During our Christmastime visit to Los Angeles, my mother and my aunt both wanted Susan and I to see the Nethercutt Collection, commonly called The Tower of Beauty or San Sylmar. The had been there on a women's club visit. The plain office tower-looking building in the Sylmar section of Los Angeles houses the classic automobile, crystal hood ornament, and mechanical musical instrument collections of J. B. Nethercutt (1913-2004), co-founder of Merle Norman Cosmetics. The building and private museum opened in 1972. Admission was by guided tour and reservations were necessary. The Merle Norman company described the building as "a treasure house of functional fine art." The company encouraged the public to see all these things for free, it was explained, because it has the philosophy that beauty is to be shared and enjoyed by everyone.
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