Marvels of Clinton Marr”
Mr. Watson will introduce us to the Inland Empire’s architectural masterpieces designed by the renown Clinton Marr.

Friday, September 2, 2022   6:30-8:00 p.m.
Matina Donaldson-Matasci Ph.D. and Morgan Carr-Markel, Ph.D, Dept. of Biology, Harvey Mudd College
“The Secret Language of Bees”
Good relationships are all about communication, and in social insects, these complex languages coordinate group behavior and long-term survival. See how Drs. Donaldson-Matasci and Carr-Merkel are deciphering the language of social insects and how they work as coordinated groups.

Friday October 7                   6:30-8:00 P.M.
David Oglesby, Ph.D., Professor of Geophysics, Earth and Planetary Sciences, UC Riverside.
“What’s Shakin’, Riverside?”
Dr. Oglesby will provide an overview of the tectonic faults through the Inland Empire, and his research on studying earthquakes in our fractured land.

Friday November 4^th            6:30-8:00 P.M.
John Torres, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Archaeology, Mt. San Jacinto College.
“Tribal archaeology and the new generation of cultural preservation”
Cultural remains of California’s native peoples are all around, if you know how and where to look. Dr. Torres will share how he is training the next generation of tribal archaeologists to recover, preserve, and share their ancestral heritage.

Friday December 2, 2022     6:30-8:00 P.M.
Ivan Parr, Western Section of the Wildlife Society
“The Rarest of the Rare: Hunting California’s Endemic  Wildlife with Camera”
Join Ivan, a wildlife biologist and professional photographer on his quest to record non-charismatic but incredibly rare  species found only in California, with stories of scientific success and comedic failure along the way.



Upcoming Events at Heritage House (8193 Magnolia Ave., Riverside, CA 92504)

Ongoing
Heritage House Tours | Book Your Tour Now!
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, reservations via Eventbrite are required.
To make a reservation, please visit: Eventbrite.

In the 1890s, Bettner oversaw the design and building of what is now known as Heritage House, a richly furnished reimagining of a Riverside citrus magnate’s home environment. During Bettner’s life, women’s fashions changed dramatically. Catharine’s Closet will offer examples spanning seven decades of the types of garments similar to those Bettner may have worn. From fashionable dress in the 1860s to the attention-getting bustle of the 1870s to the beaded splendor of the 1920s, these beautiful garments will be on exhibit in different rooms throughout Heritage House.