Redondo mom plans South Bay Children’s museum

 

by Nikki Yunker

 

The South Bay has over  200,000 families. It needs a kids’ museum, Redondo Beach mom Christina Domer concluded during the pandemic. During that period she and her young son, who is now seven, visited the New Children’s Museum in San Diego.

“We walked in the door and I was just like, ‘Oh my god, what is this place? This is amazing,’” she recalled. “So now when we travel I look for children’s museums.” 

The only children’s museums in the Los Angeles area are the Cayton Children’s Museum in Santa Monica, the Southern California Children’s Museum in Pasadena and Discovery Cube Los Angeles in Sylmar. The highly regarded Children’s Museum of Los Angeles closed in 2009. 

“South Bay people, we don’t want to drive to Pasadena or Santa Monica. You’re driving at least an hour,” Domer said. “We want a place where learning feels like play, where it’s very much hands-on and art and science and imagination.”

In March, Domer founded the Children’s Museum of the South Bay, a nonprofit whose goal is to build a space where kids can enjoy interactive STEAM-based exhibits, a makerspace, workshops and classes.

Domer, 44, grew up in Coachella and moved to Redondo Beach 20 years ago. She attended El Camino College and received her bachelor’s in psychology and master’s in clinical psychology from California State University, Dominguez Hills. She is a project manager for cancer-treating pharmaceuticals.

Previously, she worked at the UCLA Longevity Center and has applied her research background to researching children’s museums.

The nonprofit hopes to raise $400,000 to start the museum and is looking for seed donors at different tier levels.

“We’re looking for people who want to create a legacy for their family or business name,” Domer said.

Domer hopes to retain a prominent museum architectural firm.

“They’ve designed some of the best museums in the world and I am planning to hire them,” Domer said.

Supporters for the project include the Kiwanis Club of Redondo Beach, the Redondo Sunset Youth Baseball and Softball League, and the Gracie Barr  martial arts academy.

Of the roughly 500 residents who replied to a community survey, Domer said, 99% were in favor of a children’s museum.

“People want this,” Domer said. “We’re going to make this happen for our children and future generations.”  https://www.southbaychildrensmuseum.org ER.