George Lucas and his wife are planning on building a cultural arts museum devoted to his legacy, and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti really, really wanted them to build it in his fair city. So he took to Twitter with an obviously well-thought out and totally foolproof campaign, perhaps hoping that Lucas would not be able to repel hashtags of that magnitude. It definitely went extremely well—for people who like hearing snarky jokes about L.A.
Garcetti, with the help of a special @WhyLucasInLA Twitter account, kicked off the last-minute campaign with a series of tweets explaining why L.A. would be the perfect place for the Lucas Cultural Arts Museum. I want to imagine him sitting at his kitchen table carefully scribbling all of these logos and designs with a marker, because it amuses me.
Tell Lucas why LA is a perfect home for Lucas Cultural Arts Museum #WhyLucasInLA http://t.co/cc18e8Zsn1 @HuffPostLA pic.twitter.com/SUepAeRb5P
— WhyLucasInLA (@WhyLucasInLA) June 11, 2014
#WhyLucasinLA: because @ericgarcetti is a powerful partner for the @lucasmuseum here in LA. http://t.co/XCBbE7zBeG pic.twitter.com/dDLcxsNWzZ — themollette (@themollette) June 11, 2014
#WhyLucasinLA? Because LA is the unmatched creative capital of the world. http://t.co/LvPMqwt3py pic.twitter.com/tUU2yUpq2R — Eric Garcetti (@ericgarcetti) June 11, 2014
So creative! Just look at how uneven those lines are! Regular straight lines are so boring.
Of course, there were a lot of people on the hashtag that seriously and earnestly wanted the museum to come to L.A.—so much so that the hashtag briefly trended in the Los Angeles area.
#LA is the world’s main stage for arts & culture. And we’d love to have the @LucasMuseum as a neighbor! RT to spread the word! #WhyLucasInLA — Greek Theatre L.A. (@GreekTheatreLA) June 14, 2014
LA is the creative capital of the world. We nurture and create storytellers #WhyLucasInLA http://t.co/d7T7wgTbJn — Ryan Vaillancourt (@RVaillancourt) June 11, 2014
But as with any Twitter campaign, the jokes and biting commentary won out in the long run. For us, anyway. Of course, we have sarlacc pits where our hearts should be, so maybe we’re biased.
It would be a great relic of LA’s dead #VFX industry #WhyLucasinLA @ericgarcetti — VFX Soldier (@VFXSoldier) June 11, 2014
Because LA has tons of bars that look like this #WhyLucasinLA pic.twitter.com/mGAc3lIlD9 — Philip Owens (@POCuts) June 11, 2014
Because you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. #WhyLucasinLA #NotHelping #WilWProject #BUTTS — Wil Wheaton (@wilw) June 18, 2014
So my girlfriend can stop telling me to put away my LEGO Star Wars. #WhyLucasinLA pic.twitter.com/BtemVx5xoh — Nathan (@tarantulaarms) June 12, 2014
Mr Lucas, build your Museum in LA where we take pride in serving our communities. #WhyLucasinLA @ericgarcetti #LAPD pic.twitter.com/oq7XclYinz — doubletap415 (@doubletap415) June 13, 2014
But sadly for Star Wars-loving Los Angelinos, the campaign ultimately failed. George Lucas announced today that the museum will officially be built in Chicago, Illinois, just alongside Lake Michigan and right next to Soldier Field stadium. He said in a statement:
We are honored to be partnering with the city of Chicago and the many cultural, educational and community groups that have come forward with ideas about how the LMNA will add to their work[…] Choosing Chicago is the right decision for the Museum, but a difficult decision for me personally because of my strong personal and professional roots in the Bay Area. I thank all Californians who reached out to me in support of the Museum.
He did not add, “Also, L.A. has been getting kind of clingy lately and I think maybe I need some space to see other cities,” but we bet he was totally thinking it.
Somewhere right now, a tear-stained @ericgarcetti is breaking all his lightsaber toys #WhyLucasInLA — Clare Doody (@claredoody) June 25, 2014
The museum will open sometime in 2018, and plans for development will be presented to the city later this year. But you know: if you want to change your mind about Chicago last minute, George, then why not try New York City? Not only would it be a nice change of pace from stupid Californian things like “nice weather” and “having a decent amount of personal space,” but our summer streets smell just like the garbage compactor on the Death Star—it’ll really give your museum that authentic Star Wars feel!
(via Deadline, image via Star Wars and Victoria McNally)
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